Voting Advice Applications in Europe. The State-of-the-Art

As the rise of the internet has transformed the world of information in democratic societies, so it has changed the patterns of political communication in Western democracies. With regard to electoral campaigns, the internet has quickly established itself as an essential medium alongside the traditional media (newspapers, television). Contemporary publics can choose from a growing number of partisan websites providing detailed information on the behalf of specific parties and candidates. At the same time, the interactive possibilities of the internet have generated new opportunities for accessing non-partisan sources of political information. A major innovation in this respect is represented by the so-called Voting Advice Applications (VAAs). VAAs have literally taken Europe by storm in the past decade, with millions of voters turning to these web-based tests at election time. In essence, VAAs are online databases of parties’ positions on a number of core policy issues. By comparing users’ position on those issues with that of the parties, the application produces a sort of voting advice – usually in the form of a rank-ordered list, at the top of which stands the party closest to the user’s policy preferences. Such applications are aimed primarily at increasing voters’ understanding of what parties stand for at a very cheap cost (in terms of procurement, analysis, and evaluation) by means of an immediate and enjoyable approach. In turn, this can increase voters’ interest in political matters, motivate them to discuss about politics, and hopefully gather further information.