The Slovak parliament. (source: TASR)
If the elections were to turn out based on the latest survey by the AKO polling agency, approximately 30 Slovak districts would not have any representatives in the parliament.
In this article, the daily Sme assumed, for the sake of simplicity, that voters would not circle candidates and that the mandates would be shared by the highest-ranking candidates on the lists of parties. Among them, up to a third have permanent residence in Bratislava.
This is partly due to the capital city effect - a large number of the elites leaving corners of Slovakia to settle in Bratislava, where there are more job opportunities. But an even more important factor is the system of a single constituency. The creation of a candidate list is a decision of the close leadership of the party, which is mostly concentrated in Bratislava.
The representation of various Slovak distrcits on the parties' candidate lists, with most - 54 - being from Bratislava. Districts coloured in deep grey would not have any representation. (source: SME)
According to electoral geographer Tibor Madleňák from Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, central Slovakia, the system of a single constituency does not force party leaders to look for personalities in the regions. Party leaders are basically comfortable with this system because no one threatens their power.
Although many candidates from the Slovak regions can be found on the lists, as the daily Sme analysis shows, the higher on the list, the more often they come from the western Slovakia districts.
