ABSTRACT
Democratic self-government at the local level in Slovakia was renewed in 1990. The local electoral system has not been significantly changed and has remained simple and stable. Eight local elections have been organized in total, and their results show a few interesting trends and outcomes. First of all, it seemed that there was a kind of clear urban-rural cleavage in terms of local electoral results, especially in the 1990s. However, this cleavage has become blurred in more recent local elections. While rural political environments used to be much less competitive, the phenomenon of incumbency has also become common in urban centers. A similar trend can be seen regarding independent and female candidates: their representation at the local level has gradually increased in both rural municipalities and urban centers.
