i-Voting Regulation Within Digital Parties: The Case of Podemos and Five Stars Movement
Abstract
Over the past decades, digital technologies have developed into tools of political deliberation and decision-making by the state and parties alike (Chadwick, 2007, 2012; Koc-Michalska & Lilleker, 2016). However, while some states developed strict rules on how to regulate and govern the use of internet devices in electoral affairs, online voting or referendums, it is not clear to what extent such regulations also exist to govern online decisions within political parties. In order to address these questions, the chapter bridges previous literature on digital politics, state electoral regulation and party organisations. The chapter explores how e-decision-making (mainly i-voting) is regulated in a sample of digitalized parties in two European countries (Italy and Spain) and to what extent these respect democratic norms and incorporate technical aspects. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how national-level regulations can be transferred into the intra-party context and what lessons can be learned from the discussed case studies to facilitate successful introduction of e-decision-making.