Voter Preferences Research Articles

Ethnic Aspects of the 2022 Hungarian Parliamentary Elections with Special Reference to the Slovene National Minority

Abstract The 2022 parliamentary elections in Hungary offered for the third time an opportunity for national minorities to elect their representative by casting a preferential vote for their Member of Parliament. However, the failure of the list of representatives of the most numerous ethnic group, the Roma, and the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the violation of multiple elements of the electoral system underscored the need for a comprehensive assessment of hitherto experience and for a reform of the preferential minority mandate and the institution of advocacy. This study aims to contribute to this process by examining the institutional framework and the electoral results, with a particular focus on the analysis of minority-related aspects of the last parliamentary elections and the situation of the Slovene national minority.

How voting rules impact legitimacy

Collective action is essential for addressing the grand challenges of our time. However, for such action to be successful, decision-making processes must be perceived as legitimate. In this study, we investigate the legitimacy of different voting methods. Using a pre-registered human subject experiment, 120 participants cast their votes using four voting methods: majority voting, combined approval voting, range voting, and the modified Borda count. These methods represent a range of preference elicitation designs, from low to high complexity and flexibility. Furthermore, we developed a legitimacy scale upon which the participants rate the voting methods. The experiment was conducted in a non-political setting (voting on color preferences) and a political context (voting on COVID-19-related questions). Our findings suggest that the perceived legitimacy of a voting method is context-dependent. Specifically, preferential voting methods are seen as more legitimate than majority voting in a political decision-making situation, but only for individuals with well-defined preferences. Furthermore, preferential voting methods are more legitimate than majority voting in a highly polarized situation.

Current Study on A* Algorithm in Autonomous Obstacle Avoidance

The A* algorithm is a heuristic search algorithm widely used in the fields of path planning and graph search. This paper aims to delve deeply into the principles, implementation, and performance optimization of the A* algorithm in practical applications. Firstly, we elaborate on the basic principles of the A* algorithm, including the definitions of cost function and heuristic function, as well as how to achieve efficient search by maintaining open lists and closed lists. Secondly, we analyze the application of the A* algorithm in path planning problems. By constructing environmental models and designing appropriate heuristic functions, we achieve optimal path search from the start point to the end point. Additionally, we explore the performance optimization methods of the A* algorithm, including strategies such as utilizing priority queues to manage nodes to be searched and dynamically adjusting heuristic functions, to improve the execution efficiency and search accuracy of the algorithm. Finally, through a series of experiments and case studies, we verify the effectiveness and superiority of the A* algorithm in path planning problems. The research results of this paper provide beneficial references and insights for the application of the A* algorithm in related fields.

Thermophysiological responses and thermal comfort of occupants in indoor spaces under different speaking and non-speaking conditions

As speaking is one of the fundamental behaviours in human activities, understanding the thermal comfort of occupants during speaking is crucial to providing a satisfactory environment. To further strengthen this understanding and identify how occupant thermal responses change during speaking activities, this study performs an experiment to examine the thermophysiological parameters and thermal comfort of occupants across three different speaking and non-speaking conditions: (1) silent (i.e., non-speaking); (2) speech (i.e., continuous speaking); and (3) conversation (i.e., intermittent speaking). During the experiment, thermophysiological parameters, including skin temperature, electrodermal activity, and heart rate, were collected using smart wristbands from 30 subjects at three different temperature settings to represent three distinct thermal environmental conditions: (1) Cold: 20 °C; (2) Neutral: 24 °C; and (3) Hot: 28 °C. Subjects were also required to report their thermal comfort perceptions in terms of thermal sensation votes, thermal preference votes, and thermal satisfaction votes. Repeated measures ANOVA test and Friedman test were used to analyse the thermophysiological parameters and thermal comfort perceptions. The null hypothesis, which suggests no significant differences in thermal responses and comfort across the three speaking conditions, will be rejected at a significance level of 0.05 (two-tail). The results revealed significant differences in all three thermophysiological parameters between speaking conditions at all temperature settings, while the thermal comfort perception did not consistently show statistically significant differences between speaking conditions. The findings contribute to our understanding of the relationship between communication and thermal responses, highlighting the importance of contextual factors in designing comfortable environments for speaking-related activities.

