Electoral behaviour of youth in post-communist Lithuanian society
Data of electoral behaviour of Lithuanian population reveal that cohorts of young people whose values were formed after collapse of communism and the transition of the country to democracy are characterized by the lowest turnout levels in the society. Longitudinal analysis shows that as young adults age their level of turnout in the elections remains considerably lower than the level of the older generations when they were at the same age which means that that the life-cycle effect is of little value when explaining the difference. The Lithuanian youth is also characterized by exceptionally low level of interest in politics. According to indicators of voting and interest in politics the differences between the youngest cohorts of voters (up to 29 year old) and the older voters are among the largest in Europe. This paper will be aimed at explaining the electoral behaviour of youth in post-communist Lithuanian society using data of several representative surveys of Lithuanian population, conducted from 1999 to 2012. The main thesis of the paper is that political participation of the older generations of Lithuanian population are based on sense of citizen duty and traditional moral values (e.g. patriotism, religion) while younger generations are characterized by secular-rational values (priority is given to selfish utilitarianism, instrumental orientation, measures of personal benefit and efficacy). The question to be answered is to what extent these intergenerational differences in values helps to explain generational differences of electoral behaviour in Lithuania and what other factors have to be taken into account when explaining exceptionally high abstention of the Lithuanian youth from electoral arena.
