CINXE.COM

<!doctype html> <html lang="en-GB" prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns# fb: http://ogp.me/ns/fb#"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Placing EveryPolitician on hold / mySociety</title> <meta name="description" content="mySociety provides technology, research and data to help people be active citizens, in more than 40 countries around the world."> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <meta name='robots' content='max-image-preview:large' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//ajax.googleapis.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//fonts.googleapis.com' /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//s.w.org' /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="mySociety » Feed" href="https://www.mysociety.org/feed/" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="mySociety » Comments Feed" href="https://www.mysociety.org/comments/feed/" /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='wp-block-library-css' href='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-includes/css/dist/block-library/style.min.css?ver=5.9.10' type='text/css' media='all' /> <style id='create-block-castos-transcript-style-inline-css' type='text/css'> :root{--castos-transcript--panel-bg:#f3f3f4}.ssp-transcript input[type=checkbox]{opacity:0;position:absolute;z-index:-1}.ssp-transcript .row{display:flex}.ssp-transcript .row .col{flex:1}.ssp-transcript .tabs{overflow:hidden}.ssp-transcript .tab{overflow:hidden;width:100%}.ssp-transcript .tab-label{background:var(--castos-transcript--panel-bg);cursor:pointer;display:flex;font-weight:700;justify-content:space-between;margin:0;padding:1em}.ssp-transcript .tab-label:hover{filter:brightness(95%)}.ssp-transcript .tab-label:after{content:"❯";text-align:center;transition:all .35s;width:1em}.ssp-transcript .tab-content{background:#fff;max-height:0;padding:0 1em;transition:all .35s}.ssp-transcript .tab-close{background:var(--castos-transcript--panel-bg);cursor:pointer;display:flex;font-size:.75em;justify-content:flex-end;padding:1em}.ssp-transcript .tab-close:hover,.ssp-transcript input:checked+.tab-label{filter:brightness(95%)}.ssp-transcript input:checked+.tab-label:after{transform:rotate(90deg)}.ssp-transcript input:checked~.tab-content{max-height:none;padding:1em} </style> <style id='global-styles-inline-css' type='text/css'> body{--wp--preset--color--black: #000000;--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray: #abb8c3;--wp--preset--color--white: #ffffff;--wp--preset--color--pale-pink: #f78da7;--wp--preset--color--vivid-red: #cf2e2e;--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange: #ff6900;--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber: #fcb900;--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan: #7bdcb5;--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan: #00d084;--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue: #8ed1fc;--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue: #0693e3;--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple: #9b51e0;--wp--preset--gradient--vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-purple: linear-gradient(135deg,rgba(6,147,227,1) 0%,rgb(155,81,224) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--light-green-cyan-to-vivid-green-cyan: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(122,220,180) 0%,rgb(0,208,130) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-amber-to-luminous-vivid-orange: linear-gradient(135deg,rgba(252,185,0,1) 0%,rgba(255,105,0,1) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-orange-to-vivid-red: linear-gradient(135deg,rgba(255,105,0,1) 0%,rgb(207,46,46) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(238,238,238) 0%,rgb(169,184,195) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--cool-to-warm-spectrum: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(74,234,220) 0%,rgb(151,120,209) 20%,rgb(207,42,186) 40%,rgb(238,44,130) 60%,rgb(251,105,98) 80%,rgb(254,248,76) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--blush-light-purple: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(255,206,236) 0%,rgb(152,150,240) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--blush-bordeaux: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(254,205,165) 0%,rgb(254,45,45) 50%,rgb(107,0,62) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-dusk: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(255,203,112) 0%,rgb(199,81,192) 50%,rgb(65,88,208) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--pale-ocean: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(255,245,203) 0%,rgb(182,227,212) 50%,rgb(51,167,181) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--electric-grass: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(202,248,128) 0%,rgb(113,206,126) 100%);--wp--preset--gradient--midnight: linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(2,3,129) 0%,rgb(40,116,252) 100%);--wp--preset--duotone--dark-grayscale: url('#wp-duotone-dark-grayscale');--wp--preset--duotone--grayscale: url('#wp-duotone-grayscale');--wp--preset--duotone--purple-yellow: url('#wp-duotone-purple-yellow');--wp--preset--duotone--blue-red: url('#wp-duotone-blue-red');--wp--preset--duotone--midnight: url('#wp-duotone-midnight');--wp--preset--duotone--magenta-yellow: url('#wp-duotone-magenta-yellow');--wp--preset--duotone--purple-green: url('#wp-duotone-purple-green');--wp--preset--duotone--blue-orange: url('#wp-duotone-blue-orange');--wp--preset--font-size--small: 13px;--wp--preset--font-size--medium: 20px;--wp--preset--font-size--large: 