Party Politics in West Bengal: Historical and Contemporary Dynamics

Party politics in West Bengal is a complex and ever-evolving phenomenon deeply rooted in the state's socio-cultural history. This overview explores the dynamic landscape of party politics in West Bengal, tracing its historical evolution and examining the key players, ideological underpinnings, electoral strategies, and socio-economic factors that have influenced voter preferences over the years. From the pre-independence era's freedom struggle to the contemporary political dynamics dominated by the All-India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), West Bengal's political journey reflects its vibrant cultural mosaic and socio-political complexities. This paper also discusses the current scenario in West Bengal, highlighting the role of various political parties in recent local and assembly elections. The methodology involves a comprehensive review of academic papers and journals on various aspects of West Bengal's politics, governance, and societal dynamics. While existing literature touches on governance-related aspects like healthcare policies, decentralisation, and power sector reforms, there is a research gap in integrating these elements to provide a holistic assessment of West Bengal's governance model. The paper identifies this research gap and calls for a more comprehensive study that explores the interplay of political decisions, decentralisation efforts, and policy reforms in shaping the state's development and governance outcomes.

The Principle of Unity and Differentiation in Modern Labor Protection Legislation

This article examines the manifestation of principle of unity and differentiation in the field of work safety. The institution of work safety is characterized by an imperative nature of legal regulation. Differentiation is mainly carried out based on the obligations imposed on employers by the legislature. The legislature has established an open list of regulatory acts containing normative requirements for work safety, which implies further development of new types of such acts, providing effectiveness and flexibility in legal regulation. However, there is uncertainty regarding the form, types, and functions of such regulatory acts. It is proposed to legislatively establish a classification of normative requirements for work safety by dividing them into norms aimed at “protecting health from harmful factors” and “protecting body from dangerous factors leading to injury.”

By the people, for the people: Local government's representation of voter preferences under the Affordable Care Act

AbstractDecentralized government is hypothesized to lead public service investments to better align with political preferences across geographical regions, yet there has been limited rigorous testing of this hypothesis. We examine how local public provision of hospital services varied according to political preferences between 2006 and 2016. We use state Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as a source of exogenous variation. Consistent with the motivation for federalism, we find that areas less supportive of the ACA tended to convert the state expansion into lower property taxes with lower public hospital expenditures, whereas, in states that expanded Medicaid, local governments tended to increase public provision of healthcare.

Pork barrel in Türkiye: Distributive politics in the allocation of public investments into Turkish electorates

AbstractWe investigate the political factors involved in the allocation of public investments into Turkish electoral districts. Using a unique data set covering detailed individual characteristics of approximately 2000 Turkish MPs over five legislative periods during 1987–2004, we show that the composition of several legislator characteristics in an electorate, such as the level of education, area of tertiary degree, and former profession, matters in the way pork barrel occurs across electorates. The findings also indicate a strong presence of partisan motivations and targeted support for opposition groups and ideological strongholds in public investment allocations. We also document evidence that a stronger right‐wing tendency in the cabinet, a single‐party government, fractionalized voter preferences, and higher voter turnout in the electorate are all associated with increased public investments into specific geographic constituencies.

Equality at the Polls: Female Representation Challenges in Musi Banyuasin Regency in 2019-2024

In Musi Banyuasin Regency, the quest for gender equality in political representation faces multifaceted challenges. This study explores the barriers hindering female participation and representation in local electoral processes. Through qualitative analysis, interviews with key stakeholders including female candidates, local officials, and community leaders were conducted to uncover underlying issues.The findings reveal several critical challenges. Firstly, structural barriers such as entrenched patriarchal norms and limited access to financial resources significantly impede women from contesting elections on an equal footing with their male counterparts. Secondly, despite legal frameworks promoting gender equality, cultural perceptions and societal expectations often undermine women’s political ambitions. Thirdly, the role of political parties emerges as pivotal, with varying levels of support and nomination opportunities affecting women’s candidacy viability. Moreover, the study highlights community attitudes towards female leadership, where biases and stereotypes persist, shaping voter preferences and electoral outcomes. These dynamics perpetuate a cycle of underrepresentation and marginalization of women in decision-making bodies like the local legislative council. Ultimately, achieving gender equality at the polls in Musi Banyuasin Regency necessitates concerted efforts from various stakeholders to dismantle barriers, reshape cultural narratives, and advance inclusive governance practices

