CHES-Europe
25+ years of party position data.
Expert placements of party positions on general left-right, economic left-right, GAL-TAN, and European integration are common to every wave, with specific issue positions available since 1999.
About the series
Questions on parties' general position on European integration, several EU policies, general left-right, economic left-right, and GAL-TAN (Green/Alternative/Libertarian-Tradition/Authoritarian/Nationalist) are common to all surveys. More recent surveys also contain questions on non-EU policy issues, such as anti-elite rhetoric, immigration, redistribution, decentralization, and environmental policy. More information about the survey and the trend file can be found in the codebook.
The number of countries increased from 14 Western European countries in 1999 to 24 current or prospective EU members in 2006 to 31 countries in 2024. In this time, the number of national parties grew from 143 to 279. The 1999–2024 trend survey includes all EU member states except Luxembourg, plus the United Kingdom.
Survey team
The current co-principal investigators include Ryan Bakker, Liesbet Hooghe, Seth Jolly, Gary Marks, Jonathan Polk, Jan Rovny, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Anna Vachudova. Earlier wave survey teams included Anna Brigevich, Catherine de Vries, Erica Edwards, Jelle Koedam, Filip Kostelka, Moira Nelson, Gijs Schumacher, David Scott, Carole Wilson, and Marko Zilovic — see each dataset above for the team that produced it.
Datasets
Trend file, 1999–2024
All CHES-Europe waves in a single file, using the common country code and party id schema. The trend file also includes common supplemental variables, such as party family, vote share, seat share, and government status.
When using the 1999–2024 trend file, please cite: Rovny, Jan, Jonathan Polk, Ryan Bakker, Liesbet Hooghe, Seth Jolly, Gary Marks, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Anna Vachudova. 2025. "The 2024 Chapel Hill Expert Survey on political party positioning in Europe: Twenty-five years of party positional data." Electoral Studies 97 (October). doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102981
2024 Chapel Hill Expert Survey
CHES was administered between October 10 and November 20, 2024 for EU-West countries plus Turkey, and between November 1 and December 17, 2024 for EU-East countries. The survey was completed by 609 political scientists specializing in political parties and European integration. This wave provides information about the positioning of the leadership of 279 parties in 31 countries on ideology, policy, populism, democracy, European integration, and select EU policy questions. Country coverage includes all EU member states except Luxembourg, plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
When using the 2024 survey, please cite: Rovny, Jan, Jonathan Polk, Ryan Bakker, Liesbet Hooghe, Seth Jolly, Gary Marks, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Anna Vachudova. 2025. "The 2024 Chapel Hill Expert Survey on political party positioning in Europe: Twenty-five years of party positional data." Electoral Studies 97 (October). doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2025.102981
2019 Chapel Hill Expert Survey
Administered in winter 2020 and completed by 421 political scientists specializing in political parties and European integration, the 2019 CHES provides information about the positioning of 277 parties on political ideology, European integration, and various policy areas. The survey covers political parties in 32 countries, including all European Union member states, plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey.
When using the 2019 survey, please cite: Jolly, Seth, Ryan Bakker, Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks, Jonathan Polk, Jan Rovny, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Anna Vachudova. 2022. "Chapel Hill Expert Survey Trend File, 1999–2019." Electoral Studies 75 (February). doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2021.102420
2019 CHES Candidate Survey
Positioning of 58 political parties in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, focusing on political ideology, European integration, and policy positions.
When using the 2019 survey, please cite: Jolly, Seth, Ryan Bakker, Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks, Jonathan Polk, Jan Rovny, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Anna Vachudova. 2022. "Chapel Hill Expert Survey Trend File, 1999–2019." Electoral Studies 75 (February). doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2021.102420
2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey
Administered in the fall of 2014 to 337 political scientists specializing in political parties and European integration, the 2014 CHES provides information about the positioning of 268 parties on political ideology, European integration, and various policy areas. The survey covers political parties in 31 countries, including all European Union member states, plus Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey.
When using the 2014 survey, please cite: Polk, Jonathan, Jan Rovny, Ryan Bakker, Erica Edwards, Liesbet Hooghe, Seth Jolly, Jelle Koedam, Filip Kostelka, Gary Marks, Gijs Schumacher, Marco Steenbergen, Milada Anna Vachudova, and Marko Zilovic. 2017. "Explaining the salience of anti-elitism and reducing political corruption for political parties in Europe with the 2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey data." Research & Politics (January–March): 1–9.
