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

Kálmán Petőcz: National Populism and Electoral Behaviour

Kálmán Petőcz

Table 17

Parliamentary elections 2006 and presidential elections 2009 in towns in southern Slovakia (%)

Parties/groupings

SDKÚKDH

SF

Civic bioc

total

SMER-SDHZDS

SNS

KSS

Populist bioc

total

Gašparovič

2009

Towns located along the ethnic border (less than 50% of ethnic Hungarians)

Senec

37.77.6

6.0

53.5

23.1

7.112.2

2.6

46.5

40.0

Galanta

33.05.0

4.6

46.8

28.9

7.310.2

4.5

53.2

42.8

Šaľa

33.25.1

4.6

45.5

31.7

7.310.9

2.9

54.5

45.4

Nové Zámky

29.34.8

5.4

44.8

32.9

7.310.3

4.3

55.2

44.1

Hurbanovo

24.62.5

3.0

34.1

29.4

9.713.6

9.3

65.8

56.1

Levice

28.16.0

5.2

44.4

33.5

7.49.1

3.7

55.6

52.1

Želiezovce

28.23.9

3.3

42.1

34.0

8.27.1

4.7

57.8

41.0

Lučenec

25.13.1

5.0

37.2

37.1

8.09.3

5.0

61.7

57.9

Rimavská Sobota

18.12.8

5.8

30.5

37.8

6.012.5

5.2

69.5

69.8

Rožňava

31.03.4

4.1

44.4

33.6

4.210.2

5.6

55.6

46.0

Moldava nad Bodvou23.4

2.4

5.7

43.6

33.3

6.98.2

5.0

56.0

39.6

Slovak voters total

20.89.4

3.9

37.0

33.010.0

13.3

4.4

63.0

61.5

Towns located on territories homogeneously populated by ethnic Hungarians (over 60%>

Šamorín

45.85.3

5.8

59.7

23.3

5.86.4

2.8

40.3

30.1

Dunajská Streda

35.23.3

4.4

48.4

20.220.2

4.7

3.6

51.2

34.5

Veľký Meder

30.01.8

4.3

41.7

21.521.2

6.1

3.9

57.6

35.3

Komárno

33.02.9

5.5

45.8

29.0

7.911.1

4.1

54.0

45.1

Štúrovo

35.03.5

4.6

47.5

24.311.7

11.3

2.6

52.1

45.0

Šahy

34.44.8

4.4

47.3

26.511.5

6.8

4.0

52.3

42.5

Fiľakovo

21.31.7

4.1

31.1

35.6

8.310.3

6.3

68.7

69.4

Tornaľa

17.52.7

2.4

27.1

37.8

5.49.4

11.4

72.7

67.0

Veľké Kapušany

23.94.4

3.3

36.1

43.8

6.96.0

4.9

63.3

52.5

Kráľovský Chlmec

36.04.1

4.5

52.3

31.8

5.81.5

3.2

47.4

60.8

Slovak voters total

20.89.4

3.9

37.033.00

10.00

13.3

4.4

63.0

61.5

Note: If the sum of percentages for civic and nationalist blocs does not make up exactly 100%, it is due to rounding up figures for particular towns to one decimal place.

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

The first significant finding revealed by the data analysis is a relatively specific electoral behaviour of voters from two towns that are in capital Bratislava’s sphere of influence, namely Šamorín and Senec, where voting patterns of Slovak voters are very similar to those of Bratislava residents. In the 2006 parliamentary elections as well as in the 2009 presidential elections, these districts were dominated by parties of the civic (or civic-conservative) bloc and their joint presidential candidate, respectively. In 2006, parties of the national-socialist (i.e. national-populist) bloc won in all other examined towns, regardless of their share of Slovak and ethnic Hungarian residents; the margin of their victory was very thin in some towns and more convincing in others, but it marked a victory nonetheless.

Another interesting fact is that voter support for the national-socialist bloc was stronger in central and eastern parts than in the western part of southern Slovakia. The parties of this bloc enjoyed the highest voter sup148