Parties and Local Democracy 1996: Party Members

In this survey Finnish voters, members of the seven largest political parties, candidates of the 1996 municipal elections, and municipal council members were compared. The party members were asked the year of becoming a member and reasons for joining. Some questions focused on the members' activity in the parties and their interest in elective offices. The respondents were presented with statements relating to municipal policy and politics in general. They were asked to assess to what extent the work of councillors is appreciated, whether they saw themselves as representatives of their background groups in their parties, and how important it was that the municipal council was representative of the municipal electorate. The present state and development needs of a number of municipal services and tasks were canvassed. The party members were also asked how municipal democracy, service production, and efficiency of decision-making could be improved. The respondents were asked who had the real power in their home municipality, how active party members they thought themselves to be, and how active their own local party association was. Background variables included the responden'ts gender, age, occupational group, education, type of employer, and municipality of residence.

本调查对比了芬兰选民、七大政党的成员、1996年市政选举的候选人以及市政议会议员。政党成员被询问加入党派的年份及原因。部分问题聚焦于成员在党派中的活动及其对公职的兴趣。受访者被呈现与市政政策和一般政治相关的陈述，并被要求评估议员工作的受重视程度，是否将自己视为党派中其背景群体的代表，以及市政议会代表市政选民的重要性。对若干市政服务和任务的现状与发展需求进行了探讨。政党成员还被问及如何改善市政民主、服务生产和决策效率。受访者还被询问在他们所在的家乡市镇中谁拥有真正的权力，他们认为自己是多么活跃的党派成员，以及他们的地方党派协会的活动程度如何。背景变量包括受访者的性别、年龄、职业群体、教育程度、雇主类型和居住的市镇。