Wpływ jednomandatowych okręgów wyborczych na frekwencję wyborczą i wyniki wyborów do rad gmin na przykładzie wybranych gmin województwa lubelskiego

The Electoral Code of 2011 made a significant change in the existing rules for the conduct of elections of councilors to municipal councils introducing the principle that these elections in most municipalities in Poland will be held in singlemember districts (with firstpast-the-post system). This has caused the need for a new division of the municipalities into electoral districts. In principle, the new electoral system was supposed to increase the electoral turnout in local elections, increase the number of “independent” candidates and reduce the influence of big political parties on local politics. The analysis of the local elections results of 2014 in selected municipalities of Lublin voivodship shows, that the new electoral regulations in small municipalities increase the chance of winning a mandate by councilor candidates running for the election with support of the incumbent mayor, reduces the chance of independent candidates and reduces the total number of candidates for councilors. Moreover, the electoral turnout was lower than in elections of 2010.