Súťaživosť vo voľbách starostov a primátorov na lovensku: preteky jedného bežca
Competitiveness in Mayoral Elections in Slovakia: One Man Race

Summary/Abstract: The territorial fragmentation of local self-government is attracting permanent attention due to economic efficiency and the quality of services provided. However, the area of competitiveness in local elections has not been explored in depth. The number of mayors in Slovakia significantly exceeds the average of European countries. This inevitably puts pressure on the number of candidates in elections. The purpose of this paper is to explore competitiveness in mayoral elections in Slovakia and to its development over 2010-2018 and provide another perspective in the discussion on territorial local self-government. The paper uses the competitiveness index and the tightness of the electoral result to investigate the degree of competition in mayoral elections. The data indicates the deficit in local democracy. There was no competition in one of four local government units, and only two candidates ran for mayoral office in one-third of the local government units in the 2018 mayoral elections. We observe an emerging pattern of decreasing competitiveness in mayoral elections in Slovakia. The results suggest that towns of 4 000 to 5 000 inhabitants are the most effective in terms of competitiveness.

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