Czech Political Parties and Their Voters: An Analysis of Voting Patterns in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Analyzes voting patterns in the 1992 & 1996 parliamentary elections of the Czech Republic, aiming to identify voter motives for & against the political parties involved. Shifts in votes & voter reasons for their choices are charted, using data from a TV exit poll (N = 12,222) & several smaller voter surveys. The patterns are mapped according to the Left-Right political spectrum & sympathies/antipathies for six particular parties. Analysis shows that the party claiming the most votes, the left-wing social democrats, drew voters from the center & the extremes & appealed to the average median voter profile. Negative voting (ie, voting against candidates) proved to be a significant voting motivation. These trends in both elections place the Czech political party dynamic on course with political scenes common to stable Western democracies.