MYCANDIDATE.EU – THE VOTER ADVICE APPLICATION FOR THE LONDON MAYORAL AND ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS IN 2012

In 2011 and 2012 the Centre for Europe, University of Warsaw implemented an online tool, a Voter Advice Application (VAA), with a view to support voters in making an informed choice in the local elections in the UK. The aim of tools like VAA is to foster electoral participation by delivering information about the opinions of the candidates and propose a candidate-to-voter matching scheme. This particular VAA was targeted mainly at the Polish and Lithuanian communities in the UK, as one of the objectives of the European Commission, which co-sponsored the project, was to stimulate EU citizens living outside of their countries to take part in local elections in the place they currently reside. This article shares the findings of the second year of the project, makes some observations and proposals, and concludes by recommending further actions, both to the academic environment as well as to politicians and the European Commission.