‘A bomba-relógio da abstenção’ won the Data Journalism Award 2024 from Sociedade Portuguesa de Estatística

We are extremely proud to announce that the project, ‘A bomba-relógio da abstenção’ (The Abstention Time Bomb), won the Data Journalism Award 2024 from the Sociedade Portuguesa de Estatística.

‘The Abstention Time Bomb’ is a data research project by ‘Divergente’, in partnership with the European Data Journalism Network (EDJNet) and the research centre DINÂMIA'CET-Iscte.

The study involved the data analysis from 27 European countries over 50 years, mapping the electoral behaviour of over 350 million voters, identifying patterns and trends by cross-referencing electoral data with demographic and socioeconomic variables.

In Portugal, the reporting conducted by DIVERGENTE in ten civil parishes with the highest levels of abstention brought to the surface the stories and challenges faced by local communities, allowing to understand the phenomenom beyond the sphere of statistics.

The collaboration from DINÂMIA'CET-Iscte was led by researchers Margarida Perestrelo and Sebastião Ferreira de Almeida, who contributed methodological support and data analysis applied to the European territory.