Nailing the Pudding to the Wall: E-Democracy as Catalyst for Transparency and Accountability

Abstract

Most discussions on e-democracy are focussed on e-voting; in other words on the very act of voting itself. The effects of e-democracy in the so-called “pre-voting sphere” (process of gathering information and opinion formation before the election day) are often neglected. This paper argues that e-democracy is more than just casting the ballot by Internet. It presents “smartvote”, a sophisticated online voting assistance tool which allows voters to choose candidates and parties in elections on the basis of their own political values and preferences. The paper has two aims: first, it describes how smartvote works and presents some preliminary results on the use by candidates as well as by voters; second, it shows how e-democracy tools can enhance and strengthen fundamental democratic principles like political participation, transparency and accountability.