The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) and Y-net Present:
The 2009 Israel Election Compass
An interactive tool to promote informed voter participation
Jerusalem, January 19—IDI announced today the release of the 2009 Israel Election Compass, an interactive web-based tool developed specifically for the 2009 Israeli national elections. Hosted by Y-net, Israel's largest news portal, the Compass allows users to orient themselves within Israel’s political landscape based upon 30 multiple choice questions.
Based on a concept developed in Holland and employed successfully during the 2008 U.S. Presidential elections, IDI's Election Compass encourages informed participation in the electoral process. In Holland, one out of every three voters completed the questionnaire in the 2006 elections. In the U.S., the host site of the Wall Street Journal registered four million hits for their compass in the months preceding the 2008 presidential election.
"Although Israel's current electoral campaign is extremely short, we have high hopes for the software and its impact on voter turnout," said IDI Senior Fellow Prof. Asher Arian. "We also expect that the Compass will induce Israel's politicians to speak out on the issues," he added.
Based on an extensive questionnaire in three main areas—Security, Social-Economic, and Religion—the tool maps voter preferences onto a virtual map of the political spectrum, enabling individual voters to see which parties best match their views.
The Election Compass went live on January 22nd. It is available through IDI’s Election 2009 homepage.
For more information on the Israeli Electoral Compass, or to arrange an interview with project director Professor Asher Arian, please contact IDI's Director of International Communications, Mr. Barak Cohen, at 02-530-0877, or via e-mail at Barak@idi.org.il.
The Israel Democracy Institute is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit public policy institute dedicated to strengthening the structural and ethical foundations of Israeli democracy.