national populism and slovak – hungarian relations in - MEK

Kálmán PetõczNational Populism and Slovak – Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006 – 2009. Forum Minority Research Institute Šamorín – Somorja, 2009Table 17Parliamentary elections 2006 and presidential elections 2009 in towns insouthern Slovakia (%) 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 specificelectoral behaviour of voters from two towns that are in capitalBratislava’s sphere of influence, namely Šamorín and Senec, where votingpatterns 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 otherexamined towns, regardless of their share of Slovak and ethnic Hungarianresidents; the margin of their victory was very thin in some towns and moreconvincing in others, but it marked a victory nonetheless.Another interesting fact is that voter support for the national-socialistbloc was stronger in central and eastern parts than in the western part ofsouthern Slovakia. The parties of this bloc enjoyed the highest voter sup-148