Communication may improve voter interest in EU elections, analysts say

Communication may improve voter interest in EU elections, analysts say

Analysts debate what the Union can do to engage Balkan voters.

Turnout in EU Parliament elections can be increased through better communication with citizens, analysts said, after statistics showed that most voters chose not to cast ballots last month.

Voter turnout in the Balkans and East-Central Europe for the EU parliament election May 22nd to 25th was 27 percent, significantly lower than the overall 43 percent throughout the Union. The lowest turnout was in Slovakia, where 13 percent of voters took part. Newly admitted EU member Croatia had 25 percent turnout; Bulgaria had 36 percent; and Romania had 43 percent.

"They have the wrong message to always talk about the economy, and the wrong way of communicating it, solely online in never-ending, boring 1998-style websites," Andrea Gerosa, founder of ThinkYoung, a Brussels-based think tank, told SETimes.

Gerosa said one way to improve voter turnout is to overcome the focus on the economic aspect of the Union, with little or no attention to other relevant political, cultural, north-south integration and other issues that citizens perceive as equally important.

"They are as important as the economic aspect," Gerosa said.

Gerosa also said the EU Parliament and the European Commission must make optimal use of their communications budgets to better inform citizens. Less than 10 percent of citizens can name the current presidents of both institutions, she said.

The EU also needs to better inform the public about the Union's advantages and benefits and improve the perception of the European MPs, according to Suada Shahini, an entrepreneur in Rijeka.

"The people who...