It is key for representative democracy not only that elections are objectively free, fair and non-fraudulent but also that they are perceived by the public as such. While the perceived fairness of an election may depend on various factors, today elections are particularly in danger of foreign actors’ efforts to interfere in the election campaign. In several countries, election officials are increasingly taking action to prevent foreign interference with the overarching goal of increasing public confidence in the electoral process. Yet, very little is known about the factors shaping voters’ perceptions of a fair election and the perceived interference by foreign actors.

In this paper, we study what factors influence perceptions of a fair election and with what consequences on democratic system support, measured as satisfaction with democracy. We focus on the 2019 elections for the European Parliament (EP), for which European authorities had instituted an electoral package to monitor and enforce rules against election interference by foreign actors. To examine citizens’ perception of a fair election and of external actors’ interference in the election process, we rely on original panel data across ten EU member states. The repeated measurement – at the start of the campaign and after the elections – further allows us to study how and why citizens’ perceptions changed and with what consequences for satisfaction with EU democracy. The comparative data further allows to examine whether the perceptions, changes and consequences are generalizable or whether they depend on specific country contexts.