Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Kálmán Petőcz: National Populism and Electoral Behaviour
National Populism and Electoral Behaviour southern districts is fundamentally different? If such a significant difference truly exists, does it indicate that their views of ethnic Hungarians and their attitude to tackling the issue of Slovak-Hungarian coexistence are significantly different as well? This issue is quite relevant from the viewpoint of seeking effective tool of combating national populism in Slovakia. For instance, one of openly declared ambitions of the recently passed amendment to State Language Act was the effort to protect the rights of Slovaks living in southern Slovakia.5 Violations of their language rights may allegedly be documented by numerous complaints received by the Ministry of Culture and other central government organs. The assertion that Slovaks are ‘discriminated against’ or even ‘assimilated’ by ethnic Hungarians inhabiting southern Slovakia is a common argument featured in public discourse in so-called nationally-oriented media and used not only by SNS representatives but also by HZDS and some SMER-SD leaders. Do these assertions and a campaign based on them truly reflect the views of at least a critical mass of Slovak voters in southern Slovakia? Or is this rhetoric largely designed for ignorant voters from northern districts who ‘never saw a living Hungarian’? We may actually find a partial answer to this question if we take a closer look at electoral behaviour patterns of Slovaks inhabiting southern Slovakia. Sociological surveys suggest that supporters of individual Slovak political parties show relatively significant differences in their perception of the status and rights of national minorities, especially ethnic Hungarians. Before the 2006 parliamentary elections, the Institute for Public Affairs examined the value profile of individual political parties’ sympathizers, including their acceptance of the principle of full equality of all Slovak citizens regardless of nationality. The respondents were presented with two statements and asked to choose the one they preferred (please see Graph 1). As concluded by Bútorová and Gyárfášová (2006), the survey findings revealed that potential voters of SNS, KSS and HZDS took the most reserved and even disapproving position to the issue of national minorities’ full equality. On the other hand, the most liberal were SDK.U voters followed by supporters of the Freedom Forum (SF). In the middle were SMER-SD and KDH voters; yet, the position of SMER-SD voters on the issue was clearly closer to the camp of SNS - HZDS - KSS while KDH sympathizers were closer to the camp of SDKÚ - SF. Generally speaking, though, the electorate of each Slovak political party features a relatively high proportion of those who endorse the statement: “The Slovak Republic is a state of members of the Slovak nation and therefore the Slovaks ought to enjoy a decisive say in it”. 101
