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

Kálmán Petőcz: National Populism and Electoral Behaviour

Kálmán Petőcz

Map 3 (Election results of Ivan Gašparovič) might also suggest that election results of the incumbent president and parties that support him are in ethnically mixed districts ‘improved’ by their northern parts inhabited by more or less homogeneous Slovak population. In order to provide a correct answer to this question, we have to shift the focus of our analysis from the level of districts to the level of micro-regions and municipalities.

Before we do that, however, let us remain on the level of districts and compare regional patterns of electoral behaviour of voters who voted for Ivan Gašparovič in the 2009 presidential elections to those of voters who voted for parties of the incumbent ruling coalition in the 2006 parliamentary elections. Table 4 shows election results of individual parties of the incumbent ruling coalition posted in southern districts as well as their combined election results. The table compares aggregated election results for the set of all eligible voters to specific election results calculated for the set of non-Hungarian voters in each district.

Table 4

Election results of parties of the incumbent ruling coalition in the 2006 elections in southern Slovakia by district; overall results compared to voting preferences of non-Hungarian (i.e. Slovak) voters21

SMER-SD

LS-HZDS

SNS

SMER+HZDS+SNS

District

Total

SlovaksTotal

Slovaks

Total

Slovaks

Total

Slovaks

Senec

18.23

24.0

6.15

8.1

8.83

11.6

33.21

43.7

Dunajská Streda

3.24

23.7

1.64

12.0

0.70

5.1

5.58

40.8

Galanta

18.95

34.8

5.86

10.8

6.56

12.1

31.37

57.7

Šaľa

18.20

33.0

5.11

9.3

6.59

11.9

29.90

54.2

Komárno

7.49

31.4

2.24

9.4

2.70

11.3

12.43

52.1

Nové Zámky (constituency)24.99

37.9

7.39

11.210.49

15.9

42.87

65.0

Nitra

33.61

36.6

10.44

11.411.52

12.5

55.57

60.5

Štúrovo (constituency)4.16

28.3

1.57

10.6

1.43

9.7

7.16

48.6

Levice

22.87

34.1

8.01

11.9

7.35

11.0

38.23

57.0

Veľký Krtíš

25.80

39.3

6.88

10.5

8.06

12.3

40.74

62.1

Lučenec

26.18

38.0

6.58

9.5

8.53

12.4

41.29

59.9

Rimavská Sobota

23.17

39.2

3.59

6.1

8.17

13.8

34.93

59.1

Revúca

31.65

43.0

7.83

10.6

9.48

12.9

48.96

66.5

Rožňava

25.49

41.0

5.55

8.9

7.52

12.1

38.56

62.0

Košice area

26.73

33.7

6.32

8.0

7.63

9.6

40.68

51.3

Trebišov

26.44

37.3

5.99

8.5

6.44

9.1

38.87

54.9

Michalovce

35.53

41.6

8.08

9.5

9.39

11.0

53.00

62.1

Slovakia total

29.14

8.79

11.73

49.66

Slovaks only total

33.0

10.00

13.4

56.3

Source: Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic: author’s own calculations.

Table 4 reveals several interesting findings. Most importantly, election results of the Slovak National Party (SNS) among Slovak voters from sout-114