Tuesday, June 25, 2013
A1.18D (Oudemanhuispoort)
Twelve years ago, Czech voters were able to vote for the first time deputies to regional assemblies. Since 2000, four regional elections have taken place. The new type of elections enhanced the complexity of the Czech multi-level political system by introducing a new type of regional elites which draw their legitimacy from the regional electoral arena. This paper aims to further increase our understanding of regional elections, the electorate and voting behavior in the Czech Republic. The analysis focuses on the territorial heterogneity in the vote in national and regional elections by looking at the congruence between both types of election, and also explores second-order election effects: turnout and vote share changes between national and regional elections for parties in national and regional government.
