Political preferences of citizens of West Galicia on parliamentary elections in Poland towards the post-communist cleveage (Research Article)

2018;
: 7-14
https://doi.org/10.23939/shv2018.01.007
Received: January 10, 2018
Accepted: April 20, 2018
Authors:
1
Lviv Polytechnic National University

The article is dedicated to the study of political preferences of the citizens of historical West Galicia that is in Poland and which consists mainly of two regions - Lesser Poland and Subcarpathian Voivodeships. The main constraint that determined the elections in Poland and other post-socialist, post-soviet countries was the Post-Communist cleavage. These Post-communist cleavage based on the divide between the parties originating from the communist regime, and those with roots in the former opposition to these communist parties. The meaning of "Galicia" and its peculiarities as a region were examined. The author showed that in the results of the parliamentary elections in West Galicia prevailed rightwing and Post-Solidarity political parties. The main premises of such support for Post-Solidarity parties were: the high level of religiousness of local population, the strong influence of the Catholic Church, traditional and individual agriculture, the low level of urbanization, traditions of anti-communist resistance, the tradition of the people's movement, belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, very strong regional identification. Voters in the areas of former West Galicia voted for the parties of their side of post-communist/non-communist division till elections in 2005. This was facilitated by the rivalry on the axis SLD - Post-Solidarity groups, especially if the latter were more united. In 2001, this division begins to disappear and is associated, firstly, with the breakdown of AWS and the division in the SLD, and the entry of new actors on the political scene of Poland. Secondly, new political issues and new challenges emerged. Nevertheless, the post-communist division survived in a changed form, because it became a matter of the historical policy of the political party Law and Justice, which is currently a dominant party in the political spectrum of Poland. West Galicia remained a region of Post-Solidarity forces, and mostly right-wing, however, the post-communist party SLD won the parliamentary elections in 1993 and in 2001 throughout Poland.

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