A recent poll conducted by the Centre of Political Research at Science Po in Paris (CEVIPOF) states that only 37 % of citizens feel a sense of affiliation with their public bodies, such as the Executive branch or the National Assembly.
With this context as a base, several NGOs and innovators are trying new crowdsourcing alternatives, mobile apps and digital platforms that can increase voter turnout of the French in social and political issues.
To this end, there are several IT initiatives in France at the moment that aim to give potential voters the tools to find possible candidates for office, outside the traditional political system.
One of these initiatives is LaPrimaire.org, a web page whose goal is to organize open primary elections to choose the presidential candidates who will partake in the 2017 presidential elections.
This web page, presented in April by Thibauld Fabre, an engineer, and David Guez, a lawyer, both without previous political experience, has managed to gather 209 self-proclaimed candidates and over 53 thousand voters.
The main requisite to be an eligible candidate is to reside in France, not belong to any political party and be without a criminal record.
With these three requirements only, La Primaire seeks that the French choose in a free, transparent and democratic manner the candidates who can best represent their interests.
Source: Forbes