The role of politically relevant attitudes and value orientations in electoral decisions. The Czech Republic in 1996

Voting behaviour is generally not so much a matter of choosing one party ou t of a list of all parties on a ballot paper, but rather a choice between a much smaller number of acceptable parties. Typical voting behaviour may be supposed to be a choice between two parties. It is not a matter of a singl e important or dominant political attitude or value, but rather a complex p rocess involving many different factors, some of which reinforce each other , while others are in contrast or even conflict. This article tries to iden tify the role of politically relevant values and attitudes in voting behavi our in the Czech Republic. As the results of earlier analysis show that the re has been a process of intensive crystallisation of left-right political orientations, this article concentrates primarily on declared left-right or ientation (self-positioning on the left-right axis) and on value-based left -right orientation (as measured by a series of indicators). The analysis of data from research carried out at the end of 1996 showed that declared lef t-right orientation is a far stronger in;fluence on voting behaviour than i s left-right orientation based on socio-econonmic values. This difference a lso indicates that an increasing inclination towards left-wing values and t he paternalistic state currently presents a certain barrier to open (declar ed) support for left-wing political parties.