Well, but the alternative is currently representative democracy. You are saying that these politicians are understanding these issues better. With all I see from politicians I cannot agree. And in Switzerland and the US direct democracy is working well enough.

What did you vote in the past? CD&V/CDH? Groen/Écolo? sp.a/PS? Hard to give you some pointers without knowing where to start. 

Voted Groen on the local election in Octobre, this is my first Flemish/national/European election.

Pros and cons for each of the Flemish parties are to me:

NVA: + Seems to be the most rational and levelheaded overall, - too right on a lot of issues (climate, economy...)

CD&V: + is the most centrist party, - too traditionalist and religious, their main goal seems to be to get votes from relgious people

Groen: + cares the most about the environment, - is the most politically correct

Open VLD: mostly similar to NVA, + they're less conservative, - they're even more libertarian when it comes to climate and economy

SPA: mostly similar to Groen, + they're slightly less politically correct, - they're slightly less green

Vlaams Belang: - they're the far right version of NVA

PVDA: - too communist, far left

Both the swiss and the german system are working well, I don't know which one is better, both have their pros and cons. I think if you want to have more direct democracy (after all we do have referendums but only on state level) you have to go the full way and implement a swiss like system or else you will run into things like the brexit referendum.

Agreed. The Brexit referendum was in an environment of usually having only representative democratics. Politicians first took it not seriously, then they started to turn to propaganda (on both sides). A more continuous direct democraty would develop a culture of dispensing information and personally I would accompany full direct democracy on federal level with certain information duties the state has to fulfill regarding decisions.

I don't think we should try to implement a swiss like system in Germany or most other countries, Switzerland is too unique. Often times we forget that our political systems are historically (and geograficaly) grown. The nordic countries are much more similar to our own country and therefor a way better comparison.

So, from what you get, it's gonna be either Groen or SPA, as you seem to value the ecology a lot. Since you voted Groen last time, I'd say either continue with it, or vote SPA if you want to change it up a bit.

Now that I think about it, you're right. I'm definitely going to vote green for Europe, since the environment is a very international subject.

Still not sure about the national elections though, but I'll try to read some more on each parties viewpoints this evening.

Glad to help!

And yes, reading what the parties have up their sleeves in their programs is important when you want to know who to vote. I always inform myself on what each party wants to do before I cast my votes (we have several votes in Luxembourg, not just one. Which also allows to mix-and-match the parties you like).

The news say, that until midday the turnout was higher than at the last election 2014.