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

Let us now take a look at the situation in larger towns located on ethnically mixed territory. Table 17 features the 2006 parliamentary elections results in 20 towns in southern Slovakia. We focused particularly on those Slovak parties that received more than 3% of the popular vote and have already been examined from the viewpoint of their voters’ value orientation (please see Graphs 1 and 2). The columns marked ‘civic bloc’ and ‘nationalist bloc’ feature cumulated figures for two principal blocs comprising all parties running in the elections; individual parties’ placement to particular blocs was determined by their programs, their historical legacy and their leaders’ public statements. Therefore, the former (i.e. civic or rightwing) bloc includes not only the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and the Freedom Forum (SF) but also Mission 21-New Christian Democracy, the Alliance of a New Citizen, the Civic Conservative Party, Prosperity and Freedom, the Rural Agrarian Party and the Nádej [Hope] party. Except SMER - Social Democracy (SMER-SD), the People’s Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (LS-HZDS) and the Slovak National Party (SNS), the latter (i.e. national-socialist or national-populist) bloc also includes the Leftist Bloc, the Party of Civic Solidarity, the Party of Democratic Left, the Association of Slovak Workers, the Movement for Democracy, the Communist Party of Slovakia and the Slovak People’s Pajty. The basic classification criterion was individual parties’ placement on the value scale discussed earlier (please see Graphs 1 and 2). In the last column, the cumulated figure for the national-socialist bloc is compared to election results posted by Ivan Gašparovič in the 2009 presidential elections, as he clearly declared himself as this bloc’s candidate. All data have been calculated for the set of Slovak voters (i.e. SMK-MKP non-voters). With a certain level of generalization, these data more or less truthfully reflect the voting patterns of Slovak voters inhabiting the examined towns.

The table is divided into two basic parts. The data in the table’s upper part pertain to towns located along the ethnic border where the overall share of ethnic Hungarians is below 50%. The data in the table’s lower part are for towns located on territories more or less homogeneously populated by ethnic Hungarians who make up at least 60% of the local population.

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