VAAs as Analytical Tools and an Electoral Reform Inspiration

The VAAs data structures offer possibilities for various analytical developments. Comparing the party positions on topical policy issues with the public opinion on these issues, parties’ representativeness indices are constructed. It turns out that the 2013 German federal election winner, the conservative union CDU/CSU, is the least representative among the 28 parties who participated in the election. It follows that electors use other criteria than implemented in the VAAs. On the other hand, a VAA-relevant election procedure can be imagined with `imbedded referenda’, where the ballots include questions on policy issues with which the party representativeness indices are constructed and used, for instance, to allocate parliament seats among the parties. Another use of the VAAs data is finding axes in the actual political spectrum. For instance, the German political spectrum is well described by the left-right axis rolled into a circumference with meeting far-left and far-right ends.