Electoral urbanity in Poland in the early 21st century in the light of the results of general elections

Roman Matykowski

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7263-8383

Barbara Konecka-Szydłowska

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2309-5690

Katarzyna Kulczyńska

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1016-8160

Abstract

An important factor controlling regional variations in the support for individual parties in the Sejm elections of the 1990s was the level of urbanisation. Despite violent changes of the Polish political scene at the start of the 21st century, there are still parties, both new and old, that have preserved an urban or a rural character. Assuming the urbanisation level to be a function of support for both, urban and peasant groups, use was made of multiple regression models to determine the degree of electoral urbanity of three belts of communes situated around Poznan. The procedure rested on the assumption that the equation parameters estimated on the basis of the territorial division of the country (41 districts) or voivodeships (31 poviats) could also describe the dependence under analysis at the level of the commune.

Keywords:

electoral urbanity, regression model, Poznan and its suburban zone