THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUBURBANIZATION AND SPATIALITY OF VOTING BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

Electoral geography examines the relationship between the spatiality ofvoting behaviour
and different socio-geographical processes. This includes the phenomenon of
suburbanization, the analysis of which has a long history in Hungary, and a number of
studies have alsó addressed the influence ofthe process on votes. At the same time, a study
on the voting behaviour ofthe Budapest agglomeration has been publishedfór 14years,
and the examination of agglomeration areas in this respect analysed only the results of
three elections. However, based on the results ofthe last nine parliamentary elections, the
present research reveals the relationship between suburbanization and voting behaviour
with a long time series quantitative analysis. This provides an answer to the question of
whether the Hungárián political cleavage follows the trends observed in the Anglo-Saxon
world (thatwhile in the city centre people tend to vote more liberói or left-wing, the suburbs
are more supportive of right-wing parties) or has retained its distinctive post-socialist
peculiarities. Based on our results, in addition to thefact that out movers continue to take
theirpartypreference with them, so the support ofthe leftwas higher in the suburban zone,
although it has recently become more similar to the model observed in the West