Elections 2023

During the 2023 Parlamentary elections in Estonia we are launching the project “But why? - strengthening voter behaviour and political culture”. The ‘“But why?” project aims to improve the culture surrounding political discourse and support critical and thought-through voter behaviour.

• As the first step, the project aims to push voters to critically ask the question “why” in varying situations concerning political debates and societally important topics.
• The second step offers voters a broad range of opportunities to improve their theoretical knowledge of governance and politically relevant issues, and provides them with practical directions on improving critical thinking and analysis skills.

We will develop a media campaign featuring short videos that showcase different daily situations in which asking “why” can benefit the voter. We will concurrently design interactive material that helps voters to develop skills necessary for analysing political content. Our partner Praxis, will analyse issues relevant to the current political climate in order to provide voters with a starting point when navigating politics. We have put a special focus on young and future voters to whom we will provide several settings for directly improving their critical thinking and analytical skills, these include workshops and teaching materials. By conducting these activities, we strive towards a higher level of critical interaction with political claims to increase accountability and the use of well-founded claims rather than demagoguery.

This project is a continuation of the Tark Valija campaign initiated as part of the 2021 local government elections.