Slovak Extreme Right and its Support based on Local Roma Incidence

In recent years the radical right changed in Slovakia. Once powerful Slovak National Party weakened while a new and more extreme People`s Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) started to rise. Though the party gained only lower results in its first two general elections 2010 and 2012, last year its leader got elected as regional president while beating the candidate of ruling party Smer-SD which currently dominates the domestic politics. The ideology of LSNS is aimed strongly against Roma minority, which represents nearly one tenth of Slovakia’s population. Our paper concentrates on the support of LSNS in respect to local Roma incidence. Using linear regression we analyze the party’s results in general elections 2012 on the municipal level. As for the independent variables, we include the share of Romas in towns and a unique typology of the character of their settlement. We also test these variables while controlling for the towns’ population.