As highlighted by electoral geography, the deepening of urban rural divide was the most spectacular spatial aspect of voting behaviour in the post-crisis (-2008) era. The rural electorate of emerging new populist right parties and the urban character of progressive liberal political forces strengthened in most western countries. At first look, the situation is similar in non-democratic countries (e.g. Russia and Turkey); the urban centres have a liberal character while the rural areas seem to be conservative just like in democracies. _x000D_
The paper focuses on the capitals of two countries which took an authoritarian turn after 20-25 years of democratization. The author aims to analyse how the two cities and the party preferences changed in the longer run; namely between 2010 and 2022 in Budapest, and from 2011 until the last elections in Warsaw. The illiberal shift happened 5 years earlier in Hungary than in Poland, and the landslide victory gave more power to the Fidesz than to the PiS. _x000D_
Both Budapest and Warsaw are the most multicultural cities of their countries, but comparing to their western counterparts they are quite homogeneous. _x000D_
The paper intends to analyse the connection between the change of party preferences and urban transformation. The housing construction resulted in the emergence of new neighbourhoods lived by young middle class families. It is to be explored if their political preferences differ from those of the old middle class living in the bourgeois villa quarters. Another question is whether the inhabitants of abandoned pre-war slum areas and deteriorating pre-fab housing estates support the populist right wing, or maybe extreme right parties. Finally, the paper will investigate how the inequalities within cities effect political preferences, whether or not they result in a pattern that is similar to the urban-rural divide.

balázs szabó
Geographical Institute, RCAES

 
ID Abstract: 257