“Man! Where did you get me, man? 17-year-old Joanna looked and looked again at her computer screen, unable to believe what she sees. – Mom, are you sitting? – she wrote to her mother in a chat. “I KKE“. This is the first election contest she has entered, and he aims to do justice to his first vote. He reads, asks, receives information. When her mother sent her a test What2Vote he hastened to fill it. “Should I do it again?”

Based on responses to a total of 30 policy questions, the online survey consultant places the user in a two-dimensional party landscape: the horizontal axis shows our position on economic issues, which uses the classic left-right divide, and the vertical axis is our position on socio-cultural issues. where the progressive-conservative distinction is used. In addition to the position on the political map, the user also discovers the distance separating him from the parties that have been stigmatized by encoding their official positions. When there is clear affinity for a party, the voting adviser proposes a choice of party.

The program is supported by the EKPA Department of Political Science and Public Administration, the Greek Politics Panel of the British Political Research Association, and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Office in Athens.

From April 18, when it was opened for use, until May 2, 75,622 unique users came to What2Vote.gr – more than 36,000 in the first two days alone. The e-voting adviser’s scientific group believes that interest will increase as we get closer to the elections. Is this indicative of a large percentage of undecided voters? In accordance with Bright RoryAssociate Professor at the Department of Political Analysis at EKPA and coordinator of the scientific group What2vote.gr, some of the citizens who turn to the e-voting adviser have not decided.

But it wasn’t just the expected voting decision that stimulated participation. “It is almost firmly rooted in the minds of a significant part of the electorate that the May 21 elections will not lead to the formation of a government due to simple proportionality and the relative unwillingness of the protagonists to move to a coalition government,” notes on “K”.

“This creates a sense of ‘relaxed voting’ also for citizens who are not necessarily undecided, but feel that there is room for ‘experimentation’ or, to put it more clearly, two-round voting, with different criteria in each round. . Given that they will vote to form a government in the second election, they are looking for a voting criterion in the first election and, accordingly, the party for which they will vote. One of the criteria may be the official position of the parties.”

Many posted the result on Facebook as their political profile picture. This is who I am, this is my place, this is my mark on the map.

one of them and Christina Americanou, Head of Communications for the International Cycling Tour of Greece, who took the test, wanting to test herself. He knew that he was in the Center area, but would this also be confirmed scientifically? “In the end I went out more than the Center, you will die” speaks characteristically in “K”. “I also uploaded it to Facebook to test the reaction. I am followed by fans of both major parties who comment on what I upload. It was also a way of saying, “Guys, don’t get mad at me, as you can see, I can criticize both. This was the demarcation of identity. In a way, I defined myself. Okay, if it pissed me off… that’s right, I wouldn’t upload it.”

The test took him out George Paskalidis, 46, head of creative at the advertising agency Socialab, in no-man’s-land, no-party quadrant, right and top (progressive). “I did it out of curiosity, I know where my place is” says “K” (ps calls himself a liberal). “It would be funny to bring me closer to the party because no one represents me.” As he notes, liberals have always had trouble representing the mainstream. Many may vote for the New Democracy, but it doesn’t really represent them. “Liberal means the separation of the state from the church, I don’t need to say anything more.”

Place a card with his mark, inviting other friends to take the test. “Do it yourself, if you want, write where it led you (we don’t judge here, I’m a profile multi-collector, guys, but if you come out as a fascist, I’ll probably block you),” he characteristically wrote. . As he discovered, his friends who belonged to the same space had a similar result, “so the tool probably works.”

For him, however, What2Vote highlights the need to rethink the division. “When, for example, you have a conservative economic policy, like the parties of the left, why should you be considered progressive? The test places the KKE in the center of the vertical axis (i.e. progressive-conservative), even though I consider it the most conservative party in existence. As for the left-right, it is easy to say that we are from here, and you are from there. It is basically a tool for a politician, not a citizen.”

axes

75,622 users logged into What2Vote.gr from April 18 to May 2 – more than 36,000 in the first two days alone.

