Comparative Spatial Analysis of Electoral Behavior in the Regions of Russia's Neighbor States

The article contains comparative spatial analysis of the electoral behavior of residents in regions of Russia's neighbor states. Problems of electoral behavior often become the subject of studies. However, the electoral behavior of residents of foreign border regions usually attract less attention. Moreover, spatial analysis is proving to be a promising area in studying the electoral behaviour as it makes it possible to identify patterns and the neighborhood effect and conduct a mathematically sound analysis of phenomena. The authors aim to identify and compare the patterns of electoral behavior in the regions of Russia's neighbor states based on the results of the parliamentary elections in 2007-2020, using the methods and tools of spatial analysis. By means of a specially developed comparative digital two-dimensional matrix reflecting the positions of political parties, a number of cartograms showing the distribution of votes for similar political forces in each electoral cycle were created, which made it possible to identify general trends in the transformation of electoral behavior in the regions of states bordering Russia. The article reveals a significant differentiation in electoral areas in terms of support for anti-Russian and pro-Russian parties in the period under review. At the same time, a dynamic comparison of the electoral results of parties during several electoral cycles showed that diversity decreased after 2014. In addition, indicators of spatial dependence show the similarity of political preferences of residents of neighboring regions. Moreover, the stability of many identified territorial clusters over time was revealed.

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