Voting Behaviour

There is a certain amount of naivety surrounding the question of democracy. We have arrived at a situation in which a large proportion of the public has turned against democratic institutions, or at least withdrawn from any engagement in them. And therefore it might look as though the public has become apathetic towards the big political issues of our time. But is this really the case?

Agora Voting is an innovative project using free software to establish social citizen networks for the development of a system for secure electronic voting. Spanish Green party Equo collaborated on this project to carry out Spain’s first real experiment with direct democracy.

In Belgium voting is compulsory. Nevertheless, more and more people choose not to vote.

Voter abstention and the success of anti-Europe parties were two key trends of the 2014 European elections. Since the first direct elections for the European Parliament, a reciprocal relationship has emerged that affects the commitments of politicians, the media, and the voters. This prompts the question of to what extent the media have influenced the events of 2014.

Citizens are demanding more direct democracy, something that the political parties are resisting. However the economic crisis has changed everything and made the status quo no longer sustainable. In its wake, a number of new movements are challenging how political decisions are being made.