Geography of political preference during the presidential elections

Straipsnyje atliekama pastarųjų dviejų Lietuvos Prezidento rinkimų (1997 ir 2002 m.) gyventojų politinės preferencijos kiekybinė ir lyginamoji teritorinė analizė. Koreliaciniu ryšiu (Pirsono) nustatoma, kiek įvairūs socialiniai-ekonominiai veiksniai (tautybė, urbanizacijos lygis, nedarbas ir kt.) turėjo įtakos kandidatų į prezidentus elektorato dydžiui Straipsnyje taip pat nustatomi Prezidento rinkimų politinės preferencijos regionai – regioninės politinės kultūros. Darbo analizė remiasi Vyriausiosios rinkimų komisijos ir LR Statistikos departamento pateikiamais duomenimisThe electoral geography is one of the richest branches of political geography. The explanation of elections and their results is one of the interests of electoral geography. There were a lot of elections and referendums in Lithuania after 1990 but electoral geography is still developed poorly. There are just some scientific articles about this theme in Lithuania. The elections still remain an object of sociology and political science, though the political (electoral) behaviour (preference) of voters differs in regions strongly. The aim of the article is to determine the social and economical factors, which used to be influence on the political preference of voters during presidential elections since 1997 till 2002, and to establish the regions of the political preference in the period of 1997-2002. The magnitude of A. Paulauskas' electorate was depended on the share of national minorities and countryside voters, unemployment level, V. Adamkus' - the share of Lithuanians, urbanisation and unemployment (negatively) level, V. Landsbergis' - the share of Lithuanians and pensioners, K. Bobelis' - the share of Lithuanians during presidential elections in 1997. The bias of K. Bobelis' electorate was concentrated at Suvalkija region, the voters of other candidates were distributed in Lithuania evenly. In the second tour the electorate of V. Adamkus was concentrated in cities (except Vilnius) and Žemaitija. The share of pensioners was influenced on electorate of A. Paulauskas and V. Šerėnas, national minorities - on electorate of A. Paulauskas and K. Prunskienė, urbanisation - on support of V. Adamkus, the share of countryside voters - on electorate of V. Andriukaitis during presidential elections in 2002. The support of V. Adamkus took new features since 1997 till 2002: the electorate was concentrated in cities and became very weak in northern Žemaitija. There were A. Paulauskas' and K. Prunskienė' voters concentrated in eastern Lithuania. The President R. Paksas won evidently in northern Žemaitija and Šiauliai county, eastern Lithuania and southwest Lithuani