The research office of the University of Akureyri conducted a survey of the different candidates who took part in the recent constitutional assembly elections, and returned some surprising results, RÚV reports.
Of the 520 candidates who ran for the constitutional assembly, 365 candidates took part in the survey. Of these, eight out of ten spent less than 25,000 ISK on their campaign.
The Ministry of Justice created an informational booklet about the candidates and set up a page for the assembly elections on kosning.is. Only 22% of the candidates surveyed believed these efforts and its content were adequate, while 42% believed it was not.
Most candidates took it upon themselves to get their platforms out to the public. This was done primarily through writing articles to be published in newspapers and on the net. Most chose to get their name out through Facebook, while very few actually bought advertisements in newspapers.
The media was given a mixed review for its coverage. While dv.is and svipan.is were regarded as covering the different candidate platforms well, larger media sources – Morgunblaðið, Fréttablaðið and Stöð 2 – were considered to have given poor coverage. Furthermore, most candidates believed the media discriminated on who was covered and to what extent based on how famous they were.
Three candidates for the constitutional assembly have so far filed complaints with the Supreme Court over the election process.
Related articles:
Constitutional Assembly Elected
Meet the Constitutional Assembly
Low Voter Turnout, Mixed Messages
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