Smartvote in Luxembourg: Usage and Impact of a New Electoral Tool

The objective of the paper is to present and discuss some of the major findings of the research conducted on smartvote.lu which is the voting advice application introduced for the first time in Luxembourg for the national election of 2009. The paper looks at: 1) The usage of smartvote.lu, through the analysis of the number VAA profiles and of the national post-electoral survey; 2) the socio-demographic and partisan profiles of its users based on the post-electoral survey and an optional questionnaire accessible on the smartvote website; 3) The candidates’ usage of smartvote by analyzing their socio-demographic characteristics and their motivations through a specific questionnaire that was sent to all of the candidates; And 4) the impact of smartvote on opinion formation and voting behavior by referring again to specific data of the post-electoral survey. The findings will be compared with the VAAs introduced in other countries (such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Lithuania) and in particular with the smartvote introduced during the federal elections in Switzerland of 2003 and 2007. The comparison with Switzerland is particularly relevant as it shares with Luxembourg the same VAA and a high usage of preferential voting.