36px;--wp--preset--font-size--x-large: 42px;}.has-black-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--black) !important;}.has-cyan-bluish-gray-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-white-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--white) !important;}.has-pale-pink-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-pink) !important;}.has-vivid-red-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-red) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan) !important;}.has-vivid-green-cyan-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-pale-cyan-blue-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-purple-color{color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple) !important;}.has-black-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--black) !important;}.has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-white-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--white) !important;}.has-pale-pink-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-pink) !important;}.has-vivid-red-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-red) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan) !important;}.has-vivid-green-cyan-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-pale-cyan-blue-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-purple-background-color{background-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple) !important;}.has-black-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--black) !important;}.has-cyan-bluish-gray-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-white-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--white) !important;}.has-pale-pink-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-pink) !important;}.has-vivid-red-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-red) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--light-green-cyan) !important;}.has-vivid-green-cyan-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-pale-cyan-blue-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--pale-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-cyan-blue) !important;}.has-vivid-purple-border-color{border-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-purple) !important;}.has-vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-purple-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--vivid-cyan-blue-to-vivid-purple) !important;}.has-light-green-cyan-to-vivid-green-cyan-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--light-green-cyan-to-vivid-green-cyan) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-amber-to-luminous-vivid-orange-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-amber-to-luminous-vivid-orange) !important;}.has-luminous-vivid-orange-to-vivid-red-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-vivid-orange-to-vivid-red) !important;}.has-very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--very-light-gray-to-cyan-bluish-gray) !important;}.has-cool-to-warm-spectrum-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--cool-to-warm-spectrum) !important;}.has-blush-light-purple-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--blush-light-purple) !important;}.has-blush-bordeaux-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--blush-bordeaux) !important;}.has-luminous-dusk-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--luminous-dusk) !important;}.has-pale-ocean-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--pale-ocean) !important;}.has-electric-grass-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--electric-grass) !important;}.has-midnight-gradient-background{background: var(--wp--preset--gradient--midnight) !important;}.has-small-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--small) !important;}.has-medium-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--medium) !important;}.has-large-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--large) !important;}.has-x-large-font-size{font-size: var(--wp--preset--font-size--x-large) !important;} </style> <link rel='stylesheet' id='search-filter-plugin-styles-css' href='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-content/plugins/search-filter-pro/public/assets/css/search-filter.min.css?ver=2.5.17' type='text/css' media='all' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='google-fonts-css' href='https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro%3A400%2C600%2C700%2C900%2C400italic&ver=5.9.10' type='text/css' media='all' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='global-css' href='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-content/themes/mysociety-new/assets/css/global.css?ver=1730965478' type='text/css' media='all' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='print-css' href='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-content/themes/mysociety-new/assets/css/print.css?ver=1656423719' type='text/css' media='print' />  <script type='text/javascript' src='https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.10.2/jquery.min.js' id='jquery-js'></script> <script type='text/javascript' id='search-filter-plugin-build-js-extra'> /* <![CDATA[ */ var SF_LDATA = {"ajax_url":"https:\/\/www.mysociety.org\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php","home_url":"https:\/\/www.mysociety.org\/","extensions":[]}; /* ]]> */ </script> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-content/plugins/search-filter-pro/public/assets/js/search-filter-build.min.js?ver=2.5.17' id='search-filter-plugin-build-js'></script> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-content/plugins/search-filter-pro/public/assets/js/chosen.jquery.min.js?ver=2.5.17' id='search-filter-plugin-chosen-js'></script>   <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.mysociety.org/2019/06/26/placing-everypolitician-on-hold/" /> <link rel='shortlink' href='https://www.mysociety.org/?p=45606' /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/json+oembed" href="https://www.mysociety.org/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mysociety.org%2F2019%2F06%2F26%2Fplacing-everypolitician-on-hold%2F" /> <link rel="alternate" type="text/xml+oembed" href="https://www.mysociety.org/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mysociety.org%2F2019%2F06%2F26%2Fplacing-everypolitician-on-hold%2F&format=xml" /> <script src='https://blogs.mysociety.org/?dm=35ad60b56721cbb21832aefc8835b60c&action=load&blogid=26&siteid=1&t=1814793&back=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mysociety.org%2F2019%2F06%2F26%2Fplacing-everypolitician-on-hold%2F' type='text/javascript'></script> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Podcast RSS feed" href="https://www.mysociety.org/feed/podcast" />   <meta property="og:locale" content="en_GB"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="mySociety"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Placing EveryPolitician on hold"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.mysociety.org/2019/06/26/placing-everypolitician-on-hold/"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:description" content="After over five years of active development we have decided to pause work on the EveryPolitician project for the foreseeable future. In this post we’ll outline where we are leaving things, how you can make use of the data that does exist, and how you might be able to help migrate or transfer some"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.mysociety.org/files/2019/06/banner-ep-post.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:url" content="https://www.mysociety.org/files/2019/06/banner-ep-post.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:secure_url" content="https://www.mysociety.org/files/2019/06/banner-ep-post.jpg"/> <meta property="article:published_time" content="2019-06-26T14:15:39+01:00"/> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2019-06-26T14:36:09+01:00" /> <meta property="og:updated_time" content="2019-06-26T14:36:09+01:00" /> <meta property="article:section" content="Democracy"/> <meta property="article:section" content="Democratic Commons"/> <meta property="article:section" content="EveryPolitician"/> <meta property="article:publisher" content="https://www.facebook.com/mysociety"/>  <meta itemprop="name" content="Placing EveryPolitician on hold"/> <meta itemprop="headline" content="Placing EveryPolitician on hold"/> <meta itemprop="description" content="After over five years of active development we have decided to pause work on the EveryPolitician project for the foreseeable future. In this post we’ll outline where we are leaving things, how you can make use of the data that does exist, and how you might be able to help migrate or transfer some"/> <meta itemprop="image" content="https://www.mysociety.org/files/2019/06/banner-ep-post.jpg"/> <meta itemprop="datePublished" content="2019-06-26"/> <meta itemprop="dateModified" content="2019-06-26T14:36:09+01:00" /> <meta itemprop="author" content="Mark Cridge"/>    <meta name="twitter:title" content="Placing EveryPolitician on hold"/> <meta name="twitter:url" content="https://www.mysociety.org/2019/06/26/placing-everypolitician-on-hold/"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="After over five years of active development we have decided to pause work on the EveryPolitician project for the foreseeable future. In this post we’ll outline where we are leaving things, how you can make use of the data that does exist, and how you might be able to help migrate or transfer some"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://www.mysociety.org/files/2019/06/banner-ep-post.jpg"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@mysociety"/>     <script defer>Object.defineProperty(document,"cookie",{get:function(){var t=Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(Document.prototype,"cookie").get.call(document);return t.trim().length>0&&(t+="; "),t+="_ga=GA1.1."+Math.floor(1e9*Math.random())+"."+Math.floor(1e9*Math.random())},set:function(t){t.trim().startsWith("_ga")||Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(Document.prototype,"cookie").set.call(document,t)}});</script> <script defer src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-2X56VXTG0K"></script> <script> var client_id = Math.floor(Math.random() * 1000000000) + '.' + Math.floor(Math.random() * 1000000000); window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config','G-2X56VXTG0K', {'client_id': client_id, 'cookie_expires': 1 }); </script> <script> (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-660910-12', {'storage': 'none'}); ga('set', 'anonymizeIp', true); ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> </head> <body class=' colour-blue' > <div class="hero-background"></div> <div class="hero-area"> <header class="site-header" role="banner"> <div class="container"> <h1 class="mysociety-logo mysociety-logo--full"> <a href="/">mySociety</a> </h1> <a href="#" class="nav-toggle js-nav-toggle"> Menu </a> <div class="site-navigation-collection js-site-navigation-collection"> <nav class="site-nav primary-nav" role="navigation"> <ul id="menu-primary" class="menu"><li