In just under a week the polls will open for elections to the European Parliament. In order to help citizens in Northern Ireland answer the question – who should I vote for? – researchers at Queen’s University Belfast have developed a Voting Advice Application.
The aim of this user-friendly ‘app’ is to help Northern Ireland’s voters identify which political party most closely represents their political, economic and social values using a series of scenarios and policy orientated questions.
The utility of such an app in the Northern Irish case, with its all-prevailing ethno-national cleavage, is of course open to debate (see Mike Nesbitt’s claim that ‘policies don’t swing voters’). Nonetheless, it is an interesting endeavour to establish voter proximity to parties on a range of policy issues removed from the ‘Green or Orange’ debate.
At the very least, it might surprise some to discover who their political bedfellows actually are.
The app can be accessed here.
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