ParliamentLab : An interactive application for exploring voting behavior in the European Parliament

Abstract This article introduces ParliamentLab.eu , an interactive application paired with a structured dataset, designed to support the exploration of voting behavior in the European Parliament (EP) from 2004 to 2022. ParliamentLab integrates publicly accessible datasets from VoteWatch.eu and Parltrack.eu, containing roll-call votes, biographical details, and attendance records into one intuitive interface. The application enables users to interactively filter data, visualize voting patterns, and perform hypothesis-driven exploration without requiring programming expertise. The user-adapted data can be downloaded as well. In its current form, ParliamentLab includes advanced techniques such as clustering and dimensionality reduction, modestly featuring a clustering process to show how underlying data structures can be identified. This feature supports interactive data exploration while keeping the focus on low-barrier accessibility. ParliamentLab provides researchers, educators, journalists, and the public with a transparent, reproducible, and user-friendly tool for engaging with legislative behavior in the EP.