Radical right parties have the potential to colonise the traditional support base of Western Europe’s Christian Democrats

Christian Democratic parties have been a stable feature of many western European party systems since the early 20th century. As Tim Immerzeel, Eva Jaspers and Marcel Lubbers write, however, support for Christian Democrats has fallen significantly in several European countries. Based on an analysis of voting patterns in Europe, they argue that radical right parties have the potential to win the votes of religious citizens who have traditionally supported Christian Democratic parties. This effect depends to a large extent on how threatened Christian voters feel by the presence of immigrants subscribing to other belief systems.