Reykjavík.
The next ECPR 2011 speaker is Joan Balcells, whose interest is in the impact of the Net on voting behaviour in the 2010 Catalan elections, with a specific focus on the left, pro-independence ERC party (which was in the ruling coalition but lost substantial votes in the election: from 14% of the vote in 2006 to 7% in 2010).
The ERC is defined by its Catalan nationalism, and had a strong following amongst Internet users (in fact, pro-independence attitudes and Internet use appear to be connected). ERC competes with CiU (the mainstream Catalan nationalist party) as well as small pro-independence parties (such as SI) outside the political establishment. Where did ERC’s voters disappear to in 2010, then – to these parties, non-independence parties, or into abstention?
Joan and his team conducted a post-election survey with around 2500 voters, of whom 242 voted for the ERC in 2006; they identified the levels of their online and offline exposure to political information, their political interests and party identification, their support for independence, and their age. They found that greater online exposure was linked with voting for SI – showing that the Net meant more equal competition between political parties, and that small parties, especially, can profit from this. This appears to be the case under favourable conditions including an unrestricted online media environment and a multi-party political system as it exists in Catalunya, at least.
