Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)

Kálmán Petőcz: National Populism and Electoral Behaviour

Kálmán Petöcz

Table 2

Election results of candidates in the second round of the 2009 presidential elections in southern Slovakia

District/constituency

Number of valid ballots

Ivan Gašparovič

Iveta Radičová

Number of votes

Share

(%)

Number of votes

Share

(%)

1.Bratislava city (constituency)

212,332

75,378

35.50

136,954

64.49

2.Senec

29,177

9,884

33.87

19,293

66.12

3.Dunaiská Streda

61,441

3,084

5.01

58,357

94.98

4.Galanta

41,988

14,666

34.92

27,322

65.07

5.Šaľa

21,426

6,611

30.85

14,815

69.14

6.Komárno

47,639

6,165

12.94

41,474

87.05

7.Nové Zámky

65,046

24,230

37.25

40,816

62.74

Nové Zámky constituency

49,270

22,941

46.56

26,329

53.43

Štúrovo constituency

15,776

1,289

8.17

14,487

91.82

8.Nitra

70,073

42,835

61.12

27,238

38.87

9.Levice

49,942

21,163

42.37

28,779

57.62

10.Veľký Krtíš

18,506

8,941

48.31

9,565

51.68

11.Lučenec

27,220

13,043

47.91

14,177

52.08

12.Rimavská Sobota

31,423

13,292

42.30

18,131

57.69

13.Revúca

13,950

7,928

56.83

6,022

43.16

14.Rožňava

23,700

9,691

40.89

14,009

59.10

15.Košice area

40,722

19,943

48.97

20,779

51.02

16.Košice-city (constituency)

90,058

35,687

39.62

54,371

60.37

17.Trebišov

35,362

17,261

48.81

18,101

51.18

18.Michalovce

36,030

22,499

62.44

13,531

37.55

Total

916 035

352 301

35.51649 734

70.93

Total without Bratislava and Košice

623 645

241 236

38.68

458 409

50.04

Source: Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic.

Table 2 shows that especially in southern part of West Slovakia the voter support for Ivan Gašparovič and, consequently, parties of the Slovak national-populist bloc was relatively low. Gašparovič scored a significant success only in Michalovce and Nitra districts that are not border districts and the share of ethnic Hungarians in them is relatively low. Except these two districts, Gašparovič received a majority support only in the Revúca district. In no other districts did he receive over 40% of the popular vote; in Dunajská Streda and Komárno districts, his voter support was below 15%, which seems almost irrelevant. In fact, the situation is a bit more complicated as we are about to demonstrate.

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