Freedomvote.nl helps voters compare party positions on digital freedom in upcoming Dutch election
Today FSFE Netherlands, NLnet, ISPConnect, and Open Source & Overheid launch Freedomvote.nl to help inform voters in the upcoming Dutch general election, which is held on 15 March 2017. Freedomvote.nl provides guidance to voters on the topic of digital freedom, based on eight questions.
The website allows voters to compare their political views with those of the parties participating in the election. The questions cover the topics of Free and Open Source Software, open standards, open data, open science, open education, surveillance, net neutrality and software patents. Voters can answer these questions for themselves, save them, and then compare the results with the answers from the political parties. Descriptions are added to all the questions, to provide context.
"Freedomvote fills a gap for the Dutch elections." explains Nico Rikken from FSFE Netherlands. "As only a couple of parties have a formal stance on themes of digital freedom, Freedomvote encourages parties to take a stance, so voters who care about digital freedoms know what they'll be voting for."
Unlike its Swiss predecessor, the Dutch Freedomvote model represents the political parties rather than individual candidates, and thus reflects the strong party orientation in the Netherlands' political system. Freedomvote.nl is based on Free Software source code developed for Freedomvote.ch. Further software improvements are in the works, intended for others wanting to run their own Freedomvote in the future.