Transparency in the Andalusian elections of 2022. Analysis and evaluation of the websites of political parties in electoral campaigns

Abstract

The websites of political parties become a particularly active tool during electoral campaigns. The main objective of this work is to evaluate the transparency of the websites of the six main Andalusian parties –PSOE, Partido Popular, Ciudadanos, Adelante Andalucía, VOX and Unidas Podemos– during the 2022 electoral precampaign. The methodology of this research was divided into two phases: (1) descriptive analysis of the official websites using SimilarWeb; (2) content analysis to determine these platforms’ transparency index. The obtained results reveal that there is no relationship between the web transparency of Andalusian political parties and the vote. The left-wing parties are the most transparent on their web portals; however, during the elections of 2022 and 2018, they decreased their representation in the Andalusian Parliament. In addition, it is paradoxical that no party has thus far adapted its website to people with disabilities even though social inclusion –within the framework of the 2030 Agenda– remains one of their electoral promises.