id="menu-item-27925" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-27925"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/transparency/">Transparency</a></li> <li id="menu-item-27926" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-27926"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/democracy/">Democracy</a></li> <li id="menu-item-27927" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-27927"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/community/">Community</a></li> <li id="menu-item-22468" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-22468"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/our-research/">Research</a></li> <li id="menu-item-47229" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-47229"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/climate/">Climate</a></li> <li id="menu-item-40676" class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-40676"><a href="/blog/">News</a></li> <li id="menu-item-54478" class="menu-item menu-item-type-taxonomy menu-item-object-series menu-item-54478"><a title="Podcast" href="https://www.mysociety.org/podcasts/mysociety/">Podcast</a></li> </ul> </nav> <nav class="site-nav secondary-nav" role="navigation"> <ul id="menu-secondary" class="menu"><li id="menu-item-39015" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-39015"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/about/">About</a></li> <li id="menu-item-39017" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-39017"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/contact/">Contact</a></li> <li id="menu-item-40677" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-40677"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/advice-and-support/">Use our code</a></li> </ul> <a href="/donate" class="secondary-nav__donate">Donate</a> </nav> <div class="search-input site-header__search-input"> <form role="search" method="get" id="searchform" class="searchform" action="https://www.mysociety.org/"> <div class="search-input__layout"> <label class="screen-reader-text" for="s">Search for:</label> <input type="text" name="s" id="s" class="search-input__field" value="" placeholder="Search" /> <input type="image" id="searchsubmit" value="Search" src="https://www.mysociety.org/wp-content/themes/mysociety-new/assets/img/search-icon.svg" height="20" width="20" class="search-input__image-submit" /> </div> </form> </div> </div> </div> </header> <header class="page-header "> <div class="container"> <div class="breadcrumb"> <ul><li><a href="https://www.mysociety.org">Home</a></li><li><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/blog/">Blog</a></li><li><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/democracy/" rel="category tag">Democracy</a>, <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/archived/democratic-commons/" rel="category tag">Democratic Commons</a>, <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/archived/everypolitician/" rel="category tag">EveryPolitician</a></li></ul> </div> </div>  </header> </div> <div class="container container--main"> <div class="grid-row blog-layout"> <div class="primary-column primary-column--canvas "> <main class="main" role="main"> <div class="photo-topper photo-topper--cover-image" style="background-image: url('https://www.mysociety.org/files/2019/06/banner-ep-post.jpg');"> </div> <div class="canvas"> <header class="blog-post-header" id="post-45606"> <div class="grid-row blog-post-header__title-and-meta"> <div class="blog-post-title-grid-unit"> <h1 class="mid-heading">Placing EveryPolitician on hold</h1> </div> <div class="blog-post-meta-grid-unit"> <div class="blog-post-meta"> <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/63ee480a94ea6cdb23b2f18ea288ae9f?s=54&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/63ee480a94ea6cdb23b2f18ea288ae9f?s=108&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-54 photo' height='54' width='54' loading='lazy'/> <div> <span class="blog-post-meta__label">Posted by</span> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/author/markcridge/" class="blog-post-meta__author-name" title="Posts by Mark Cridge" rel="author"> Mark Cridge </a> <span class="blog-post-meta__date"> <time datetime="2019-06-26" pubdate>26th June 2019</time> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="grid-row blog-post-header__categories-and-comments"> <div class="blog-post-categories-grid-unit"> <div class="blog-post-meta__categories"> <i class="blog-icon blog-icon--category">Posted in</i> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/democracy/" rel="category tag">Democracy</a>, <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/archived/democratic-commons/" rel="category tag">Democratic Commons</a>, <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/archived/everypolitician/" rel="category tag">EveryPolitician</a> </div> <div class="blog-post-meta__comments">  </div> </div> <div class="blog-post-comments-grid-unit"> </div> </div> </header> <div class="wordpress-editor-content"> <p>After over five years of active development we have decided to pause work on the EveryPolitician project for the foreseeable future.</p> <p>In this post we’ll outline where we are leaving things, how you can make use of the data that does exist, and how you might be able to help migrate or transfer some of what we’ve collected over to services like Wikidata.</p> <h2>What’s in place today</h2> <p>The EveryPolitician project is, as its name suggests, based on the simple idea to gather accurate and up-to-date data on every politician in the world, collated and shared in a consistent format for free download and use by researchers, democracy projects, campaigners and individual citizens.