VOTER BEHAVIOR IN THE EXAMPLE OF THE ORAVA REGION

Abstract

This article deals with voter behavior in a selected natural region of the Slovak Republic - Orava. The current administrative segmentation of Slovakia divides the Orava region between three districts – Dolný Kubín, Námestovo, and Tvrdošín district. The Orava region is also situated only in one self-governing region – Žilina self-governing region. The Orava region is known as a very religious part of Slovakia, so that´s why we are thinking citizens would vote more conservatively. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the voter behavior in three cities of the Orava region – Dolný Kubín, Tvrdošín, and Námestovo. All those cities are located in the Orava region, but two of them are more northern than others. We predict that the voters in two northern towns – Tvrdošín and Námestovo would vote more conservatively than the voters in Dolný Kubín, which is located in the southern part of the Orava region. The subject of the analysis was the parliamentary elections held in 2020 in comparison with the regional and municipal elections held in 2022. Keywords: elections, Orava region , voters , voter behavior, parliamentary elections, combined elections