Development
At the occasion of the parliament elections 2003 in Switzerland VAAs has been offered to the public, especially smartvote, for the first time. At that time the offer was restricted to national parliament elections but in the meantime smartvote has been offered for many cantonal (state) and also local city elections. At the beginning the member of parliaments were sceptical vis-à-vis the VAA but today more than 80% of the candidates normally participate. With the national parliament elections 2007 smartvote became the most important reference for political positioning of politicians and candidates in the Swiss public.
The development is supported by a public research institution, namely the project of the National Center of Competence in Research: Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century (NCCR Democracy) of the University of Zurich.
2005 Politools was a consultant in the development of a Bulgarian VAA koimipasva. In 2007 Politools contributed a part of their system to a Scottish VAA Holyrood2007 and further spreads of the tool are foreseen, even if the necessary financial resources are not yet secured completely. Since 2008 Politools co-develops a VAA for the European Parliament Elections of June 2009 - the so-called EU Profiler in a consortium constisting of the European University Institute in Florence and the Dutch company Kieskompas.
Read more about this topic: Smartvote
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“The experience of a sense of guilt for wrong-doing is necessary for the development of self-control. The guilt feelings will later serve as a warning signal which the child can produce himself when an impulse to repeat the naughty act comes over him. When the child can produce his on warning signals, independent of the actual presence of the adult, he is on the way to developing a conscience.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“A defective voice will always preclude an artist from achieving the complete development of his art, however intelligent he may be.... The voice is an instrument which the artist must learn to use with suppleness and sureness, as if it were a limb.”
—Sarah Bernhardt (1845–1923)
“On fields all drenched with blood he made his record in war, abstained from lawless violence when left on the plantation, and received his freedom in peace with moderation. But he holds in this Republic the position of an alien race among a people impatient of a rival. And in the eyes of some it seems that no valor redeems him, no social advancement nor individual development wipes off the ban which clings to him.”
—Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911)