THE MAIN ELECTION RESULTS IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC GROUPS

As the data of Table 1 show, a considerable part of pollers was going to take part in voting already long before the elections. Thus, in March there were almost 50% of such electors. As the date of the elections was drawing nearer, the number of those who decided to vote was gradually increasing owing to those who at first had either not been going to vote, or had not yet decided what to do. A comparison of the opinion poll results concerning the present elections with the previous ones shows a visible reduction in the number of those who indicated that they were going to take part in voting: if in 2004 four months before voting 22.5% thought so, than in 2008 in the same period of time before the elections – already 18.4%. Simultaneously the number of those who did not make up their mind grew considerably: in September two weeks before voting their number constituted almost a quarter of the electors’ payroll (in 2004 – only 11.6%). Consequently we may ascertain that electoral apathy and indifference of voters towards parliamentary elections is gradually growing in the society, and for its turn it directly points at the minimal influence of the modern parliament on public life.

Results of the October after-elections opinion poll showed that the actual appearance of voters at the polling stations had turned out to be close to the forecasted one and had only slightly exceeded the ascertained by the previous opinion polls intention of the population to take part in voting. As it follows from Picture 1, the number of positive answers of voters about their appearance exceeded September expectations by 5%. At the same time, the number of those who had not taken part in voting exceeded the intentions revealed in September twofold. As it can be seen 76% of those who had not given a definite answer about their intentions at the beginning of September did not take part in voting on September, 28.

Appearance at the polling stations depending on gender and age of electors did not turn out to be unexpected: as it can be seen from Pictures 1 and 2, women and people of older ages took part in voting more actively. As a matter in fact, women in particular predominate in the older age groups. Young people under 30 took part in voting least actively – among them appearance exceeded non-appearance only by four per cent (50.6% vs. 46.7%).

Bar charts in Pictures 3 and 4 show that people with primary and incomplete secondary education (73.6%), public sector employees (71.9%) and pensioners (79.4%) participated in voting in the most active way. Private sector employees and students took part in voting least actively. In these two groups appearance turned out to be even 1-2% lower than non-appearance.

As for the regions, the highest activity in voting was manifested by residents of Brest (79.2%), Gomel (76.9%) and Vitebsk (71.8%) regions (Picture 5). Residents of Mogilev region (49.2%) and Minsk (54.9%) showed the least activity. The maximum non-appearance of voters also turned out to be in these two regions – 44.8% in Mogilev region and 42.3% in Minsk. The bar chart in Picture 6 clearly demonstrates growth of non-appearance with diminution of the size of a settlement – from 56.9% in big (over 50 thousand residents) towns to 78.2% in villages.

As it follows from the bar chart in Picture 7, the lower the per capita income of voters, the higher their appearance at the polling stations turned out to be and, accordingly, the lower their non-appearance was. This may testify to dissatisfaction of less well-to-do groups of voters with their living conditions and to their desire to change them with the help of the elections.

As the bar chart in Picture 8 shows, candidates-adherents of the president were supported 1.6 times more by female voters (38.3%) than by male voters (23.7%). Candidates-adherents of the opposition had twice as many male electors (5.8%) than female ones (2.8%) in view of the general little support. As for independent candidates, the voting did not reveal any difference according to gender.

As the bar chart in Picture 9 shows, support of candidates-adherents of the president grows considerably with the voters’ age increase. Thus, if in the group of young people less than 30 years of age they were supported by 14% of voters only, than in the next age-group (from 30 up to 50 years of age) they got already almost twice as many votes (24.1%), and in the oldest age-group – 3.5 times more (49.7%). Support of opposition and independent candidates in groups under 50 years of age is almost equal. In the oldest age group in comparison with two former ones, their support is noticeably lower. Only in the youth age group, independent candidates got more votes than candidates-adherents of the president did.

Voting results depending on the electors’ level of education turned out to be quite expected. As it can be seen from the bar chart in Picture 10 support of candidates-adherents of the president is visibly decreasing with the growth of the education level. If among the electors with education below secondary one, it reaches 51.4%, when by the electors with higher education it hardly exceeds 22%. Support of independent candidates increases simultaneously with the growth of the education level. Although in all the education groups’ candidates-supporters of the president gained victory, in the group with higher education independent candidates almost caught up with them.

As it follows from Picture 11, candidates-adherents of the president got the largest support from pensioners (58.3%) and public sector employees (27.6%), the smallest – from students (7.5%) and private sector employees (14.8%). In these two latter groups, candidates-oppositionists gained the largest support (8.2% and 6.2% accordingly). Independent candidates were supported most of all by housewives and the unemployed (18.6%) and by public sector employees.

As it follows from the bar chart in Picture 12, voters of Grodno and Brest regions provided the largest support for the candidates of the authorities – 42.7% and 37.6% accordingly. The lowest support was provided for them in Minsk (20.2%) and in Mogilev region (23.5%). Opposition candidates also were supported most of all in Grodno (8.4%) and Brest (5.9%) regions, least of all – in Minsk (1.6%) and in Minsk region (1.3%). Independent candidates were most of all supported in Gomel (20.5%) and Minsk (19.2%) regions, least of all – in Grodno (3.9%) and Vitebsk (8.6%) regions. Candidates of the authorities won a convincing victory in all the regions; and in all the regions (except Grodno one) independent candidates got more votes than representative of the opposition.

Support of candidates of the authorities grows noticeably with the diminution of the settlement size (Picture 13). If in cities they got 24.5% of votes, than in towns it was already 27%, and 46.1% in villages. Opposition candidates were also most of all supported in villages (5%), and independent ones – in towns (19.8%).

As it can be seen in Picture 14, electoral activity of the population in general visibly decreases with the growth of the per capita income. At the same time, the level of income exerts almost no influence on distribution of support of these or those candidates, positioned depending on their political membership. In both income groups victory was gained by candidates of the authorities, and representatives of the opposition got the minimum of votes.

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