de Ciprian Bădescu(EN), Editor-in-Chief Oltenia Azi
The sociologist Ilie Bădescu, corresponding member of the Romanian Academy and director of the Institute of Sociology, commented for Oltenia Azi on the significance of the higher turnout in the local and European Parliament elections on Sunday, June 9, 2024, compared to previous elections.
„Electoral momentum is a truly significant phenomenon. This can mean a reactive manifestation (simply rejecting the ruling coalition parties) or a reorientation of voter preferences, or both. The energy that moves the electorate can be defining for what K. Jowitt calls ‘movements of rage,’ that is, indignation and revolt, or it can be an expression of repolarization and thus a desire to change the current party hierarchy configuration. It’s something between: ‘we are very angry with you, although we don’t know where to turn, we don’t have another preference’ (the effect, in this case, would be scattered voting) or ‘we don’t want you anymore, we want the others’ (the effect would be the vote redirected to another party, possibly AUR, followed by USR),” said Ilie Bădescu, director of the Institute of Sociology of the Romanian Academy, on Sunday, for Oltenia Azi.
