PRO-WESTERN ATTITUDES IN THE FIVE CENTRAL AND EAST EUROPEAN STATES: ELECTORAL BEHAVIOR

Abstract

This article examines electoral behavior in the post-communist countries of Central
and Eastern Europe (Poland, the Baltic States and Ukraine). The main aim is to analyze
electoral behavior in particular sub-national territories in order to discover differences and
common trends in the countries examined. The article discusses interconnections between
socio-economic, ethnic, and cultural characteristics of particular sub-national territories and
the attitudes of their inhabitants expressed in voting results and opinion polls. The factor of
post-World War II immigration (historic immigration) seems to still determine regional
culture (including political preferences) in all the countries under consideration. The specific
details of electoral behavior are analyzed using quantitative method. This method helps to
examine the results of parliamentary and presidential elections and EU accession referenda
of 2003. Correlations between independent and dependent variables repeated in a number of measurements show certain tendencies within each examined country. The totality of such
tendencies demonstrates common trends of electoral behavior in post-communist space.