Voter turnout reflects a population's collective attitude toward democracy, serving as a vital indicator of civic engagement and political inclusivity. This study examines the factors influencing voter turnout patterns in Croatia's 2024 parliamentary elections using multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) which represents an advanced local regression modelling variant. Key findings reveal that regions with above-average education levels exhibit higher voter turnout, emphasizing the role of educational attainment in fostering civic engagement. Similarly, areas with higher shares of Catholics are positively associated with increased turnout. In contrast, regions with larger proportions of national minorities, higher unemployment rates, and larger municipality populations experience lower voter participation. This research contributes to electoral geography by showcasing the utility of multiscale approaches in identifying spatial variations in voter behavior. The findings have practical implications for policymakers striving to reduce regional disparities and enhance democratic participation.

The study aims to characterize the local activity of residents in the context of selected aspects of voting behavior in the elections to district councils in Poznań in May 2024. The focus was primarily on two issues: (a) active participation of Poznań residents in the elections to district councils and its determinants, and (b) differences in the characteristics of candidates for district councils in the spatial context. In Poland, dividing communes into auxiliary territorial units was already possible under the Act on Local Government of March 8, 1990. In Poznań, such division into sub-local units has been in force since 1996. Since 2011, some of the initially functioning sub-local units have been merged into larger ones, creating 42 auxiliary units in the city. The elections were not held in two district councils, Naramowice and Żegrze, and in one part of the Nowe Winogrady Południe district council, where fewer candidates were registered than seats on the council. The primary source of information on the elections was the protocols of the election results to the individual 40 district councils prepared by the Electoral Commissioner appointed by the Poznań City Council. In addition, information on the composition of district councils in the 2019-2024 term was placed on these councils' official websites. The analysis of the connections between political careers was based on information contained in the lists of election committees to the Poznań City Council participating in the elections on 7 April 2024 (State Electoral Commission data). The indicator method was used to examine the spatial differentiation of the election results to district councils (a total of six indicators: voter turnout, candidate load, continued candidacy, the re-election of councilors, feminization of candidates, and feminization of councilors). The research results indicate significant formal passivity manifested in sub-local electoral activity – as evidenced by the candidate load indicator. Participation in these elections, the role of women and representatives of parties and para-political organizations in them, indicates the intensifying process of disintegration of traditional ties in district communities.

This international EU-wide study investigates the relationships between election results and regional economic and demographic development with a focus on left-behind regions. It addresses the growing relevance of spatial inequalities in explaining the support for nationalist and right-wing populist parties. We use self-compiled, unique and comprehensive datasets on (a) regional economic and demographic characteristics and (b) the latest available national parliamentary election results of 20 EU countries. The study presents maps of right-wing populist party support and bivariate regression results based on a regional classification approximating labour market regions. The findings reveal that the "revenge of places left behind" thesis—proposing that disadvantaged regions exhibit stronger support for populist parties—varies in applicability across countries. Furthermore, the study highlights the ambiguity and complexity of defining "left-behind" regions, emphasizing the need to view them as multidimensional constructs shaped by the interplay of structural and dynamic regional factors.

In recent years, a question often raised in public debates concerns the decrease of public services in rural zones and the increasing difficulty to access basic services and equipments (bank, bakery, doctor etc.). The impact of this situation would be the increasing discontent of people living in these regions and support to far-right parties.

However, this question has not been systematically studied by research by using quantitative strategies. Mainly ethnographical studies have been done on this supposed relation.

This paper aims to describe and understand the link between the decrease of public services & equipments and the vote for far-right parties in rural regions.

This paper aims to describe and understand this specific phenomenon in electoral geography by a quantitative approach. The idea is to do an ecological analysis of rural regions in some European exemplary countries, to quantify the difficulty accessing services & equipments, and to study the link with electoral behaviour by using regressions and other econometric tools.