GLOBAL VOICES: “Smartvote Tibet” Try to fill the gaps of a nascent democracy

For the Tibetans, They are still stateless and is scattered throughout the world, and that they remain committed to a democratic process to choose their representatives, Cyberspace is the only available space where they can make an informed choice before cast vote.

It is estimated that there is 6,5 millions of Tibetans in the world. Although most live in the Tibet, There is also a large community of exiles in India, Nepal and in Western countries, as a consequence of the Tibetanos fled from their homeland after the annexation by China in 1959. While the Tibetans of the Tibet occupied They are governed by a government that is not chosen, the Central Tibetan Administration, based in the Indian city of Dharamsala, He has a chosen address every five years. Although no state officially recognizes the Tibetan government in exile, For Tibetans, And especially for those who live in exile, represents a legitimate entity. The spiritual and political leader, he Dalai Lama, abandoned his role as political leadership in 2011, And in April of 2021 It will be the third time that Tibetans can choose their parliamentarians and their president.

¿How to inform a scattered electorate worldwide?

Given the reality that Tibetans are around the world, The main challenge is the scope that is further complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Tibetan electoral process develops in two stages: Preliminary elections, To select the pre -selected candidates for Parliament, that the 4 of January of 2021 With a participation of 77 % of the electorate in exile. The most voted may be presented to the main general elections of the 11 April 2021. On that date, Voters will choose a new president and 45 members of the Tibetan Parliament in exile.

These transnational elections require considerable logistics for vote, But maybe even more important, For the campaign, so that Tibetans can make an informed decision on the day of the vote. To overcome this rectum, A group of Swiss Tibetans had the idea of ​​creating a reliable online platform that allowed candidates and voters to communicate effectively.

The group was inspired by the advantages of Electoral advice applications (VAA) and had the support of the Swiss organization Politools, who created a VAA called “Smartvote” in 2003 For the Swiss elections. He also built one Smartvote Tibet application. The main concept consists of two steps: first, Candidates answer online questions about issues such as environmental or social policy, And then voters answer the same questions. In the end the coincidences determine which candidate seems to be in accordance with the voter's political position itself.

With online platforms, candidates or can escape difficult questions

AAV can be powerful because they have a Positive impact In knowledge levels, And also in the participation of voters. But perhaps the most important thing is that these platforms can help rebalance power relations between less favored and privileged candidates.

The main objective of the platform Smartvote Tibet is to support voters during the opinion formation process to get an idea of ​​the candidates. The political positions of the candidates communicate transparently and comparable, so that they can be contrasted, and responsibilities can also be required.

The team in charge of the platform developed a wide questionnaire to accompany the formation of political opinions of a relatively new society in democracy. To increase diversity, Tibetan civil society was invited to present questions to the project, With the help of an international advisory panel to maintain balance and objectivity. One of the main advantages of the system is that candidates cannot skip any questions, And they have to express their opinion, Even on issues that can be sensitive in Tibetan society, Like same sex marriage, For example.

As can be seen in this screenshot of the application that appears below, Future voters can obtain immediate information about the opinion of any candidate in specific and key issues, Like identity or language. The black and white emoji represents the response of a future voter, And the orange color represents the opinion of a candidate in contest (Visually shows alignment or differences):

Online campaigns are not perfect

But it is still a challenge to get candidates and voters to use the platform comfortably and see their value. It's more, Several problems arise, ranging from the lack of computer knowledge to the lack of understanding of the basic idea of ​​the project. Actually, Some candidates do not see the usefulness of filling the online questionnaire and making their positions known transparently.

Another challenge is to publicize the platform within the electorate: ¿How can you get to the older voters? ¿How the tool can be advertised in the different countries? A considerable part of Tibetan abroad lives in simple conditions in India and Nepal settlements, where infrastructure leave much to be desired or, As in the case of Nepal, The Long arm of Chinese censorship.

The smartvote application in a new context also shows the limitations and risks of this type of online voting tools. Highly standardized and simplified questions do not allow detailed answers. Therefore, The supplier and users must be aware of the opportunities and risks of these electoral advice applications.

Work ongo as a contribution to a young democracy

Despite the numerous challenges, The experiment shows interesting results: For the preliminary elections of January, Around half of the candidates created a smartvote profile. With about 80,000 people registered for elections, The tool had already given more than 7400 electoral recommendations until 7 April.

The application is also subject to debate on social networks, of the members of the Tibetan community in exile:

Tibetan general elections

¡Find candidates who think like you!

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¡Find candidates who think like you!

https://tibet.smartvote.org/en/home via @smartvotetibet

¡Congratulations to Project Democracy!

That said, Initial evaluations show a bias in participation towards Tibetans living in the West, presumably for the greater ease of Internet access. It is still too early to see if, and to what extent, The use of Smartvote Tibet can really increase the knowledge of candidate's positions and promote the will to go to the polls. But what is clear is that this promotion project contributes new ideas in the fields of research of elections, Democracy, Tibetans abroad and AAVV. She further , It contributes to the celebration of animated debates and based on facts within the Tibetan community in exile.

Delind of responsibility: The writer Sonam Palmo Brunner and Dechen Pmba, which helped translate from German original to English, They are team members Smartvote Tibet. None of the team members Smartvote Tibet It is presented as a candidate for Tibetan elections.