Inter-regional contacts and voting behaviour in Belgium: What can we learn from the 2019 elections?

Horizontal and vertical spill-over in multilevel electoral systems

“…However, this does not necessarily mean that the neighbouring jurisdiction has become irrelevant for explaining election outcomes. Thijssen et al (2021) reveal with survey evidence that Belgian citizens who have regular contacts 9 across the borders tend to have a lower probability to vote for a regionalist party but a higher probability to vote for green and liberal parties.…”

“…In polarized municipalities, modernization-losers are constantly reminded of their poor situation compared to modernization-winners and this constitutes an 'ideal breeding ground' for popular-radical-right-parties such as the FPÖ (Jansesberger, Lefkofridi, and Mühlböck 2021). Thijssen et al (2021) provide an interesting example where voters who have regular contact with voters from another jurisdiction voted differently in the 2019 federal elections in Belgium compared to voters who do not have these interactions. The Flanders and Walloon party systems are (almost) completely split which subsequently significantly limits the occurrence of electoral spill-over (Medeiros, Gauvin, and Chhim 2020).…”

“…9. The extent of interregional contacts is measured by an indicator that summarizes the frequency of holiday, friends, and shopping visits as well as the level of consuming media from the other linguistic community (Thijssen et al 2021). 10.…”