Inicjatorzy i opuszczeni: demokracja lokalna po gminnych „rozwodach”
The initiators and the abandoned: local democracy after municipal “divorces”

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes 12 cases of municipal splits, which occurred in Poland in the early 1990s. The authors focus on the consequences for the local democracy visible in the data on electoral participation. The quasi-experimental analyses, in which the situation in the municipalities after splits is compared to the situation in the most-similar municipalities, demonstrates that the splits contributed to the increase of electoral turnout and supply of candidates in the local councils elections, but simultaneously limited the electoral competition, measured by the candidates-per-seat ratio. The analyses demonstrate the significant differences between the municipalities-initiators and municipalities which were “abandoned”. The electoral mobilization effect, visible in the increased turnout rates, was significantly stronger among the initiators and this difference remains over a longer period. The results of the research based on the electoral data are supplemented by the analysis of the survey data documenting the opinions of two local communities, which experienced splits: Stoczek Łukowski (rural and urban municipalities), Raba Wyżna and Spytkowice.

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