Spatial differences of party preferences in Slovakia, 1992–2010

Abstract

The study gives an overview of the territorial/regional features of the voting behaviour in post-communist Slovakia where, besides the classic political cleavages, some historically based, country-specific features have also emerged. In the early 1990s, the nationalist-populist HZDS was the only political block which gained about one third of the votes while none of the other parties reached more than 10–15%. At the end of the decade, right-wing, conservative parties forged an alliance and won the elections. Thereafter, the urban conservative SDKÚ and the catholic rural KDH became the two main parties on the political right. The first recruited most of its voters in the big cities and their agglomerations, the second was mainly supported in Northern and North Eastern Slovakia. In the early 2000s, a new left-leaning political group (SMER-SD) was founded on the ruins of the former social democratic party and became the biggest party after the decline of HZDS. This nationalist left-wing party received most of its votes from the earlier SDL voters in the eastern parts of the country and from the former HZDS voters in Central Slovakia. As a consequence of the ethnic, regional and social structure of Slovakia, both Hungarians living in the south and the voters of the extreme-right, living in the northwest are able to have representatives in Parliament. Occasionally, the liberal and the extreme-left parties have also overcome the 5% election threshold, but they do not seem to have a stable voter base.

The Slovak election system gives an opportunity for new political formations to win seats in Parliament while some traditional parties have been able to keep their voter base stable for 20 years. Several examples of voter migrations to and from the traditional political parties are given.