Phenomenon of independent candidates in the regional elections in Slovakia from 2001 to 2017

Abstract

The constant growth of support for independent candidates in regional and local elections in the Slovak Republic can be called the manifestation of the current crisis in the functioning of political parties in Slovakia. Such a tendency to support the so-called public and independent candidates has several legitimate reasons. They still hinder the effective functioning of political parties, especially at the level of regional self-government. Factors which negatively limit the process of decentralization of public administration in the Slovak Republic are the following ones: the creation of a single constituency at the level of parliamentary elections, the further undevelopment of regional and local party structures and low voter turnout. The following risk factors at the regional level of large territorial units are the low level of voter awareness, the ownership structure of regional media and its impact on media content, low level of professionalism of regional resources and the lack of effective public control over representatives of local self-government bodies. The oligarchic structure of parties, as well as the low level of party members' base, combined with the high level of corruption behavior of political elites, in the future, leads to greater support for so-called independent candidates. Paradoxically, but the risk of increasing support for so-called independent candidates is the reduction of public control, the low level of predictability of political decisions and the spread of non-transparent and corrupt behavior of representatives of large territorial units.