national populism and slovak – hungarian relations in - MEK

National Populism and Electoral BehaviourLet us now take a look at the situation in larger towns located on ethnicallymixed territory. Table 17 features the 2006 parliamentary electionsresults in 20 towns in southern Slovakia. We focused particularly on thoseSlovak parties that received more than 3% of the popular vote and havealready been examined from the viewpoint of their voters’ value orientation(please see Graphs 1 and 2). The columns marked ‘civic bloc’ and ‘nationalistbloc’ feature cumulated figures for two principal blocs comprising allparties running in the elections; individual parties’ placement to particularblocs was determined by their programs, their historical legacy and theirleaders’ public statements. Therefore, the former (i.e. civic or right-wing)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 NewCitizen, the Civic Conservative Party, Prosperity and Freedom, the RuralAgrarian Party and the Nádej [Hope] party. Except SMER – SocialDemocracy (SMER-SD), the People’s Party – Movement for a DemocraticSlovakia (¼S-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 Associationof Slovak Workers, the Movement for Democracy, the Communist Party ofSlovakia and the Slovak People’s Party. The basic classification criterionwas individual parties’ placement on the value scale discussed earlier(please see Graphs 1 and 2). In the last column, the cumulated figure forthe national-socialist bloc is compared to election results posted by IvanGašparoviè in the 2009 presidential elections, as he clearly declared himselfas this bloc’s candidate. All data have been calculated for the set ofSlovak voters (i.e. SMK–MKP non-voters). With a certain level of generalization,these data more or less truthfully reflect the voting patterns ofSlovak voters inhabiting the examined towns.The table is divided into two basic parts. The data in the table’s upperpart pertain to towns located along the ethnic border where the overall shareof ethnic Hungarians is below 50%. The data in the table’s lower part arefor towns located on territories more or less homogeneously populated byethnic Hungarians who make up at least 60% of the local population.National Populism and Slovak – Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006 – 2009. Forum Minority Research Institute Šamorín – Somorja, 2009147