1. Social dimensions in party choice in Albania Kristen Ringdal, Teuta Starova, Albert Simkus Paper prepared for the RC28 Spring Meeting in Brno, Czech Republic, May 24-27, 2007

2. 2 Background Class voting is declining in Western countries, and the same goes for other social cleavages What about transition countries? Some of them are divided by strong ethnic conflict which wipe out other cleavages. Albania is an interesting case with no ethnic conflics

3. 3 Elections in Albania Change to democracy in 1990 National elections held: 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2005 The election process has gradually improved

4. 4 The parties Democratic Party (DP), 1990 Largest anticommunist party Socialist Party (SP), 1991 Former Party of Labor of Albania (PLA), the old communist party of Albania. Other right wing parties: RP, LMP, DCP, NFP, LDU, RDP Other left wing parties: SDP, PSD, DAP, SMI

5. 5 Research questions Are Western concepts of class voting and social cleavages of relevance in Albania? Do we find differences among social groups in turnout at the 2001 parliamentary election? Do we find class voting in the 2001 parliamentary election in Albania? Do other social cleavages contribute to an explanation of party choice in the 2001 parliamentary elections in Albania?

6. 6 Data source South East European Social Survey Program (SEESSP, face-to-face interviews, 2003-04. Covering most of former Yugoslavia and Albania. The total sample size exceeds 21000 respondents Albania: n=2048. The fieldwork for the survey was conducted by the private agency, Institute for Sociological Researches. Retrospective questions on voting in the 2001 parliamentary election

11. 11 Summary Social differences in turnout not unlike those found in Western countries Class voting? Yes, but in opposite direction – high class x SP North-South cleavage is the main divide in voting, also explaining voting patterns by religion. Left – right self-classification very strongly correlated to voting for the SP

12. 12 Conclusion Western concepts of class voting and social cleavages are of relevance for Albania, but they need to be interpreted into the special situation of country.