On November 6, 2014, Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) in cooperation with high schools around Slovakia organized the third student Mock elections this year (after Student Presidential Mock Elections in March 2014 and Student European Mock Elections in May 2014). The third elections saw a record number of participating schools and voting students.
The Municipal mock elections 2014 were carried out according to the same rules as ordinary elections and took place in 72 high schools in all regions of Slovakia. Students could vote for one of the candidates for the Mayor in the city, where their school is located.
More than 18-thousand Slovak students aged 15+ had a chance to vote 9-days before the real Municipal elections in Slovakia. More than 250 volunteers worked in student elections committees in their schools.
Official elections results
The mock elections saw the engagement of 9,603 voting students from 18,575 eligible voters. The overall turnout climbed to 51.70 percent. Seventy-two participating schools seated in 37 Slovak cities, students thus voted 37 mayors.
Košice was the city with the highest number of participating schools (11). The winner of Mock elections in the city was clearly Richard Raši (almost 50 %). The second place took Rudolf Bauer (19.3%). In Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, eight schools participated. The most popular candidate for students was Milan Kňažko (28 %) with 9% advance compared to second Ivo Nesrovnal. In Prešov (5 participating school) the winner happened to be Andrea Turčanová (25 %). She received only three voting ballots more than the second Pavel Hagyari (25 %).
Two cities - Levice (winner Štefan Mišák) and Žilina (winner Ján Slota) - were represented by four high schools (in each city), the rest of participating cities have one or two schools engaged.
An interesting result came from comparison of voting of students (mock elections) and voting of full-aged population (real elections).
Among 37 cities, in 20 cities the winning candidate was the same, however, in 17 cities the selected candidates were different.
The full results are available in pdf format, in Slovak only.
Results for download
Overview of resunts in the cities (pdf)
Full election results in the cities (pdf)
Press Release - Municipal Mock Elections (pdf)
Comparison: Mock elections and Real elections (pdf)
Mock Elections in Slovakia - IVO project
The aim of the project is to increase the level of public information and raise awareness about the functioning of the fundamental democratic principles and electoral system in Slovakia within the target group of high school students aged 15-18, draw them into the public square and increase their civic engagement through the model elections (of the President of Slovakia, elections to the European Parliament and the municipal elections) and to help increase electoral turnout among first-time voters in elections in Slovakia.
The project was supported by:
- Embassy of the U.S.A. in Bratislava
- Nadácia Intenda (Intenda Foundation)
PHOTOS from schools
Stredná odborná škola železničná, Košice
Spojená škola, Modrý Kameň
Gymnázium Andreja Kmeťa, Banská Štiavnica
Obchodná akadémia, Levice
Súkromná stredná odborná škola, Kežmarok
Stredná odborná škola, Svit
Stredná odborná škola, Stará Ľubovňa
Stredná zdravotnícka škola sv. Alžbety, Košice
Gymnázium Kráľovnej pokoja, Žilina
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We thank schools, teachers and students for carrying out the elections.
Election results are available also on the project website www.studentskevolby.sk.
