Election Bias
Tokyo became that little bit noisier today - with loud-speaker wielding polititions entrenched outside train stations extolling would-be voters to could-you vote for them. With the speed at which hurried commuters approach the station and decend into relative calm of the Tokyo rush hour it is doubtful they hear more than a few words of the candidates message. So if the message is not the message what is? The presence of the politition?
Elections billboard's such as this from sakuraesque Naka Meguro have sprung up in every neighbourhood - giving the candidates an opportunity to enter the consciousness of the electorate. Personality and image aside how might voting patterns be influenced by the design of the board: spatial positioning such as left or right as a reflection of political persuasion; loyalties suggested by the clustering of candidates in relation to one another; numbers each candidate is assigned; the number of slots for candidates as a reflection of a democratic society; the actual (low) number of candidates as a reflection of engagement with the democratic process?
The use of left/center/right to describe political affiliations is enough in common in Europe. But what analogies are in use elsewhere?
Writing from Naka Meguro | April 11, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
These boards are interesting: candidates are given a different slot on every single board, presumably to avoid influencing voting patterns by the design of the board.
Posted by: Carsten at April 12, 2007 11:45 AM