Analytické možnosti využití preferenčních hlasů při výzkumu volebního chování ve volbách zastupitelstev obcí
Radek Kopřiva
Analytical possibilities of utilizing preferential votes in the research of voting behaviour in municipal council electionIn municipal policy research the issue of party systems is one of the core areas of interest. Mainly the variables that shape party systems are studied. In this context, in a number of case studies attention is devoted to local contextual factors which influence the decisions of voters in elections of municipal councils, and which are often used in the conclusions of such conceived works to interpret both personnel and party filling of positions in local politics. A smaller number of analytical works are based on the “reverse” (inductive) view. Their goal is usually to understand and explain the forms of behaviour (usually of voters) on the basis of available data (mostly election results). This second view is also used in a work whose results are published in this article. The work deals with preferential votes for candidates running for representative seats in the municipal elections. The key objective is to verify the applicability of this data to interpret voting behaviour and the fundamental nature of the local political process.
