Far-Right Extremism, Elections and Hate Crime: A Temporal Evaluation of Bias-Motivated Violence in Slovakia.

This study examines the relationship between electoral support for extremist right-wing parties and rates of racially motivated and extremist violent crimes across regions in Slovakia. Using monthly regional data from 2011 to 2022, the analysis finds that higher vote shares for nationalist parties—specifically Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, Kotleba–People's Party Our Slovakia, and We are Family—are positively associated with increased violent hate crime incidence and victimization rates. While elections themselves did not consistently trigger immediate spikes in hate crimes, a notable increase occurred three months after the 2017 regional elections, and violent hate crimes tended to decrease several months following the 2016 national election, possibly due to extremist parties gaining political power. Additionally, immigration rates were found to amplify the positive association between extremist right party support and hate crimes, suggesting that immigration concerns interact with political extremism to influence bias-motivated violence in Slovakia.