What Issues Will Decide the Municipal Elections?
A Unique Analysis Reveals What Worries People Most
Introduction
Municipal elections are coming up this fall, and you may be wondering which issue is the most pressing in your town. Because we help prepare municipal election campaigns, we were able to draw on surveys from several Slovak towns and cities and bring you a unique analysis of the issues that will decide the October municipal elections.
The data comes from an agency survey of 1,000 respondents and reflects the reality of towns and cities across Slovakia. It covers municipalities of various sizes, including city districts, regional and district towns, and satellite villages. The results are aggregated and recalculated for the overall sample. All data was collected over the same period.
What Makes Us Happy and What Worries Us?
Voters’ mood will be shaped by their everyday experience of life in their hometown. It probably comes as no surprise that, overall, we’re most dissatisfied with traffic and parking, which bother as many as 55.8% of us. More than half of people also view the condition of roads and sidewalks negatively (53.2%), a closely related issue. More than 45% of voters surveyed are also unhappy with development activity and the construction of rental housing, which most towns are chronically short of. On the other hand, people are positive about opportunities for cultural and sports activities (73.4%), as well as green spaces and the cleanliness of public areas (71.5%). We’re also very satisfied with the quality of public transport and transport connections (66.4%).
Now that we know what people like and dislike about where they live, let’s look at which issues respondents think the incoming mayor should tackle.
Our data shows that new municipal leaders should focus on parking policy and the parking situation in their town. As many as a third of respondents named this issue. The second most pressing issue was road and sidewalk maintenance, a thorn in the side of 19.2% of people. In third place came traffic and congestion, named by 15.2% of respondents. In line with the results in the first chart, only 2.5% of respondents want public transport to improve.
Respondents also told us which issues they consider key to their town’s future development. Consistent with the rest of the data, people want to see the parking situation resolved (57.5%) and development regulated (51.7%). The desire to regulate construction is understandable given the dust and noise it brings, but it runs counter to solving the housing affordability crisis. New mayors should therefore tread carefully on this issue. Transport (49.4%) also ranks among the most important issues for the development of Slovak towns and cities.
What Do We Expect from Our Mayors?
Among the issues that concern people ahead of the municipal elections, parking and transport clearly dominate. But who should tackle them? Our data shows that we’d most like to see charismatic leaders as mayors, and we don’t put much weight on specific skills.
In first place was the vague wish for the new mayor to work for the town and its people (26.1%), and in second, the requirement that they be honest and reliable (19.9%). Only 8.5% of respondents expect competence and education from their candidates, putting this requirement in fourth place. The top three is rounded out by the expectation that the ideal mayor should be fair and approachable (11.1%). Fighting corruption is expected by only 3.6% of respondents – a surprisingly low figure that was enough for tenth place. Conversely, a surprisingly high share of answers focused on the mayor being a local patriot and a native of the town, with as many as 2.5% agreeing.
Which Political Labels Do Voters Lean Toward?
Voters’ expectations of future mayors aren’t limited to personal qualities – they also extend to political affiliation. Our data shows that running as an independent remains popular.
The largest share of voters (43.8%) would prefer a candidate without the backing of a political party. The second-largest group is people with no preference, at 31.7%. Just under a fifth of respondents (17.1%) want a candidate backed by a political party.
Conclusion
The municipal elections will largely be about solving traffic and parking. At New School, we prepare tailored strategies for municipal elections and know how to approach these kinds of problems. Ahead of the elections, however, we see that many of us want charismatic leaders from whom we don’t expect solutions or skills. When we vote, though, we should choose based not only on likability but also on competence. Otherwise, at the next election, we’ll find ourselves dissatisfied once again – with four wasted years behind us.
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