Stories about Elections from May, 2010
Uruguay: First Woman Elected as Intendant of Montevideo
Ana Olivera, a member of the Uruguayan Communist Party was elected Municipal Intendant of Montevideo. Her candidacy and the politics and history behind it gave social media users and bloggers a lot to talk about.
Technology for Transparency Review, Part V
Representative democracy, while necessary, takes citizens away from the decision making process. While traditional media tend to focus on individuals more than issues, a new generation of websites are combining parliamentary information with social media tools to give citizens more information about the profile and activities of their representatives, and to become more active in the legislative process.
Colombia: Presidential Candidates Answered Questions Asked on Youtube
Colombian political website La Silla Vacía [es] (The Empty Chair) with the support of TV news channel NTN24 organized a presidential debate where candidates answered questions people submitted through online video platforms, emulating the CNN YouTube debate that some say [es] put Obama in the White House.
Bahamas: Electoral Reform
Larry Smith blogs about electoral reform in the Bahamas.
Trinidad & Tobago: Election Predictions
Mark Lyndersay predicts the results of the upcoming elections in Trinidad and Tobago based on “nothing more than a casual remembrance of who these people are in public life, the general public perception of them and, frankly, what they look like in their photographs.”
Estonia: Green party purges
Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa reflects upon how the Estonian Green Party has just expelled leading members and which consequences this has for the party and the country's political landscape, not least in relation to next year's parliamentary elections.
Hungary: Reluctant government handover
Eva Balogh of Hungarian Spectrum reflects upon the reluctance of opposing sides in Hungarian politics to deal with each other in the handover of power after the recent parliamentary elections.
Trinidad & Tobago: Do So!
Pleasure highlights the different ways in which to “do so” in Trinidad and Tobago's upcoming general election.
Trinidad & Tobago: Keeping Promises
KnowTnT.com asks: “What methods do we have in T&T to hold the winning politicians to their campaign promises after 24 May 2010?”
Trinidad & Tobago: LGBT Issues
gspottt notes that “of the almost 100 candidates [in the upcoming Trinidad and Tobago general election]…the People’s Partnership candidate for St. Ann’s East…is the only one to date to make positive references to sexual orientation on a campaign platform.”
Ethiopia: Activists use new media to ensure free and fair election
As Ethiopians are preparing themselves for parliamentary election scheduled for May 23, 2010, two organisations are using new media to ensure free and fair elections. Ethiopia CommonBorders, a community-based organisation, uses social networking site, Facebook, as part of its online campaign while Ethiopia Vote Monitor uses a web-based platform to collect and visualise election information on a map.
Trinidad & Tobago: Social Media Interaction
“This general election has seen the most social media usage in the history of Trinidad and Tobago”: KnowTnT.com says that while this is a positive development, “something is missing. Interaction.”
Technology for Transparency Review, Part III
New tools like Many Eyes and Ushahidi allow regular citizens to take part in election and budget monitoring. But our review of such initiatives so far reveal that much is still lacking until they make a measurable impact of increased accountability.
Trinidad & Tobago: Election Possibilities
KnowTnT.com wonders whether Trinidad and Tobago is “ready to be led by an unelected Prime Minister.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Rock the Vote
“Saying that the songs are catchy is one thing, but saying that they influence your red finger decisions are another”: Underground Trini Artiste blogs about “voting songs”.
Haiti: Tensions & Demonstrations
“Almost four months have passed since the earthquake, but the Haitian people can’t get the rubble out of sight”: For Inside Disaster, Emmanuel Midi reports on a demonstration in Haiti demanding the return on exiled President Jean Bertrand Aristide.
Madagascar Leader Rajoelina Drops from Presidential Running
Madagascar transitional president Andry Rajoelina announced in a statement on national radio that he will not be a candidate for the presidential elections scheduled on November 26th, 2010 (fr). Achille in Madagascar hopes that this decision will help the international community decide to financially support democratic elections (fr).
Trinidad & Tobago: Manifesto
Pleasure reviews the aesthetic value of the ruling political party's 2010 manifesto.
Monitoring Philippine Elections through Social Media
The May 10 Philippine election was historic because it was the first time the country implemented an automated election system. Filipinos used various social media platforms to monitor the conduct of the elections.
Haiti: Preval's Term Extended
The Haitian blogosphere has been buzzing about the modification of the Haitian electoral law, which would enable President Preval to remain in power longer (should the elections not be held this November). Here are RadioKiskeya's and Haiti RectoVerso's posts [Fr] on the issue.
Lebanon: Blogging the elections
Asaad Thibian writes, in Arabic, about the experience that he and almost 20 other bloggers had when covering the municipal elections. He mentions some of the violations that they uncovered as well as events they posted about before the other news outlets on the internet.
