Suchergebnisse

The relationship between Belgian 1988 municipal elections & socioeconomic characteristics of municipalities is analyzed using official election results. Findings show that: higher income has a negative effect on election results for Christian Democrats & Socialists, but a positive one for Liberals; a high number of residents dependent on welfare programs favor the Socialists, while university-educated voters favor the Greens; youth favor the Christian Democrats & the Greens, while urbanites favor the Socialists, Greens, & extremist right-wing Flemish party; the presence of North African immigrants positively corresponds with the Socialists & extreme right-wing party & negatively with the Greens; & participation by the extreme rightists leads to a decline in votes for the Socialists. 6 Tables. Adapted from the source document.

Results of Belgian municipal elections of 1988 and socio-economic characteristics of municipalities are used to estimate quantitatively (by multivariate regression analysis) the relationship between municipal election outcomes and these socio-economic characteristics. A higher average income bas a negative effect on election results for the Christian-democratic party and for the socialist party and a positive effect for the liberal party. A higher proportion of citizens who depend on public assistance has a negative effect for the Christian-democrats and a positive effect for the socialist party. A higher proportion of citizens with a university degree has a negative effect on election results for the socialist party and a positive effect for the green party. A higher proportion of younger citizens has a positive effect for the Christian-democrats and the green party and a negative effect for the socialist, the liberal and the extreme right wing Flemishparty. A higher degree of urbanisation has a negative effect for the Christiandemocratsand a positive effect for the socialist, the green and the extreme rightwing Flemish party. A higher proportion of Northern-African immigrants in the population has a positive effect for the socialist and the extreme Flemish party and a negative effect for the green party.The explanatory values of the estimated equations are moderate and results have to be interpreted with caution. Closer examination of the data show that the participation at the elections by the extreme right wing Flemish party leads to a proportional decline in votes for the socialist party.