Polis research agency analyst Ján Baránek blames the lower voter turnout in the second round of Slovakia's regional elections (well below 20 percent) on the fact that voters of candidates who failed to move into the run-off did not vote, the TASR newswire wrote.
Candidates for four governorships in Trenčín, Banská Bystrica, Bratislava and Prešov lacked staunch voters and voting recommendations of those unsuccessful contenders in the first round were not always followed by their supporters, Baránek said.
Baránek said that extremists have very disciplined voters giving an example of Marián Kotleba, who ran for the post of governor in Banská Bystrica. Kotleba, a leading figure of the outlawed Slovenská Pospolitosť (Slovak Togetherness) organisation, managed to get his voters to follow recommendation in the run-off vote and vote for Jozef Mikuš, who came surprisingly close. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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