Why is support for Europe's mainstream political parties on the wane?

Fractured parliaments, unstable coalitions and divided governments are the new normal, at a time when Europe least needs them

Just when Europe needed it least, a string of confusing and inconclusive elections this year - from Spain and Ireland to Slovakia and Portugal - has produced fractured parliaments, improbable and unstable coalitions, and weaker, more divided governments.

As countries struggle to shake off the eurozone's financial crisis, migration and Islamist terror are overtaking the economy as most voters' main concerns, magnifying deeper social changes that have seen support for mainstream parties plunge and anti-austerity, anti-EU or anti-immigrant populism surge across the continent.

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