Wybory sołtysów i rad sołeckich. W poszukiwaniu prawideł rywalizacji wyborczej w organach pomocniczych samorządów gmin wiejskich w Polsce
Village head and village council elections. In search of the rules of rivalry in elections to the auxiliary bodies of rural communes in Poland

Summary/Abstract: The method and rules of elections of village heads and village council-members, which are conducted at meetings of village residents, are one of the last examples of direct democracy. Even though this form of democracy has been studied and described previously, the electoral rivalry within rural communities is marginalized; therefore, it is little known. The paper tries to define the features of electoral competition and analyze rivalry at this level of government. It has been based on a case study of one commune and three research methods have been used: direct observation, document analysis and personal interviews. Additionally, the paper presents sociological and demographic studies on some of the newly elected village heads and their councils.

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