The gatekeeper’s dilemma: Political selection or team effort

Political parties play a crucial gatekeeping role in elections, including controlling electoral resources, candidate recruitment, and electoral list compositions. In making these strategic choices, parties aim to encourage candidates to invest in the campaign, while also trying to secure advantages for their preferred candidates. We study how parties navigate this trade-off using a specific feature of the Norwegian local electoral system in which parties can give advantaged positions to some candidates in an otherwise open list. Our theory reveals that parties’ ex-ante electoral strength impacts their strategic decisions. Notably, the trade-off is weaker for more popular parties, allowing them to facilitate the election of their preferred candidates without compromising the party’s overall performance. We show empirically that the moral hazard concern is real, and that larger parties are indeed more likely to use their power to make some candidates safe. The advantage of large parties extends further: safeguarding specific candidates enables parties to achieve disproportionately favorable outcomes in post-electoral bargaining. These findings reveal new insights for political representations, policy outcomes, and intra-party dynamics more broadly.

Occupant behavioral adjustments and thermal comfort with torso and/or foot warming in two cold indoor environments

Personal warming systems have been shown to improve occupant thermal comfort in cold indoor environments. Currently, there are almost no published comprehensive studies on the examination of occupant behavioral patterns in relation to the use of personal warming systems. Thus, this study presented a human trial study to investigate the effects of torso and foot warming on thermal comfort of young female occupants in two cold indoor environments (15 °C and 17 °C), based on a water warming suit (WWS) and HYB (a WWS combined with heated socks). Besides, occupant behavior adjustments regarding water temperature setpoints for WWS and electrical heating levels for heated socks were thoroughly investigated. WWS and HYB improved occupant thermal comfort at 15 °C and 17 °C, with ≥85.7 % of ‘No Change’ OTPVs (overall thermal preference votes) observed during the last 20 min of exposure. Foot heating can significantly reduce heating demand on the upper torso, both in terms of water setting temperatures and total heating time. HYB exhibited a 25.4 % and 43.3 % shorter total duration with water setting temperatures of ≥40 °C compared to WWS at 15 °C and 17 °C, respectively. Further, occupants have employed a trial-and-error adjustment approach to determine the heating temperature/level that offers optimal thermal comfort in the cold. Lastly, the use of two PWS combinations has the potential to reduce energy consumption for indoor heating by 62.9 %, 32.1 %, and 53.7 % in cities such as San Francisco, Phoenix, and Minneapolis (baseline heating setpoint: 21.5 °C).

MEKANISME SISTEM PROPORSIONAL TERBUKA PADA PEMILIHAN DEWAN PERWAKILAN RAKYAT DI INDONESIA

The aim of this research is to analyze the mechanism of the open proportional system in the General Election of the People's Representative Council in Indonesia by referring to Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections which regulates the open list Proportional Election System, where this system can give rise to a polemic in the struggle for seats. in a very competitive parliament that has the effect of giving birth to an unhealthy model of competition between candidates that only aims to gain as many votes as possible from voters by relying solely on money and popularity. This research method uses normative juridical in answering the problems in this paper. Meanwhile, the results of the research obtained are that an open Proportional System makes it possible for anyone to nominate themselves as members of the legislature. In this system, a person who gets the most votes can take a seat as a member of the People's Representative Council even though the person concerned is at the bottom of the ballot paper.

