9 June 2011
Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the Free University of Amsterdam have joined forces to produce voter compasses for elections in young democracies around the world.
These will give voters an opportunity to go online and discover which party comes closest to their own political viewpoints. The first version with be an Arabic and English voter compass for the forthcoming elections in Tunisia and Egypt. In 2012 we will present versions for Morocco, Senegal and Kenya.
Given the limited availability of internet access in the Arab world and Africa, for instance, the Voter Compass will be available both as a website and in a ‘lite’ version for mobile phones. For those with no internet and no phone, we will also produce a version which can be printed in newspapers.
The Voter Compass contains statements about issues like law and order, national defence, moral values and parliamentary reform. The reactions of the voter to each of these statements are then compared with the platforms of the political parties involved to produce a transparent indication of the degree of ‘match’.
RNW editor-in-chief Rik Rensen adds: “This collaboration fits perfectly with our activities regarding free speech. Don’t forget that entire generations in counties like Tunisia and Egypt have grown up in a dictatorship. Political freedom of choice is a new and potentially complex concept. It’s an important task for RNW, providing reliable information in these countries about their own situation, in their own language, and to help them make their own choices.”
Experts in the field help put together a voter compass in which the major political issues are addressed. RNW will provide journalistic analyses on the basis of the responses by online users, either by itself or in concert with media partners.
André Krouwel, academic director of the Voter Compass and political scientist at the Free University, is pleased with this international initiative.
“Many people assume the Voter Compass is only known and used in the Netherlands, but in recent years we have made voter compasses for other countries. At the moment we are active in Turkey in connection with the forthcoming elections there. It’s wonderful that we’re working with RNW to make an original Dutch tool like this available in countries where it is vital that citizens have access to impartial information about the positions of the political parties.”
AllAfrica – All the Time
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RNW Presents International Voter Compasses