An Analysis of Electoral Abstention in Ljubljana, the Capital of Slovenia

Abstract

In a democratic political system, electoral participation is regarded as a fundamental medium of political self-realisation and as the most straightforward expression of the public opinion of citizens. Voter participation in elections is one of the most characteristic indicators of authority legitimacy. The higher voter participation, the higher legitimacy of a political system will be. However, in the last few decades, we have been witnessing a distinct trend toward the decline in voter turnout in the world and in our country. The purpose of our paper is to examine the trend of electoral behaviour in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and to confirm the assumption that electoral abstention has begun to increase also in the City Municipality of Ljubljana. On the basis of an empirical research, we want to operationalise some aspects of the theoretical origins of the reasons for abstention from elections to identify the indicators that could clarify the decline in voter turnout. KEY WORDS: • local elections • electoral abstention • voter turnout trend • Ljubljana • capital of Slovenia • city municipality