Page 6 - IDEA Studie 12 2017 Kdo je vas starosta

smaller municipality size. For example, 68.3% of representatives have university education in towns with 10,000-20,000 inhabitants, while this number falls to just 33.7% in municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants. Similarly, 51.1% ofrepresentatives had previous professional or managerial positions in towns with 10,000-20,000 residents, while the same is true of just 26.8% of representatives in municipalities under 1,000 inhabitants. Comparable trends apply also to municipal mayors.
 Several factors can drive the observed association between the municipality size and low share of representatives with university education and previous managerial and professional experience. Looking at statistics allows us to rule out the explanation that a different demography structure would be the only factor underlying our evidence. In contrast, a low number of electoral candidates and also the fact that voters might know local candidates better stand as feasible explanations. Voters thus do not necessarily need to make choices between electoral candidates which would be based solely on information about candidates' education, age and employment as displayed on electoral ballots, as it is often the case in large towns. On the other hand, it is important to remember that even small municipalities bear responsibility for many executive decisions requiring high qualifications on the part of council members and mayors.
 In summary, this study demonstrates that the residential structure in the Czech Republic contributes to limited competition between political candidates in small municipalities, which can reflect upon the quality of representatives and consequently upon the quality and efficiency of municipal administration. Together with the high costs of administration in small municipalities, low political competition represents another undesirable aspect of the highly atomized residential structure in the Czech Republic.
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