</p> <p>Over the course of the project we have gathered, structured and shared data on 78,382 politicians from 233 countries and territories presented on <a href="https://everypolitician.org/">EveryPolitician.org</a> via hundreds of scrapers run on <a href="https://morph.io/">morph.io</a> and hosted on <a href="https://github.com/everypolitician-scrapers">GitHub</a>, producing the data on <a href="https://github.com/everypolitician/everypolitician-data">everypolitician-data</a>.</p> <p>Mostly the data covers the main chambers of recent parliaments around the world, but it also includes thousands of entries for previous parliaments, in some cases going back decades.</p> <p>This has been a sizeable undertaking, involving a handful of very talented developers and colleagues within mySociety, as well as contributions from dozens of other organisations and individuals, many of whom make use of the data within their own projects.</p> <p>The reality is that this work is hugely time consuming, complex and requires not just expert knowledge but a commitment to go deep into the intricacies of parliamentary data in order to make it comprehensible to a wider group of users. And looking to the next couple of years this task is only ever going to increase in complexity — too much for one underfunded organisation.</p> <p>We therefore intend to freeze the current data as it currently stands, and it will continue to be available for download and reuse. We just can no longer commit to keeping this data up to date.</p> <h2>Always playing catch up</h2> <p>The challenge with data projects like EveryPolitician, beyond the complexity of understanding the structures and relationships within hundreds of individual parliaments (every parliament is an edge case in some way), is that the data is always steadily going out of date.</p> <p>Across the world’s national parliaments there is an election somewhere roughly once a week, and that’s often when parliaments choose to update their websites, sometimes breaking our scrapers and changing the format of the data. Throughout the life of a parliament you might expect a few percent of MPs to change, sometimes more in different systems, so keeping on top of those individual changes is a sizeable task – especially where errors or duplications occur.</p> <p>In addition to managing the hundreds of scrapers, we also included data from other sources — increasingly from Wikidata. Over the past 18 months we’ve been attempting to migrate more and more of what we’ve learned on EveryPolitician over to Wikidata via the <a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_every_politician">WikiProject every politician</a>.</p> <h2>Where the project goes next</h2> <p>EveryPolitician was built on the many years of work we had already delivered in this area, through PopIt, Poplus and working with Popolo. We knew what was needed, what worked and what didn’t.</p> <p>We saw the potential to create an Open Corporates for political data, and hoped that EveryPolitician would be able to attract grant funding to grow, and potentially develop appropriate commercial services in support.</p> <p>However, after five years of significant investment we just don’t have the funding to continue this work on our own.</p> <p>In time we hope to be able to continue to contribute again to the wider availability of political data, and with hindsight it’s clear that Wikidata should be the natural global home for this type of data – benefitting from much greater reach, the contribution of motivated individuals in each country, and from the wider Wiki community.</p> <p>As part of our contribution to Wikidata, <a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_every_politician#Tools">we’ve created numerous tools</a> to support the cross-referencing, verification, and supported update of data between EveryPolitician and the Wikiproject. This is still something of a work in progress, but we see it as a key way that others might contribute and take on aspects of the project in the future.</p> <p>In the meantime we hope that many people continue to make use of the wealth of data that’s already been collected.</p> <p>If you have a specific interest in a country, group of legislatures or some other combination, perhaps you can consider adding the kind of data that EveryPolitician has collected to Wikidata. We have no further resources to devote to this work; however if you do have an interest in taking some of this on then we will try to advise what options might best suit.</p> <p style="text-align: right;">—</p> <p style="text-align: right;">Image: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/87nuDVL7rKw">Jelle van Leest</a></p> </div> <footer class="blog-post-footer"> <div class="grid-row"> <div class="blog-post-footer__grid-unit"> <div class="blog-post-meta__categories"> <i class="blog-icon blog-icon--tag">Tagged</i><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/tag/news/" rel="tag">news</a> </div> </div> <div class="blog-post-footer__grid-unit" style="text-align: right"> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mysociety.org%2F2019%2F06%2F26%2Fplacing-everypolitician-on-hold%2F" class="ln-share-button-tracked ln-share-button-tracked--large" data-link="https://www.mysociety.org/2019/06/26/placing-everypolitician-on-hold/">Share</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mysociety.org%2F2019%2F06%2F26%2Fplacing-everypolitician-on-hold%2F" target="_blank" class="fb-share-button-tracked fb-share-button-tracked--large" data-link="https://www.mysociety.org/2019/06/26/placing-everypolitician-on-hold/">Share</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-size="large" data-via="mysociety" data-count="none">Tweet</a> </div> </div> </footer> </div>  <div id="comments"> </div> <nav id="pagination-controls"> <h3 class="visuallyhidden">Post navigation</h3> <div class="nav-previous"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2019/06/24/take-a-dip-into-the-cia-files/">Previous post</a></div> <div class="nav-next"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2019/06/27/digital-tools-for-citizens-assemblies/">Next post</a></div> </nav> </main> </div> <div class="secondary-column "> <div id="block-7" class="sidebar sidebar--blog widget widget_block"><div id="cta_widget-3" class="sidebar sidebar--blog widget cta-widget"> <p class="cta-widget__text"> </p><h2>Like what we do?