Spectropolarimetry of MCG-5-23-16 obtained with VLT/FORS2. Top-left panel: Total flux spectrum, corrected for the instrumental response (in arbitrary units). Top-right panel: Polarized flux, obtained by multiplying the total flux by the polarization degree. Bottom-left panel: Linear polarization degree. Bottom-right panel: Polarization position angle. Except for the total flux panel, spectra were rebinned to 137 consecutive pixels (424.8 Å) to achieve a polarization S/N of at least three per bin. Observational errors are shown for each spectral bin. The newly estimated position angle of the extended [O III] and Hα emission line region from (Ferruit et al. 2000) is indicated with a dashed red line in the polarization angle panel.