Ethnic votes and parties' mobilization: A case study of New Zealand

AbstractThe aim of this research is to investigate how ethnicity and political parties' mobilization efforts influence the voting preferences of migrants in electoral contexts. To achieve this, an empirical study was conducted, focusing on New Zealand's two major parties (New Zealand National and New Zealand Labour Party) and their mobilization practice targeting ethnic Chinese voters. This research adopted a mixed‐methods approach, involving conducting interviews with Chinese community leaders and surveys within the community. The quantitative findings establish a positive correlation between a party's mobilization efforts and the level of support from Chinese ethnic voters. Furthermore, the research underscores the importance of genuine targeting, emphasizing the recognition and addressing of the unique needs and concerns of ethnic minority communities, rather than engaging in mere tokenism.Related ArticlesEscaleras, Monica, Dukhong Kim, and Kevin M. Wagner. 2019. “You Are Who You Think You Are: Linked Fate and Vote Choices among Latino Voters.” Politics & Policy 47(5): 902–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12329.McKay, Spencer. 2021. “The Politics of Referendum Rules: Evidence from New Zealand (1893–2016).” Politics & Policy 50(1): 137–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12445.Stokes‐Brown, Atiya Kai. 2009. “The Hidden Politics of Identity: Racial Self‐Identification and Latino Political Engagement.” Politics & Policy 37(6): 1281–305. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2009.00220.x.

The sway of migrant crisis and COVID-19 pandemic on voter preference.

The sway of migrant crisis and COVID-19 pandemic on voter preference.

Does electoral behavior change after a protest cycle? Evidence from Chile and Bolivia

Can protests produce changes in electoral behavior? In this paper, we examine variations in voter turnout and electoral preferences at the local level after a protest cycle. Using data on protest occurrence during the 2019 social mobilizations in Chile and Bolivia and a difference-in-differences design, we assess the impact that street demonstrations had on voting behavior in the elections that took place the following year. We found that turnout was higher in municipalities that had protests, while the incumbent vote was lower. We argue that the effect on turnout is explained by the surge in political efficacy that emerged from the protests. Furthermore, we suggest that the protests enabled more effective blame attribution and heightened the salience of political issues, leading to changes in voter preferences. These results demonstrate the effect of protests on electoral dynamics, highlighting their role not only in mobilizing voters but also in shaping electoral preferences.

Selection of the Shortest Path of Gamalama Eruption Evacuation Using the Astar Method

Natural disasters have no time limit and can happen anywhere at any moment. They put human life at risk and can result in both property loss and casualties. Like those at Gamalama volcano, volcanic eruption disasters are constant and incur enormous losses. There are numerous evacuation sites for self-rescue against volcanic eruptions, and knowing the distance to the evacuation sites is necessary to expedite the self-rescue process to reduce the number of victims. Naturally, the areas surrounding the disaster center must be kept clear. To solve this issue, a mechanism for choosing the shortest path via the astar method must be implemented. As part of the astar method, the shortest path is chosen by first figuring out the starting and destination locations, initializing intersections by turning each intersection into a node, adding the node to the open list, calculating it with weights, adding it to the closed list, figuring out potential nodes that lead to the destination, and saving the results. As a consequence of the master method's application, the shortest route—a distance of 3,560 meters—connects the starting point (the Tubo village head office) with the gathering point (the Salerno field). Bypassing every pre-planned path, which is as follows: No. 1 (Jl. Ake Tubo, Tubo) - Node 2 (Ake et al.) - Node 7 (Jl. Batu Angus No.1, Dufa Dufa) - Node 8 (North Sangaji) - Node 9 (Toboleu, Kec. Kota Ternate Utara) - Assembly Point (Salero Field). Keywords: Astar, Volcanic Disaster, and Geographic Information System.

