national populism and slovak – hungarian relations in - MEK

National Populism and Electoral BehaviourTable 10Voting patterns of Slovak voters from neighbouring villages on the ethnicborder (%) Source: Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, author’s own calculations.It is plain to see from Table 10 that electoral behaviour patterns of Slovakvoters inhabiting two neighbouring villages located on the ethnic border aresignificantly different. While the purely Slovak village shows continuouslystrong support for national-socialist (i.e. national-populist) forces, in theneighbouring village with mixed population and a significant share ofSlovak repatriates from Hungary (and their descendants) voter support forthese forces is substantially lower although it shows an increasing trend.Nevertheless, a comparison of voter support for national populists (i.e. ¼S-HZDS and SNS) and social populists (i.e. ZRS, KSS and SMER-SD) inboth villages justifies the following hypothesis: the growth in voter supportfor national-socialists in Nový Tekov has been driven by sensitivity tosocial rhetoric used by social populists (i.e. SMER-SD and Ivan Gašpa -roviè) whereas voters from Starý Tekov continue to respond to nationalpopulistrhetoric used by the SNS and the ¼S-HZDS.National Populism and Slovak – Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006 – 2009. Forum Minority Research Institute Šamorín – Somorja, 2009135