Local lists are present and successful in many European countries, partly already for decades. But generally, non-partisan groups have been regarded as a political anomaly and as relicts of an ‘old system’ of local self-government and it was expected that they would eventually perish (see the contributions of Boogers, Wörlund and Aars/Ringkjøb in this volume; Ueltzhöffer 1975). Therefore, research on non-partisan groups has hardly been conducted, neither within the countries nor was there comparative research between different European states. But during the last two decades, their presence and success have steadily increased and they were able to establish themselves also in countries which had been fully party-politicised before. Furthermore, local lists have been and still are important actors in the process of democratic consolidation in Central and Eastern Europe.