Elections Are Also Won Online

The were elections in Catalonia (Spain) yesterday. The political campaign has probably been the most intense one of recent years, not just offline but also online. During a campaign, candidates need to be in touch with citizens to convince them, and it seems more clear than ever that the Internet is the place to do so. Some websites helped to make the candidates in this race more accessible and their proposals easier to understand.

For example, people were able to check programs and ask questions of candidates at candidat2003.net (site in Catalan), as well as compare their answers on the same topics. The most active candidate responding to e-mails belonged to the party that added the most seats. Another website, eleccions2003.org (in Catalan), offered games and tools that could help voters decide, in a test named “Qui sóc, on sóc?” (Who am I? Where am I?). After answering all the questions, made according to programs of different parties, citizens could compare where they were supposed to be to where they really are. And it sometimes was surprising.