Non-partisan Local Government, but Not at Every Level – Study of the 2018 Elections in the Silesian Voivodeship
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31261/spus.12844Keywords:
local elections, local politics, political parties, non-partisanshipAbstract
The 2018 local government elections were largely dominated by the nationwide competition between the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) and opposition parties. In addition, the amendment to the Electoral Code expanded the volume of cities and municipalities where elections were held in multi-member constituencies using the d'Hondt method, which could favor nationwide parties. The presented article analyzes the extent to which this influenced the level of politicization of the Polish local government, which was commonly perceived as a sphere of influence of local electoral committees. For this purpose, we examine the level of support for political parties and local committees in 167 municipalities and cities of the Silesian Voivodeship. The study confirms a positive relationship between the level of party politicization of local governments and the inhabitants’ number in the municipality. An in-depth analysis shows that local committees and non-party candidates for the mayor’s office definitely dominate in smaller municipalities and cities (up to 100,000 inhabitants). In contrast, the largest cities with poviat rights are characterized by a greater degree of politicization.
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