Abstract
The electoral geography of Ukraine is predominantly based on compositional effect studies, which consider nationality, language, and foreign policy orientations as main cleavage lines in Ukrainian society. Alternatively, scholars admit statistical significance of the regional factor and often interpret it as a historically constituted political culture. Both approaches are based on census and state statistics data (most often at oblast (regional) level) and construct artificial regions for research purposes. We assume that such approaches neglect underlying territorial configurations of electoral behavior in Ukraine. The paper is based on data at polling stations level for 2002-2014 parliamentary elections. The thorough cartographic analysis was conducted to clarify in what cases phantom borders are manifested in electoral maps and to reveal other territorial configurations of electoral behavior in Ukraine. We found that historical borders influence is limited to voting for nationalists, communists, and parties which are perceived as pro-Russian, their manifestations are dependent on each elections context and parties’ electoral strategies, and they are complicated by the overlapping effects of the other factors of electoral behavior (including administrative borders). The paper reveals that constituency campaigning in single-member districts (SMD) can influence parties’ results at the national level PR vote and that scaling of “our man” voting is essential for parties’ electoral success and is used in electoral strategies. We also accentuate the role of administrative borders, local-national and regional-national alliances in electoral geography of Ukraine.
Highlights
Historical borders is relevant in electoral behavior as well as the Interwar border of the USSR
There are some limitations to the effect of historical legacies on voting behavior: (1) overlapping effects of contemporary administrative divisions, (2) they are not relevant for all parties, and (3) they are dependent on the context of elections and political parties’ electoral strategies
Paul Manafort trial documents (‘Documents detailing Paul Manafort’s work in Ukraine (Part 2 of 3)’) reveal strategic changes in the Party of Regions organization and local politics with the emphasis on local-national alliance and stronger representation at the local level based on incorporation of local elites into the party, which resulted in 2010 local elections win
Summary
ISSN: 2294-9135 Publisher: National Committee of Geography of Belgium, Société Royale Belge de Géographie. Electronic reference Mykola Dobysh and Boris Yatsenko, « Borders, Constituency Politics, and “Our Man” Voting in Electoral Geography of Ukraine », Belgeo [Online], 2 | 2020, Online since 07 May 2020, connection on 18 December 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/belgeo/38851 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/ belgeo.38851. This text was automatically generated on 18 December 2020. Belgeo est mis à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Constituency Politics, and “Our Man” Voting in Electoral Geography o
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
