engleski

Croatia: Elections for Weak Counties When Regionalization Is Not Finished Yet

Despite several reforms, county government in Croatia remains weak but more self-government for counties is constantly debated. Against this background we analyze county elections in Croatia which appear to be highly nationalized and second- order elections. Although county elections are held on the same day as local elections turnout rates are relatively low. Party system congruence between regional and national elections is also low which could be an indication of regionalization of the vote. However, this dissimilarity is driven by vote switching between regional and national elections as a result of the second-order nature of county elections. In this chapter we suggest factors which can account for the subordinate nature of county elections and we evaluate evidence for regionalization of the vote.

Croatia ; electoral system ; national elections ; county elections ; second-order elections ; regional political parties ; regional politics

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