Brazil is warming up for local elections later this year, in October, when voters will go to the polls to choose their local government representatives.
The Supreme Electoral Court [the TSE, the Portuguese acronym for Tribunal Superior Eleitoral] has just passed the regulations for voting, and again, the opportunity to better discuss electronic political propaganda through the Internet was missed, writes News Weblog Global Voices.
Tools like Twitter, Orkut, Facebook, You Tube, electronic newsletters, text messages, blogs and other ‘social web’ facilities – technologies which nowadays are essential for voters to inform and empower themselves – were not subject to a more comprehensive legislation and, as a result, these are again left in limbo.
Two of the regulation’s articles have especially raised blogger’s eye-brows, starting with the very first article:
“The electoral campaign for the 2008 regional elections, even if through the Internet or other electronic devices, will be subject to the terms of this resolution”
And second the 18th article, which states:
“The electoral campaign on the Internet will only be allowed on candidates’ purpose-built web pages intended exclusively for the campaign”
Add to these lines the decision that any campaign for the 2008 local elections will only be allowed from July 6, even on the Internet (in fact it has already started on social networking websites and blogs), and stir up this mix of misinformation.
