Turnout, Participation and Legitimacy in Post-Devolution Wales

Scully, Roger ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8058-7846, Wyn Jones, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7698-5959 and Trystan, Dafydd 2004. Turnout, Participation and Legitimacy in Post-Devolution Wales. British Journal of Political Science 34 (3) , pp. 519-537. 10.1017/S000712340400016X

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Abstract

Low levels of voter turnout in the first election to the National Assembly for Wales in May 1999 brought into question both the ability of devolution to revitalize representative democracy and the legitimacy of the Assembly itself. But drawing wider implications from turnout requires that we understand why electoral abstention was so widespread. We examine three hypotheses about voter turnout in 1999: that non-participation simply reflected a general apathy towards politics; that it was based on a specific apathy towards the new Assembly; or that low voter turnout reflected antipathy towards an unwanted political institution. We find support for the first two hypotheses, but little evidence for the third. Devolution has failed to engage the interest and support of many in Wales, but low turnout has not been prompted by fundamental antagonism to the devolved institution among the Welsh electorate.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Department of Politics and International Relations (POLIR)
Subjects:	J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain
Additional Information:	Pdf uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0007-1234/ (accessed 21/02/2014).
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0007-1234
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	15 May 2023 09:39
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/48970

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