Plugging in to politics

Mainly young people are turning to the World Wide Web to inform themselves about the upcoming general election in Germany.

"The Internet is becoming a key medium for communication between politicians and citizens," said August-Wilhelm Scheer, head of the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (Bitkom).

Some 77 percent of people between 18 and 29 go online for information about the parties' platforms. For the entire population that number dropped to 45 percent, according to a survey by the Forsa polling institute released on Wednesday.

The vast majority of voters - 81 percent of those under 30 and 71 percent of the entire population - turn to traditional medias' Websites for details on what the parties are promising, the study showed.

"The journalistic skills of traditional media are asserting themselves on the Internet," Scheer said.

Germany: An emerging country

About 28 percent of voters under 30 said they also visited social networks like Facebook, Xing and YouTube, to find out about politicians and political parties. About a third of the 1,005 people questioned also visited political parties' Websites, according to the survey.

But parties' Websites are in serious need of a makeover, according to German blogger Markus Beckedahl of Netzpolitik.org. He said German parties were at the stage of US politicians during the 2004 election and would be of interest more to party members and functionaries than to the general public.

"When it comes to electoral campaigning, Germany isn't a developing country, but still an emerging country," he told the AFP news agency. "Candidates' profiles are boring and free from politics, the number of supporters and clicks on sometimes expensive and elaborately made videos is very low."

The real change in German campaigning is that politicians are being permitted to spread their messages without having to get every word vetted by party officials, said Patrick Brauckmann, a communications researcher.

"Now many candidates are able to communicate individually and personally," he told AP. "And campaign strategists are letting it happen. I'm sure it's possible to get a couple extra percentage points from the Internet."

Online voting

Holding elections online could become a way to increase voter turn-out, according to Forsa head Manfred Guellner.

He said the institute's study showed that, of the people who did not cast a ballot in June's European election, 80 percent would have if they could have done it online. Actual turnout for the poll among Germans was about 43 percent.

Although online voting is illegal in Germany, nearly half of all Germans, and 57 percent of those between 18 and 29, are in favor of casting their ballots via the Internet, the Forsa poll revealed. The survey said being able to vote quickly and from anywhere were the main reasons people supported online voting.

"Online elections would make mobilizing voters much easier," Scheer said.

sms/AFP/AP/dpa

Editor: Susan Houlton