Abstract
The article focuses on the local aspect of electoral support for candidates to the Senate, the upper house of Parliament of the Czech Republic. Senate elections use a majority run-off system in single-member constituencies.
First, the article describes the friends-and-neighbours effect, a process of electoral geography whereby voters prefer their own local candidate (i.e. a resident of the particular municipality or area) to opponents from geographically more distant localities. Second, the article examines the phenomenon of 'local voting' in elections to the Czech Senate.
The analysis covers all electoral contests from 1996 to April 2011, including by-elections (except in the four largest cities by population owing to a methodological problem). The data fi le comprises a total of 1420 candidates and their election results at the municipal level aggregated to three geographically defi ned areas.
It specifi cally examines differences in electoral support for a candidate in his/her home locality (municipality of residence), in a nearby neighbourhood up to 10 km away, and the rest of the constituency. Finally, the article focuses on the role of the home municipality's size and monitors how local voting affects the level of voter turnout.