Impact of long-run commuting on the electoral participation as a sustainability dimension

The study examines the impact of mobility on electoral participation as a crucial dimension of sustainability, based on novel, highly granular data on the long-run commuting population, including administrative signals such as those for students and workers, in 7896 municipalities in Italy, to explain low participation rates in electoral competitions. Data are related to internal population mobility, estimating the average round-trip time between two towns of residence and activity. The analysis aims to explore the influence of commuting on electoral participation in a framework of increasing population mobility in Europe. Employing different normalisation methods based on the demographic data of the municipality of residence, comprehensive indicators are arranged. The intra-national commuting indicators, related to population studying or working in a municipality, far away from the municipality of residence, allow for estimating the impact on electoral turnout in micro-territorial areas, controlling the effect of socio-economic and demographic measures. The results show that the areas with economic decline, outmigration, due to relevant long-run commuting population and to limited access to socio-economic resources, often exhibit lower rates of electoral turnout, showing how structural inequalities affect electoral behaviour. The study intends to contribute to research on sustainable development by assessing the impact of socio-economic and territorial inequalities and long-run commuting on electoral participation as a dimension of sustainability.