Supported by: Open Society Foundation (project support); Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, and Západoslovenská energetika (both institutional support).

Project span: September 2010 – May 2011

Project team: IVO and external collaborators

Objective: The aim of the project is to offer a comprehensive analysis of Slovak parliamentary elections held in June 2010. The team of researchers and analysts focused on the following issues: Which factors have affected the result of the 2010 parliamentary elections? What are the similarities and differences between the political development of Slovakia and of the other Visegrad (V4) countries? How has voter support of the two main party blocks developed in the long run? What have been the trends in voter turnout and electoral behavior? What were the key issues of political discourse before the elections and how efficient were political parties’ campaigns in addressing potential voters? Did the elections bring a breakthrough, or rather continuity in Slovak foreign policy? How can they be evaluated from gender perspective? How has the political climate in Slovakia changed in the first months following the elections?

Within the project, the authors analyzed Central European contexts and foreign policy implications of the 2010 elections, political landscape, electoral behavior including its gender dimension; election issues, campaign and communication.

Outputs: Analytical publication Slovak Elections ‘10: A Chance for Change (Slovenské voľby ’10: Šanca na zmenu)