Fertile grounds for extreme right-wing parties:: Explaining the Vlaams Blok's electoral success

The Vlaams Blok is one of the most successful extreme right-wing parties in Europe. We empirically identify contextual determinants that contribute to its political success in the municipal elections of October 8th, 2000 in Flanders. The use of the Tobit II estimator allows disentangling the party's decision to participate in an election and its (latent) political success. We find that the Vlaams Blok is particularly successful in municipalities with a small network of social organisations. The presence of Turkish or Maghrebian citizens and a high average income also foster extreme right success. Economic deprivation reduces the probability of Vlaams Blok participating in elections, while a high crime rate positively affects the party's decision to participate in the elections. The findings on municipal elections are confirmed by an empirical analysis of the Vlaams Blok's success in the federal elections of 1999. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.