Web sites spin the political story

As the country heads into its third democratic elections, I thought it would be interesting to take a tour of the main political parties` Web sites, and found that spin has never looked so good.

Internet sites were still a bit of a novelty during the 1999 general elections and the 2000 local elections. However, they seem to have matured greatly as political organisations realise the importance of the medium to get their message across.

The biggest surprise is that according to the IEC, there are more than 60 political parties registered as of 14 January.

Paul Vecchiatto, journalist, ITWeb

Just how important the sites have become was illustrated on 8 January, when opposition political parties posted their objections and criticisms of the African National Congress` election manifesto on their respective Web sites literally minutes after its announcement.

My tour started with the Independent Electoral Commission`s (IEC) Web site at www.elections.org.za. The IEC is charged with impartial management of free and fair elections. This site is comprehensively laid out and has a useful search facility to work out where one must register as a voter, although it needed several tries before getting the hang of it.

The biggest surprise is that according to the IEC, there are more than 60 political parties registered as of 14 January.

So at the risk of trivialising most of the smaller parties, I decided to limit my tour to what I consider the "big eight" of SA politics, namely, the African National Congress (ANC), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Democratic Alliance (DA), the New National Party (NNP), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), the United Democratic Movement (UDM), and the Independent Democrats (ID).

The first thing that struck me is the similarity of the sites. Not so much in the design and the use of colours, but they all have the standard photographs of their leaders as well as links to their policies and campaign issues, members of Parliament and, of course, to their "press offices".

All the parties` sites seem to be updated regularly and have advice on how to register to vote. Most have some kind of weekly "newsletter" or statement from their respective leaders "to you" giving comment or lambasting the opposition.

The main differences seem to be in the size of the sites - some seem to have more links and more resources than others - and just what types of people they are trying to woo votes from.

The ANC site has all the fanfare that the incumbent party governing the nation feels it should have. The homepage gives the impression that the site is smaller than it is, but one link leads to another, and before you know it, you are in a veritable rabbit warren that is quite difficult to navigate out of.

However, the site is well resourced and has a lot of useful links, including those of government and the sites of the ANC`s two allies, the Congress of SA Trade Unions and the SA Communist Party.

The ANC`s site also has quite useful archives detailing its press releases in the previous elections and its current election manifesto and, of course, its own interpretation of how well it has governed the country over the past 10 years.

At least the DA has all the possible permutations of its name linked to the site. Previously, the party was called the Democratic Party before it joined up with the NNP. Since the two fell out with each other, it has not reverted to its old name, but has ensured that the links lead to one homepage.

In some ways, this is a fun site. It has an active vote on whether to vote out the minister of health and is quite slick in presenting its views and issues. Of interest to our industry, it seems to be the only party that is making telecommunications and ICT an elections issue.

The NNP site was the only one of those surveyed that does not use the .org.za suffix. In fact, it does not use any logical name - its site is at www.natweb.co.za. It was the only site to use Afrikaans and not only English as its main language and was the only one that had a really visible link to the IEC site.

Probably the award for the blandest site should go to the ACDP, although it could also receive the "most sporting political party award" as it has links to oppositions` sites.

The best headline for a press release was on the IFP`s site with one of its press releases stating: "ANC 2004 Manifesto - the Wages of Spin" It is nice to see the age-old tradition of political lampooning is still alive.

Two parties, the ID and the UDM, have sites that illustrate how much they depend on the personalities of their political leaders. Both sites also push the main issue - namely corruption - that they have championed for some time. The UDM site inadvertently advertises the ANC leadership on its pages talking about corruption.

The most tasteful site, in my opinion, was that of the PAC. It is well designed and uses more subdued colours and is easy to read and navigate. If this illustrates the rejuvenation of the party, then the 2004 elections may produce some even bigger surprises.

While all the sites visited are well designed and full of information, they are not intuitive enough for voters to use. It is difficult to compare issues, there is not enough information about the various parties` hierarchies, and getting information on where and how to vote is not easy.

However, the sites do prove that the art of political debate is alive and well in this young democracy.