</h2><br> <h3>Your donations help us run sites that get things changed.</h3> <p></p> <p><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/donate/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=side_widget&how-often=recurring" class="button button--red" style="width:90%">Donate £10 a month</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/donate/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=side_widget" class="button button--red" style="width:90%">Make a one-off donation</a></p> </div></div><div id="block-6" class="sidebar sidebar--blog widget widget_block"><div> <div class="mailchimp-signup__intro"> <h2>Sign up to our newsletter</h2> <p>Our monthly newsletter keep you up to date with our work and plans for the future.</p> </div> <form action="//mysociety.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=53d0d2026dea615ed488a8834&id=287dc28511" method="post" novalidate=""> <div style="position: absolute; left: -5000px;"> <input type="text" name="b_53d0d2026dea615ed488a8834_287dc28511" tabindex="-1" value=""> </div> <p class="mailchimp-signup__inline-inputs"> <input type="email" name="EMAIL" placeholder="you@email.com" aria-label="Email address"><br> <input type="submit" name="subscribe" value="Subscribe" class="button"> </p> <fieldset class="mailchimp-signup__interests"><input type="hidden" name="group[11745][32]" value="1"></fieldset> <p></p> </form> </div></div><div id="block-3" class="sidebar sidebar--blog widget widget_block"><ul class="mysoc-footer__badges sidebar__badges"><li role=presentation><a class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--github"href=https://github.com/mysociety>Github</a><li role=presentation><a class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--bluesky"href=https://bsky.app/profile/mysociety.org>bluesky</a><li role=presentation><a class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--linkedin"href=https://www.linkedin.com/company/mysociety>LinkedIn</a><li role=presentation><a class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--facebook"href=https://facebook.com/mySociety>Facebook</a><li role=presentation><a class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--twitter"href=https://twitter.com/mysociety>Twitter</a><li role=presentation><a class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--instagram"href=https://www.instagram.com/mysociety_org/ >Instagram</a><li role=presentation><a class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--tiktok"href=https://www.tiktok.com/@mysociety0>tiktok</a></ul></div> <div id="recent-posts-2" class="sidebar sidebar--blog widget widget_recent_entries"> <h2>Recent Posts</h2> <ul> <li> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2025/02/26/the-scale-of-the-challenge-might-sometimes-feel-overwhelming-but-its-possible-to-break-it-down/">“The scale of the challenge might sometimes feel overwhelming, but it’s possible to break it down”</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2025/02/25/tictec-2025-is-going-ahead-as-planned/">TICTeC 2025 is going ahead as planned</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2025/02/10/tictec-2025-keynote-announcement-fernanda-campagnucci/">TICTeC 2025 keynote announcement: Fernanda Campagnucci</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2025/02/06/the-action-scorecards-help-staff-justify-climate-action/">The Action Scorecards help staff justify climate action</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2025/02/06/the-scorecards-show-councils-what-good-looks-like/">The Scorecards show councils what ‘good’ looks like</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2025/02/04/january-2025-news-from-the-ati-network/">January 2025 News from the ATI Network</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2025/01/31/borough-council-appreciates-what-they-learn-and-and-get-out-of-engaging-with-the-scorecards/">Borough council appreciates what they “learn and and get out of engaging with the Scorecards”</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2025/01/31/scorecards-empower-residents-to-get-involved-in-climate-action/">Scorecards empower residents to get involved in climate action</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2025/01/31/how-scorecards-sparked-a-wave-of-carbon-literacy-training-at-south-cambs-council/">How Scorecards sparked a wave of carbon literacy training at South Cambs Council</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/2025/01/30/tictec-2025-keynote-announcement-marietje-schaake/">TICTeC 2025 keynote announcement: Marietje Schaake</a> </li> </ul> </div><div id="categories-2" class="sidebar sidebar--blog widget widget_categories"><h2>Categories</h2> <ul> <li class="cat-item