This is also pointed out by Yiannis Mavrogyorgos, director of strategic planning at MullenLowe Athens, who was one of the first to pass the test. “My main problem is axles. What does left and conservative mean? And if we agree that the typology makes sense, then why is there no KKE? How can you be marginally the same centrists PASOK And Greek solution; I understand the system of axes economically progressive/conservative and socially progressive/conservative. That is, someone may be for lowering benefits and taxes, but also for same-sex marriages.”

Many have passed the test to find a boost to their position in the upcoming elections, but not Nikos Mastoras. The 42-year-old real estate entrepreneur knows what he will vote for. “I am a political being and I will vote for a modern social democracy, PASOK. I’ll tell you something to make you laugh, I took the test twice to… better center PASOK. The first time I was a little closer! I got the impression that he is giving private higher education to the right, or that he is equating the left with Putin.” However, none of his Facebook friends fell from the clouds with a score.

For many, the test will not affect their electoral preferences, which have already been predetermined. “Voting is the result of many factors, both conscious and unconscious,” emphasizes Rory Lamprini. “Political family background, immediate social environment or social networks, the psychic connection of factional identification, retrospective assessment of the outgoing government’s performance in the field of economy, the expectation of a national economy or personal “purse” in the future, the image of parties and their leaders and, more broadly, the mechanisms party and media beliefs, as well as individual socio-demographic characteristics such as gender, age, education, income, social class, are among the factors influencing voting choice. Electoral choice is such a multifactorial decision that it makes sense to support a faction for many reasons other than its positions.”

Looking for a story

As Yiannis Mavrioriorgos also comments, “Identity optimization is good, but politics works differently. their significance for their personal and collective advancement. The Greeks voted for Andreas and Mitsotakis not because they looked like them, but because they bought some vision of where the country was headed and how the people themselves would prosper. Or to make the child feel comfortable in the state.”

However, according to Vasiliki Georgiadu, a professor of political science and a member of the e-voting adviser science team, What2Vote.gr doesn’t tell you what you’ll be voting for. “This is a tool that can guide you. Useful for both doubters and those who want to know the positions of parties on various issues, as this will help them decide what to vote for. It can also be an experiment on ourselves: does the way we see ourselves match the result of the e-voting advisor? For example, I succeeded 100%. Others do not, because they have a different perception of themselves. And it is this perception that will ultimately tell them what they will vote for.”

How the axes were defined

What2Vote.gr’s scientific team was betting on coding the official—and, as far as possible, most up-to-date—positions of the parties on dozens of topics. Obviously, they were taken from their programs, as well as from other official texts or positions of the party leader and leaders. As he told “K” Team Leader, Associate Professor, Department of Political Analysis, EKPA Bright Rory, at the end of the process they approached the six parliamentary parties to give their opinion on the codification. They answered four out of six, with a very high degree of convergence in coding.

Regarding the objections of some users to the alignment of parties along the axes Vasiliki Georgiadu, professor of political science, director and chairman of the board of directors. from the National Center for Social Research (EKKE) and member of the scientific group What2Vote.gr responds that the relative confusion is reasonable. “For example, the profile of a far-right party is more visible in matters of socio-cultural content and foreign policy, i.e. in its positions towards the LGBTI community or Prespa, but when it comes to it is blurred. He may be for the free market, but he also wants a welfare state and benefits.”

Thus, along the left-right axis, he comes out in the center, and along the sociocultural axis, he is conservative. “However, it does not cease to be an extreme right-wing party. Across Europe, the far right is in favor of a welfare state, but it will not target immigrants.”

At the same time, says Ms. Georgiadu, who studies the far right at home and abroad, there are far-right parties in Europe that are not as conservative on issues such as LGBTI rights. Accordingly, some conservative parties may be much more pro-European than some progressive parties. “Who is progressive and who is not has become blurred, it’s being found out.”

Numbers

75,622 users flocked to What2Vote.gr from April 18 to May 2 – over 36,000 in the first two days alone.