Elections for
\nthe European Parliament will be held next May in all EU states. Migration from
\noutside the community area, with its toxic effects represented by the populist
\nand nationalistic currents, deviations from the principles of the rule of law,
\nthe EU budget or the Brexit effects will dominate the campaign in many EU
\ncountries. A Eurobarometer survey made
\npublic on Monday sheds light on the expectations of Europeans
\nfor the May 2019 European election and what would motivate them to cast their
\nvote. The results of the survey show that the presence of a bigger number of
\nyoung people and women on the candidate lists and better information on the
\ncurrent European Union are factors that would prompt European citizens to cast
\ntheir vote. It also shows that most EU citizens are worried that disinformation
\ncampaigns, data breaches and cyber attacks will interfere with electoral
\nprocesses. Almost two thirds of the respondents voiced concern at the
\ndifficulties encountered by certain categories to exercise their right to vote,
\nsuch as the disabled or the elderly, while more than half of them voiced concern
\nat a potential foreign influence on the election, such as that of criminal
\ngroups or third countries. Romanians are among the most concerned Europeans as
\nregards the transparency of election campaigns, with the greatest concerns
\nemerging from their own experience.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In
\nthe three decades of post-communist democracy Romania has been dealing with
\nattempts to rig the elections, influence the vote, with manipulation or
\nmultiple voting. All these have been reflected in Monday’s Eurobarometer. Almost
\ntwo thirds of Romanians – way over the
\nEuropean average of below 50%- fear that
\npeople who are not entitled to vote will go to the polls or that there will be
\npeople who will cast their vote twice. A similar number of Romanians fear that
\npeople are constrained to vote in a certain way, that elections will be
\nmanipulated via cyber attacks or that votes will be bought and the final
\nresults manipulated. All these make Romanians the most concerned voters in the
\nEU. The main factors that would persuade Romanians go to the polls are more
\nyoung people on the candidate lists, a better information on the EU and its
\nimpact on people’s lives, more women among the candidates and an enhanced
\npresence of candidates from less represented political groups. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Our research shows that people
\nare really worried about disinformation. The good thing is that more and more
\ncitizens are critical of the information they are offered, and well aware of
\nthe dark forces that would like to manipulate what they read, think and
\nultimately vote for. For the legitimacy of our European democracy it is
\nessential that citizens use their right to vote. And that’s why we all, EU
\ninstitutions and Member States, must protect our elections and bolster our
\ndemocracy, Frans Timmermans, First
\nVice-President of the European Commission has said.<\/p>\n
(Translated by E. Enache)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanians are among the most concerned Europeans when it comes to the transparency of election campaigns, according to the results of a Eurobarometer made public a year before the election for the European Parliament<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":79701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[30304,30666,31461,39516,31598,39517],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-79700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-election-campaign","tag-eurobarometer","tag-european-parliament-elections","tag-factors-affecting-vote","tag-frans-timmermans","tag-political-groups"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n