<i>Skažem tak</i>: Discourse markers originating from verbs of speech in Russian

Based on data from the Russian National Corpus, first and foremost, from its multimedia corpus, we address two members of the family of discourse markers developed from the finite form of the verb of speech skažem (the first person plural present tense form of the verb ‘say’): isolated skažem and its combinations with an adverb or a pronominal adverb such as skažem prjamo ‘let’s put it bluntly’, skažem tak ‘let’s put it this way’, etc. We show that these markers demonstrate a typical pragmaticalization trajectory: unlike the original speech verb, they do not refer to a speech event, their main function is to express a fuzzy nomination, or hedging, i.e., these markers are used when the speaker disclaims responsibility for the possible inaccuracy of the propositional content or of the nomination used in relation to the fixed propositional content. We demonstrate the main shifts in the distribution of these markers, which occur due to the fact that they fall out of the rigid clausal structure and acquire the status of an operator which scopes over discourse segments of various (potentially any) length. We study the main prosodic properties of these markers instrumentally and perceptually and, in addition, discuss the use of markers of this family together with other means of signaling that the speaker needs additional efforts in choosing an adequate expression. These can be other lexical markers of fuzzy nomination, lexical and prosodic indicators of an open list, self-corrections, signals of hesitation (filled pauses, non-phonological lengthening of sounds), etc. The results obtained convincingly show: (1) that even within the same family of markers, the shift from a unit with propositional meaning to a discourse marker can follow different trajectories and lead to larger or smaller shifts in meaning and form; and (2) that the study of discourse markers that uses data on prosody and such specific phenomena of oral discourse as speech disfluencies makes it possible to get more comprehensive lexicographic portraits of single units and their families.

Who Do the Socially Mobile Vote For? A Longitudinal Analysis of Intergenerational Mobility and Political Preferences

Social mobility has become a key public policy issue across the Western world. But who do the upwardly and downwardly mobile vote for? Does their voting behaviour remain the same as their peers in their social origin class, or does it quickly assimilate to mimic the behaviour of others at their social destination? This article presents new, longitudinal evidence on this issue, documenting how the link between social origin, destination and political voting behaviour varies during adult life. We find individuals who move up the social ladder are more likely to vote Conservative than individuals who remain in the same social class as their parents. Overall, an individual’s social origin and social destination seem to be equally important for how they vote. Yet we find no evidence that social mobility is associated with political voting preferences per se; rather upwardly mobile individuals’ greater propensity to vote for the Conservatives is driven by the joint impact of their social origin and destination.

Rethinking representative democracy in Croatia

The article analyses the development of representative democracy in Croatia from its independence to today. During the 1990s, Croatia changed its electoral system several times and had a bicameral parliament. With the constitutional changes implemented in 2001, the legislative power was organized on a unicameral principle. At the same time, the previous semi-presidential system was replaced by a parliamentary one. These changes represent only the basic framework within which representative democracy in Croatia developed over time. An important milestone in this development was the introduction of preferential voting at the national elections in 2015, which allowed the voters to vote for a particular list and a specific candidate on that list. According to some, this improved the problematic state of inner-party democracy, although, for others, the reform was not far-reaching enough. Given that representative democracy does not function in a vacuum, the article also considers the impact of direct democracy on the functioning of representative democracy in Croatia. Referring to the Croatian experience, it argues that this complementary form of democracy had a positive impact on the quality of representative democracy in the country. Nevertheless, in the face of representative democracy in Croatia, many open questions still need to be addressed. The most important one is how to increase the turnout in the elections, which is still comparatively low and arguably related to the low trust in politics.

Judicial Competence and Consistency in the Constitutional Court’s Decision about Open List Proportional Representation

The Constitutional Court often creates new norms that affect the electoral system. Still, sometimes, the Constitutional Court decides cases examining the Election Law as an open legal policy. Therefore, the question is whether the Constitutional Court decides the case in accordance with its competence and consistency in determining cases No. 22-24/PUU-VI/2008 and No. 114/PUU-XX/2022 related to the application of an open list proportional representation system in the DPR and DPRD elections. The purpose of this study is to examine further the competence and consistency of the Constitutional Court in deciding the two cases. This research uses doctrinal research methods. The approaches used in this research include statute, conceptual, historical, and comparative approaches related to the issues being studied. As a result of the study, it was found that the competence of the Constitutional Court in deciding cases No. 22-24/PUU-VI/2008 and No. 114/PUU-XX/2022 was in the context of exercising its authority to examine laws against the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, not as a determinant that regulates and determines which system is most appropriate to be used in the electoral system in Indonesia. The Constitutional Court showed its consistency in deciding the two cases. In its ratio decidendi, the Constitutional Court uses Article 22E paragraph (1) as the basis for its legal considerations so that elections are held with the widest possible participation of the people on the principles of democracy, direct, honest, and fair. This consistency is very important to maintain in order to preserve and sustain the reform mandate that has been crystallized in the 1945 Constitution.