Participation and Voting Behavior of Poles Abroad in Home Country Elections. The Case of Poles in the US and Canada in Comparative Perspective

The article offers an analysis of an important aspect of trans-national politics: the electoral participation of Polish citizens abroad in the national elections in Poland. The author presents a comparative analysis of the data regarding the elections (both parliamentary and presidential) that took place in Poland in the last two decades (1990–2015), together with major trends, distribution of votes and their possible impact on general election results. The analysis reveals interesting dynamics of electoral mobilization of Polish emigrants, points out possible factors contributing to the level of electoral participation and shows political preferences of Polish voters in the US and Canada in comparative perspective.