Assessment of Socio-Economic Status Relevance for Latvian Electoral Participation

Abstract

In many countries, there is increasing concern about the decrease in the level of electoral participation in all types of elections. The situation in Latvia is not an exception. Despite the fact that the first scientific studies of electoral participation analysis date back to the 1940s–1950s, it is still relevant today to understand and explain the factors that affect the citizen’s choice (not) to participate in elections. The goal of this chapter was to find the factors that influence participation in elections in Latvia, and indirectly how it may affect local government and urban governance processes in the country. Using data from two elections in Latvia—local elections in 2013 and elections to the European Parliament in 2014—the authors examined whether there is coherence between factors of participation intensity and socio-economic status (education, income, employment, and so on). In total, data of 22 socio-economic variables were tested, which are used by the government for planning and organising the development policy of local governments. To achieve the goal, the authors used a logistic regression approach. Analysis showed that level of education is a significant factor, both in the European Parliament and in the local elections. But socio-economic factors correlate more clearly with participation in the European Parliament elections, namely income of the resident’s birth rate and region of residence. Participation in local elections is affected by contextual factors that are specific to each local government.