Open Road

Tuesday Jun 2nd 2009

European Candi-Dating

As part of a campaign to increase voter turn-out in the European elections, I took part in political speed dating (candi-dating). To be clear, this isn’t a chance to meet young political singles, but representatives from each party (excluding the BNP) standing for the European Parliament. I’m not sure that makes it much cooler than speed dating but it was certainly more fun.

This is mainly because these are blind dates –you sit down opposite a candidate or campaigner with no idea what party they are from, (you’re not allowed to ask) and have five minutes to grill them to determine whether you’d vote for them.

I’ll admit I thought the idea was naff at first, but in actual fact candi-dating was fun, informative and challenging. Mainly because going in blind I lost all my preconceptions and prejudices about the political parties and was forced to think about their policies. As a member of a party, it also took me out of my comfort zone; at one point I was filled with dread at the growing suspicion I was in fact a Liberal Democrat, and had to rack my brains as to the issues that divided me from them, especially since their candidate had neither a beard nor sandals.

Reform at the top is needed, but participatory politics and grassroots engagement is what would really invigorate our political system. And that includes those of us already involved in politics trying new things. For an online version of candi-dating I’d recommend Vote Match, which maps your views against the policies of the major parties on Europe.