Zachowania wyborcze mieszkańców polskiej wsi = Electoral behaviour of Poland’s rural population

Bański, Jerzy (1960– ); Mazur, Marcin (1982– ); Kowalski, Mariusz

doi:0033-2143

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Zachowania wyborcze mieszkańców polskiej wsi = Electoral behaviour of Poland’s rural population Bański, Jerzy (1960– )Mazur, Marcin (1982– )Kowalski, Mariusz

Object structure

Zachowania wyborcze mieszkańców polskiej wsi = Electoral behaviour of Poland’s rural population

Przegląd Geograficzny T. 81 z. 4 (2009)

Bański, Jerzy (1960– ) : Autor ; Mazur, Marcin (1982– ) ; Kowalski, Mariusz

parliamentary elections ; rural areas ; Poland

Since 1991, the observed parliamentary elections in Poland have been characterized by great spatial diversity in terms of support for individual political options. Among these options, it is possible to distinguish the right and the elitarian groupings deriving from the 1980’s opposition to the communist authorities, as well as the peasant and left camps to a large extent based around circles linked with the former system. The aforementioned options form two axes of division: an ideological one (left and right), and a socio-economic one (the peasant and elitarian camps). In the five investigated parliamentary elections (of 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007), it was mostly the peasant option and, to a lesser degree, the right-of-centre and left-of-centre parties that enjoyed widespread support from the rural population, with the elitarians only receiving much more limited backing. In general terms, the population from east-central Poland showed a preference for the peasant option; inhabitants living in the south and partly in the north (the Podlasie and Kaszuby regions) opted for the right, while western Poland supported the left. Among factors responsible for electoral behaviour, the population’s socio-professional profile and historical and cultural conditioning as broadly conceived are of primary significance. Differentiation of these factors has been shaped down the centuries. The period of the Partitions, which took place at a time of fundamental socio-economic transformation related to the transition from the agrarian to the industrial era, was of particular importance. Also crucial was the post-war shift in Poland’s borders, and the ensuing population migration; as well as changes in the system of ownership. The electoral behaviour of some regional groups forming distinct “islands” make it difficult to offer an unequivocal assessment of the major factors influencing electoral preferences. Nevertheless, the studies carried out indicate that there are clear connections between these factors, and that these relations are much stronger in rural areas than in towns or cities. The traditional forms of ownership (including individual farms) are conducive to the maintenance of traditional social structures, thus supporting cultural traditionalism. The profound economic transformations characteristic of Prussian industrialization, subsequently strengthened by the system under the Polish People’s Republic (nationalised agriculture) proved conducive to the erosion of traditional peasant culture.

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