cat-item-580"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/transparency/alaveteli/">Alaveteli</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-482"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/transparency/alaveteli/alaveteli-professional/">Alaveteli Professional</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-649"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/climate/">Climate</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-19"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/commentary/">Commentary</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-17"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/commercial-services/">Commercial services</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-461"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/community/">Community</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-488"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/democracy/">Democracy</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-424"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/design/">Design</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-85"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/events/">Events</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-31"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/community/fixmystreet/">FixMyStreet</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-552"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/commercial-services/foi_for_councils/">FOI Works</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-16"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/developers/">For Developers / Technical</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-10"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/international/">International</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-162"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/community/mapit/">MapIt</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-63"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/news/">News</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-440"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/open-source-civic-tech/">Open source civic tech</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-723"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/research/policy/">Policy</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-772"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/repowering-democracy/" title="This year we will be publishing a series of short pieces of writing from our staff, and external contributors who think deeply about how our democracy works and are at the frontlines of trying to improve it. Learn more about this series. [mailchimp-signup general="suggested" democracy="required" title="" intro="You can new posts as an email in your inbox, weekly: "]">Repowering Democracy</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-344"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/research/">Research</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-696"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/community/societyworks/">SocietyWorks</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-45"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/democracy/theyworkforyou/">TheyWorkForYou</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-675"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/tictec/">TICTeC</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-68"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/transparency/">Transparency</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-33"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/transparency/whatdotheyknow/">WhatDoTheyKnow</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-805"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/democracy/who-funds-them/" title="Below are the latest updates on our WhoFundsThem project looking into MPs’ and APPGs’ financial interests. We want to make better data available, and improve the standard of politics in the UK. Learn more">WhoFundsThem</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-34"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/category/democracy/writetothem/">WriteToThem</a> </li> </ul> </div><div id="text-2" class="sidebar sidebar--blog widget widget_text"><h2>RSS feeds</h2> <div class="textwidget"><ul> <li><a href="http://www.mysociety.org/feed/" title="Syndicate this site using RSS 2.0">Entries <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.mysociety.org/comments/feed/" title="The latest comments to all posts in RSS">Comments <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a></li> </ul></div> </div></div> </div> </div> <footer class="mysoc-footer" role="contentinfo"> <div class="container"> <h2 class="mysoc-footer__site-name">mySociety</h2> <div class="grid-row"> <div class="col-sm-4"> <div class="mysoc-footer__site-description"> <p>mySociety is a not-for-profit social enterprise, based in the UK but working with partners internationally. We build and share digital technologies that help people be active citizens, across the three areas of <a href="/democracy">Democracy</a>, <a href="/transparency">Transparency</a>, and <a href="/community">Community</a>.