Analysts say Gašparovič's voters were more mobilised

Results of the second round of presidential election show that among the voters who did not come to polls in the first round and who cast their vote just in the second one, that the current president and election winner Ivan Gašparovič had the bigger potential to gain.

Results of the second round of presidential election show that among the voters who did not come to polls in the first round and who cast their vote just in the second one, that the current president and election winner Ivan Gašparovič had the bigger potential to gain.

“Gašparovič, when compared with the first round, increased his advantage and I feel that it was mainly his voters who came out,” the TASR newswire was told by sociologist Ján Baránek. The election results also proved that Iveta Radičová did not have her election campaign tuned in the way she should have. “It seems that more of Gašparovič's voters than those of Radičová were mobilised,” the sociologist said about the results.

Sociologist Pavol Haulík shares the opinion that the campaign worked to mobilise the turnout before the second round. “The advantage of Gašparovič before the second round was quite big, although smaller than some pre-election polls have shown, but enough to keep the difference and advantage thanks to the well-managed campaign, and even to slightly increase it,” Haulík said in summing up the election results for TASR.

According to him, it shows that if a campaign mobilises in a way that it alerts about the possible results of the opponent, it energises not just one's own voters, but also the rival's. “It seems that in the future, new ways of mobilising one's voters and keeping them loyal will have to be found,” he stated.

The bigger turnout in the second round was caused by the fact that it was a two person duel and voters perceived it as a contest between the opposition and the ruling coalition to a certain extent, Baránek thinks. “More than 50 percent turnout is the limit which we expected, but I do not think that it is a huge number,” he stated.

Haulík on the other hand considers the turnout in the second round extremely good. “Taking into consideration the long-term trends in Slovakia in all types of elections, including the presidential ones, the increase in the number of voters between the first and the second round seems a very positive feature to me - people seem not to have lost interest in politics and they seem not to be indifferent to public issues,” he said. TASR

Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.

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