Open Election Data: Evidence from Croatia in a Comparative Perspective

Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 20(2), 149-161, 2022 OPEN ELECTION DATA: EVIDENCE FROM CROATIA IN A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE* Petra Đurman1, **, Dario Nikić Čakar2 and Davor Boban2 1 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law Zagreb, Croatia 1 2 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Political Science Zagreb, Croatia 2 DOI: 10.7906/indecs.20.2.7 Regular article Received: 24 January 2022. Accepted: 25 April 2022. ABSTRACT This article explores the concept of open election data, as a specific type of institutional open data. Transparency of electoral procedures, as the most fundamental democratic process, is crucial for the legitimacy of democratic political systems. By providing detailed information on electoral processes in open formats for the re-use of the general public, open election data provide an additional democratic dimension for contemporary democracies. The aim of this article is to assess the state of open election data comparatively and in Croatia. The analytical findings suggest that the availability of open election data in most of the countries included is rather limited in scope, with significant cross-national and within-country variations. Numerous countries make only election results, political party and candidate registration lists and polling station information available in open formats, while other types of election data cannot be accessed in machine-readable forms. KEY WORDS open data, open election data, transparency, electoral process, Croatia CLASSIFICATION JEL: C89, D72 *This is the extended version of the abstract published in: Vujić, M. and Šalamon, D., eds.: Book of abstracts of the National Open Data Conference. University of Zagreb, Faculty of Traffic and Transport Sciences,*Zagreb, 2021. **Corresponding author, : ; -; **University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, Trg Republike Hrvatske 14, HR – 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia P. Đurman, D. Nikić Čakar and D. Boban INTRODUCTION Open data are one of the most salient developments in e-government and e-participation. The availability of data to everyone in an open and machine-readable form, free of charge, represents a specific mechanism for achieving government transparency, which goes much further in accomplishing the values of open government than traditional transparency, which refers to the accessibility of information, regardless of its form. The re-use of open data for commercial or non-commercial purposes also promotes participatory government, because users (i.e. the public – individuals, NGOs, private businesses, media, academia, etc.) constitute a critical element in generating the final outcome of the data (re)use, including different applications, sophisticated business product based on open data (e.g. legal information portals, business portals) and scientific research and analyses. The potential benefits of different categories of open data have already been well documented in the literature [1, 2]. Different types of institutional and political data – such as data on state organisations and public sector authorities, their functioning, election data and similar – are particularly important for the democratic legitimacy of politico-administrative system. Because the transparency principle represents a conditio sine qua non for the democratic electoral process, information on different aspects of electoral organisations and processes – such as data on election and referendum results, campaign financing, electoral management bodies or voter lists – constitute a crucial element for providing the legitimacy and citizens’ trust in politicodemocratic processes. Accurate, complete and good quality open election data (OED) can enhance electoral integrity and accountability by providing detailed information on electoral processes not only to selected stakeholders, but also to the public in general, enabling them to make informed decisions1 [3-5]. In addition, primary users of OED such as journalists and scientists can reuse the data for scientific and professional analyses, predictions, interpretations and similar. This article represents an exploratory study with a purpose of assessing the state of OED in Croatia, from a comparative and national-specific perspective. To do so, we first elaborate OED as a specific type of institutional open data, after which we consider the theoretical relevance of election data for contemporary political systems. In the methodological part of the article, Croatia is compared to other EU member states and the UK with respect to the main OED indicators, followed by in-depth analysis of OED ecosystem in Croatia, including the regulatory framework, types of OED available, features of the portal/website, data provider and users. The applied research method included desk research and content analyses of Internet documents, portals and official websites. OED AS A TYPE OF INSTITUTIONAL OPEN DATA Although there is no single, unanimously accepted categorisation of open data types, they do not significantly differ. As identified in one of the earlier categorisations, the main types of open data include business, geographic, legal, meteorological, transport and social data2 [7; p.14]. Within the category of social data – which includes different statistical data, such as economic, employment, health and population – specific types of institutional and political/public administration data can be extracted. These encompass data on different organisational and functional aspects of politico-administrative organisations and other public sector authorities at different levels of government (state, local, regional). This includes data on electoral processes, public officials, public sector bodies (e.g. lists of public sector authorities, register of national minorities’ councils) and their functioning (e.g. schedule of government meetings). The openness of this type of data is particularly relevant for strengthening the procedural legitimacy of politico-administrative systems. 150 Open election data: evidence from Croatia in a comparative perspective In general, electoral process in a democracy refers to all procedures and activities related to legally defined appointment of public officials and public bodies by voters. Electoral process, therefore, consists of procedures conducted before, during and after election day. The basic sources of election information are legal acts and other official documents regulating elections3. They primarily include information on the type of elections (e.g. parliamentary, presidential, local, European), the type of electoral system and its characteristics, constituencies, candidates, electoral lists, judicial and constitutional court decisions on elections and provisional and final results. Although a normative framework that contains electoral law as well as judicial practice does not represent electoral data in a narrower sense, they can be publicly available in open formats and in an easy searchable way via specialis (...truncated)