Europe Elects

Europe Elects

Type of site	Data journalism
Available in	English
Headquarters	Oberroßbach, Germany
Area served	Europe
Founder(s)	Tobias Gerhard Schminke[1]
Editor	Julius Lehtinen[2]
Key people	Jakub Rogowiecki (Executive Project Manager)
Industry	Data analysis Journalism Opinion polling
URL	europeelects.eu
Registration	October 2019
Launched	May 2014 (2014-05)
Current status	Active

Europe Elects is a political intelligence company and poll aggregator^[3] that collects and publishes election-related data such as opinion polls in European countries. It is also known for its monthly European Parliament seat projection, which it has been publishing since 2014.

Genesis and history

Europe Elects was founded in 2014 as a Twitter account. The project quickly rose to prominence, as it was the first account that gathered European polling and election data in one spot.^[4]

Format

Europe Elects provides election results during election days on social media, referring to the European Parliament affiliation of candidates and parties. The platform hosts an extensive calendar of local, regional, national, and European election dates in Europe.

The organization publishes polls done by polling companies in all European countries and its subdivisions in order to show both the level of support for national parties as well as for the European Union in each country. Europe Elects's visualization of the data is unique, as it uses standardized labels and colours for national parties of one European Parliament group across national borders. The publications regularly point out the affiliation of national parties with their respective European Parliament groups, which has been adopted by other media outlets over time.^[5][6] Furthermore, overviews of the positions of the single parties and candidates are being provided.^[7] Europe Elects publishes on the basis of the collected data a European projection for the European Parliament on a regular basis and shows how the results as if there were elections on that day. After the 2019 European Parliament election, Europe Elects claimed to have had the most precise forecast for the European Parliament.^[8]

In 2019, the platform launched the Europe Elects Podcast.^[9] In 2019 and 2020, America Elects, Oceania Elects, Africa Elects, and Asia Elects were launched. Asia Elects received attention in the context of the Hong Kong local elections, being quoted in media such as The Washington Post.^[10][11] Africa Elects, Asia Elects, and Oceania Elects now have websites of their own, containing information on party affiliations, an election calendar, and analysis on various electoral procedures & results.^[12][13][14]

Spread and perception

Europe Elects is considered a major media source concerning the European Parliament and electoral analysis in Europe.^[15] It is quoted frequently in both European^{[16][17][18][19]} and worldwide publications,^{[20][21][22][23]} is referenced by the Centre for European Policy Studies,^[24][25] and is listed in the database of the European Data Journalism Network, a consortium of media and journalists promoting data-driven multilingual coverage of European topics.^[26][27]

In 2021, Europe Elects formed a partnership with Euractiv^[28] and Decision Desk HQ.^[29]

Partner projects covering other continents — Africa Elects, America Elects, Asia Elects, and Oceania Elects — exist as well.^{[30][31][32][33]}

Awards

In 2022, Europe Elects was awarded the Dalhousie Impact Award.^[34]

In 2024, Europe Elects received a grant by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to fight misinformation and disinformation relating to political polls in Europe.^[35]

See also

• EUobserver
• FiveThirtyEight
• Voxeurop

References

1. Diesteldorf, Jan (May 15, 2024). "Wer interessiert sich schon für Europa?". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
2. Deconinck, Carl (October 30, 2024). "European watchdog finds 'markings of fraud' in Georgian elections". Brussels Signal. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
3. "Russians vote in local elections in key test for ruling party". September 13, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
4. "Changes in European Party Affiliations Look Set to Shake Up The European Parliament". July 6, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
5. "Tobias Gerhard Schminke: Von treffpunkteuropa.de zu Europe Elects". March 4, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
6. Schenuit, Felix; Müller, Manuel (2020). Sitzprojektionen für die Europawahl: Potenziale und Grenzen eines jungen Phänomens. Wiesbaden (Germany): SpringerLink. pp. 241–252. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-29277-5_20. ISBN 978-3-658-29276-8. S2CID 219508396. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
7. "National Politics Archives - Europe Elects". Retrieved January 9, 2020.
8. "Europe Elects with most accurate projection for the 2019 EU election". August 9, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
9. "Europe Elects Podcast".
10. "Hong Kong's stunning vote deepens China's conundrum". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
11. "Interview with Europe Elects". Archived from the original on January 24, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
12. "Asia Elects Home".
13. "Africa Elects Home".
14. "Oceania Elects Home".
15. O'Malley, James; Randerson, James (March 7, 2019). "The Brussels Twitter bubble — an illustrated guide". Politico Europe. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
16. "Spain - Last Spanish polls before election suggest gridlock could continue". Euronews. November 4, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
17. Ehrich, Issio (November 9, 2018). "Kampf um das EU-Parlament - In Europa gibt es keinen grünen Höhenflug". n-tv. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
18. Dall'Orto, Bartolo (January 11, 2019). "Elezioni europee, la Lega primo partito d'Europa - Secondo le proiezioni di Europe Elects sulle elezioni europee, la Lega avrebbe il maggior numero di deputati all'Europarlamento". Il Giornale. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
19. Nilsson, Lennart (March 19, 2019). "EU-valet 2019: Snabba svar på de 7 vanligaste frågorna". Expressen. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
20. McGee, Luke (February 9, 2019). "On Brexit, the EU isn't strong enough to be weak right now". CNN. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
21. Bershidsky, Leonid (December 30, 2018). "Europe's Left Nearly Died in 2018. Here's How It Can Rise. - Despite shrinking support, traditional leftist parties still have an important cause to fight for. The tools to win are hiding in plain sight". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
22. Smith, Alexander (October 26, 2019). "Brexit: Europeans in Brussels say Britain must make a decision on E.U. divorce - "Either they want to stay or they want to leave, which is it?" said one person in Brussels this week". NBC News. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
23. "Grad student helms influential Europe Elects site". Saint Mary's University (Halifax). July 11, 2019. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
24. "EIR Newsletter" (PDF). Centre for European Policy Studies. February 21, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
25. "Tobias Gerhard Schminke, Founder, Europe Elects". Centre for European Policy Studies. February 21, 2019. Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
26. "Useful data - Europe Elects". EDJNet - the European Data Journalism Network. November 14, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
27. "Eurochat - Irish General Election 2020 special by the European Network".
28. "EURACTIV & Europe Elects join up to share polling across the Capitals". Euractiv. July 29, 2021. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
29. "Decision Desk HQ And Europe Elects Partner To Provide German Election Results And Analysis". Decision Desk HQ. September 8, 2021. Retrieved September 9, 2021.
30. "Clients and Partners".
31. "Asia Elects Home".
32. "Africa Elects Home".
33. "Oceania Elects Home".
34. "Dal's latest Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar deciphers our changing democracy Political Science PhD Tobias Gerhard Schminke latest Dal recipient". Dal News. May 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
35. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. "Europe Elects: Truth in Polling". Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Retrieved October 7, 2024.

External links

• Official website