Election Watch - Nice article in the Namibian Sun today by Emsie Erastus on the Election Watch initiative and the associated Facebook group:

With less than two weeks left before voters go to the polls in the National Assembly and Presidential election, cyberspace continues to play a major role in campaigning and information dissemination.

Organisations like the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) for instance are posting their election research on social networks such as Facebook. Their group on Facebook called Election Watch Namibia, started by political analyst Graham Hopwood who is also the Executive Director of the IPPR, allows people from all over the world to express their views and post comments on the elections. The use of electronic media has also allowed citizen journalism to play a role in the Namibian elections, with the public using the forums to report on issues facing them directly.

“The IPPR believes that social networking is an important tool for voter education, raising the level of debate, and for citizen monitoring of elections, “ said Hopwood.

Hopwood said the IPPR decided to establish the Facebook group for the elections as part of its Election Watch project which is aimed at providing the public with voter education and electoral analysis ahead of the 2009 polling. “The Facebook group is a way of reaching young Namibians and giving them information about the elections as well as involving them in debates about policy and the electoral process,” said Hopwood. He added that the group has 520 members and is growing by about 20 to 30 people per day.

Hopwood said that they have so far been impressed with the high level of debate coming from all parts of the political spectrum on the Election Watch Namibia page. “The members who contribute to the page show a high level of tolerance for each others’ views even when they strongly disagree with another member. It could be used as an example to older politicians of how to accept another person’s right to hold differing views,” he told Namibian Sun.

He said the website is made even more accessible as Namibians do not need a computer to access the Internet any more, but are now using their mobile phones. “This makes the potential readership for such groups quite large. The potential audience will be even greater by the time of the next elections. As such the Election Watch Namibia page on Facebook is a pioneering attempt to engage young people in the democratic process,” said Hopwood.