</p> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-5"> <nav class="mysoc-footer__links"> <ul id="menu-tertiary-footer-menu" class="menu"><li id="menu-item-20940" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-20940"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/about/">About</a></li> <li id="menu-item-21111" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-21111"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/about/careers/">Careers</a></li> <li id="menu-item-42894" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-42894"><a title="Code of Conduct" href="https://www.mysociety.org/code-of-conduct/">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="menu-item-20944" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-20944"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/contact/">Contact</a></li> <li id="menu-item-41990" class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-41990"><a href="http://data.mysociety.org/">Data and APIs</a></li> <li id="menu-item-47676" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-47676"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/environment-policy/">Environment policy</a></li> <li id="menu-item-50624" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-50624"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/equity-diversity-and-inclusion-policy/">Equity, diversity & inclusion</a></li> <li id="menu-item-21144" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-21144"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/subscribe/">Newsletters</a></li> <li id="menu-item-20979" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-20979"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/press/">Press</a></li> <li id="menu-item-28489" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-28489"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/privacy/">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="menu-item-54484" class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-54484"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/about/strategy/">Strategy</a></li> <li id="menu-item-38518" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-38518"><a href="https://www.mysociety.org/united-nations-sustainable-development-goals/">Sustainable Development</a></li> </ul> </nav> </div> <div class="col-sm-3"> <div class="mysoc-footer__donate"> <p>We are a charity – support our mission to put more power in more people’s hands so that together we can build a fairer, safer future</p> <a href="https://www.mysociety.org/donate?utm_source=mysociety.org&utm_content=footer+donate+now&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=mysoc_footer" class="mysoc-footer__donate__button"> 🤍 Donate now</a> </div> </div> </div> <hr class="mysoc-footer__divider" role="presentation"> <div class="grid-row"> <div class="col-sm-6"> <div class="mysoc-footer__legal"> <p> mySociety is a registered charity in England and Wales (1076346) and a limited company (03277032). We provide commercial services through our wholly owned subsidiary <a href="https://www.societyworks.org">SocietyWorks Ltd</a> (05798215). </p> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6"> <ul class="mysoc-footer__badges"> <li role="presentation"><a href="https://github.com/mysociety" class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--github">Github</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mysociety.org" class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--bluesky">bluesky</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/mysociety" class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--linkedin">LinkedIn</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a href="https://facebook.com/mySociety" class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--facebook">Facebook</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a href="https://twitter.com/mysociety" class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--twitter">Twitter</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/mysociety_org/" class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--instagram">Instagram</a></li> <li role="presentation"><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mysociety0" class="mysoc-footer__badge mysoc-footer__badge--tiktok">tiktok</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </footer> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-includes/js/jquery/ui/core.min.js?ver=1.13.1' id='jquery-ui-core-js'></script> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-includes/js/jquery/ui/datepicker.min.js?ver=1.13.1' id='jquery-ui-datepicker-js'></script> <script type='text/javascript' id='jquery-ui-datepicker-js-after'> jQuery(function(jQuery){jQuery.datepicker.setDefaults({"closeText":"Close","currentText":"Today","monthNames":["January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"monthNamesShort":["Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"],"nextText":"Next","prevText":"Previous","dayNames":["Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday","Saturday"],"dayNamesShort":["Sun","Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri","Sat"],"dayNamesMin":["S","M","T","W","T","F","S"],"dateFormat":"MM d, yy","firstDay":1,"isRTL":false});}); </script> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-content/themes/mysociety-new/assets/scripts/fitvids.js?ver=1656423684' id='fitvids-js'></script> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-content/themes/mysociety-new/assets/scripts/social-sharing.js?ver=1656423684' id='mysociety-social-sharing-js'></script> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-content/themes/mysociety-new/assets/scripts/analytics.js?ver=1686660156' id='mysociety-analytics-js'></script> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://www.mysociety.org/wp-content/themes/mysociety-new/assets/scripts/mysociety.js?ver=1725869074' id='mysociety-js'></script> </body> </html>