Introduction

Abstract

This data handbook and CD-ROM present the systematic and standardized collection of general election results for 18 Western European countries at the level of constituencies and other sub-national territorial units, mostly since the second half of the nineteenth century. The collection aims at improving the data basis for studying the territorial structuring and partisan alignments of the European elections in a comparative-historical perspective. This means above all:

• 1. broadening the historical perspective by covering the elections since the second half of the nineteenth century or even earlier in order to make studies of long-term developments possible;

• 2. collecting disaggregated data for constituencies and other sub-national territorial units for studying the territorial structure of elections and improving the possibilities of ecological analyses;

• 3. standardizing and computerizing the data as a major service to the academic community and to all those interested in the comparative-historical perspective of elections in Europe.