Trwałość przestrzennego zróżnicowania zachowań wyborczych w krajach Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej = Durability of the spatial differentiation characterising voting behaviour in Central and Eastern European countries

Abstract

The main objective of the work described here was to identify core phenomena and processes relating to post-1989 voting behavior in selected CEECs (Poland, Romania and Lithuania). Political and economic changes commencing some 30 years ago triggered the process of transformation of post-communist countries from an economy that was centrally planned and steered, towards one based around the market that was liberal and open to global processes. This transformation was accompanied by dynamic political and social phenomena, as culminating in the accessions of the majority of CEECs to NATO and the European Union. One of the very important consequences of the collapse of the communist system was the introduction of the democratic institution of free elections. Despite decades of unification under communism, differences in terms of political sympathies were still revealed, including with a spatial dimension. One such involved distinct differentiation in voting behavior between cities and rural areas. However, the latter areas were also characterized by visible internal differentiation. Variability occurred not only in space, but also temporally. While the change of influence of individual parties or political options from one election to another is a normal phenomenon, there are more durable changes of a generational character. The researched period proves readily dividable into two intervals, even as all the CEECs considered here are characterised by similar, if regionally differentiated, trends. Thus, in all states the post-1989 period can be divided up into a first (post-communist) part characterized by the dispute between the centre-right, mostly originating from the anti-communist opposition (dissident movements), and the groupings arising out of communist formations. The latter would come to power mainly via support from the inhabitants of rural areas. The second period is undoubtedly linked with the change of generations. People who matured under communism came to be replaced by those who grew up during perestroika and democracy.