doxa.comunicación | nº 31, pp. 63-86 | 77
July-December of 2020
María Díez-Garrido
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
programme, nor with other political plans. This could be highly relevant, as such actions would clearly display the degree of implementation of their promises, and by publishing this information, this could lead to greater effectiveness and compliance.
Section II. Deliberation
The second phase of this analysis concerns the debate between the electorate and the political parties. In this section, many differences between the parties can be observed. The average score was 50%, or in other words, a mark that is barely passing. The fact is that the score for Unidas Podemos, at 65.78% of the elements fulfilled (25 points), was double that of Ciudadanos, which stood at 26.31% (10). The PSOE obtained 57.89% (22) and the PP had 50% (19).
Graph 2: Results of Section II (Deliberation)
Source: Prepared by the author
The presence of deliberation in the party statutes was irregular. Thus, with regard to the Ciudadanos party, there was no mention of it whatsoever, while the statutes of the PP only noted the importance of members showing their opinions and participating. The PSOE also mentioned deliberation as both a right and a duty for members. Unidas Podemos defined deliberation as one of the general principles of their political party.
None of the parties had specific rules for deliberative initiatives. However, both the PSOE and Unidas Podemos did in fact have internal regulations that mentioned some of these measures, though in a very subtle way.
In order to analyse the presence of deliberative initiatives, as well as those related to decision-making and collaboration (third level), it was necessary to register on the participation platforms of the political parties. In this way, it was possible to observe the tools available within the MiPSOE, the Espacio Socialista website, Plaza Podemos 2.0, and Espacio Naranja de Ciudadanos. The Partido Popular did not have a platform of this type.
Details regarding the deliberative initiatives considered in methodology of this study are explained in the following paragraphs:
Neither the PP nor the PSOE had chats or platforms for users to ask questions of party members. Ciudadanos had done so years ago at party events, and Unidas Podemos had the most interesting platform. Known as Escaño Abierto: tu voz en el parlamento (Open Seat: Your Voice in Parliament), this tool gives citizens some of the questions that Unidas Podemos asks in the Madrid Assembly, so that these questions are answered by the Madrid Parliament. Even though this is not exactly a question and answer platform, and it only affects Madrid, it was included in this section because of its innovation. It