2014 CHES Candidate Survey
Positioning of 62 political parties on political ideology, European integration, and policy positions in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Ukraine, administered to 125 experts specializing in one of the countries considered.
When using the 2014 survey, please cite: Polk, Jonathan, Jan Rovny, Ryan Bakker, Erica Edwards, Liesbet Hooghe, Seth Jolly, Jelle Koedam, Filip Kostelka, Gary Marks, Gijs Schumacher, Marco Steenbergen, Milada Anna Vachudova, and Marko Zilovic. 2017. "Explaining the salience of anti-elitism and reducing political corruption for political parties in Europe with the 2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey data." Research & Politics (January–March): 1–9.
2010 Chapel Hill Expert Survey
Collects policy and ideological stances of the leadership of national political parties for all EU member states other than Cyprus, Luxembourg, and Malta, plus Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, and Turkey. Covers 237 national parties in 28 countries.
When using the 2010 survey, please cite: Bakker, Ryan, Catherine de Vries, Erica Edwards, Liesbet Hooghe, Seth Jolly, Gary Marks, Jonathan Polk, Jan Rovny, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Anna Vachudova. 2015. "Measuring Party Positions in Europe: The Chapel Hill Expert Survey Trend File, 1999–2010." Party Politics 21.1: 143–152.
2007 Candidate Countries Survey
Conducted in the summer of 2007, replicating key questions from the 2006 expert survey in five candidate states: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey.
When using the 2007 survey, please cite: Hooghe, Liesbet, Ryan Bakker, Anna Brigevich, Catherine de Vries, Erica Edwards, Gary Marks, Jan Rovny, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Anna Vachudova. 2010. "Reliability and Validity of Measuring Party Positions: The Chapel Hill Expert Surveys of 2002 and 2006." European Journal of Political Research 49: 684–703.
2006 Chapel Hill Expert Survey
Covers 227 national political parties in 29 countries. Replicates questions from the Ray and 1999 Chapel Hill datasets on European integration, issue salience, and internal party dissent; replicates the 1999 CHES dataset's five EU policy questions; adds 13 non-EU policy dimensions surveyed by Benoit & Laver (2006); and extends country coverage to post-communist countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Estonia).
When using the 2006 survey, please cite: Hooghe, Liesbet, Ryan Bakker, Anna Brigevich, Catherine de Vries, Erica Edwards, Gary Marks, Jan Rovny, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Anna Vachudova. 2010. "Reliability and Validity of Measuring Party Positions: The Chapel Hill Expert Surveys of 2002 and 2006." European Journal of Political Research 49: 684–703.
2002 Chapel Hill Expert Survey
Covers 171 national parties in 23 countries. Replicates questions from the Ray and 1999 Chapel Hill datasets on European integration, issue salience, and internal party dissent; replicates the 1999 CHES dataset's five EU policy questions; and extends country coverage to nine post-communist countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia).
When using the 2002 survey, please cite: Hooghe, Liesbet, Ryan Bakker, Anna Brigevich, Catherine de Vries, Erica Edwards, Gary Marks, Jan Rovny, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Anna Vachudova. 2010. "Reliability and Validity of Measuring Party Positions: The Chapel Hill Expert Surveys of 2002 and 2006." European Journal of Political Research 49: 684–703.
1999 Chapel Hill Expert Survey
The founding wave. Covers 143 national parties in the 15 EU countries at the time. Replicates questions from the Ray dataset on European integration, issue salience, and internal party dissent, and adds positional data on five EU policies: cohesion policy, internal market, foreign and security policy, powers of the European parliament, and enlargement.
When using the 1999 survey, please cite: Steenbergen, Marco, and Gary Marks. 2007. "Evaluating Expert Judgments." European Journal of Political Research 46.3: 347–366.
Ray–Marks–Steenbergen Survey, 1984–1999
An earlier survey conducted by Leonard Ray for 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996. This combined dataset merges the 1999 Chapel Hill survey with the Ray dataset; the original Ray variable names and party ids are relabeled for consistency with CHES. Can be combined with the 2002, 2006, and 2010 data. The original Ray dataset is available on Ray's website.
When using the 1984–1996 and 1999 survey, please cite: Steenbergen, Marco, and Gary Marks. 2007. "Evaluating Expert Judgments." European Journal of Political Research 46.3: 347–366; and Ray, Leonard. 1999. "Measuring party orientations toward European integration: Results from an expert survey." European Journal of Political Research 36.2: 283–306.