A worked proposal on eparticipation for state wide elections

Abstract

Web 2.0 and, more recently, Social Media, created new forms of social behavior and political engagement. This paper presents a proposal for digital mediation for direct public participation during electoral periods. Mediation is implemented by a web application based on social media principles, iLeger, specifically designed to gather voters and candidates in a shared deliberative space. Interaction and collaboration between these key stakeholders is supported through questions, answers, suggestions, comments, votes and live debates. With this proposal it is intended to contribute to narrow the communication gap between voters and candidates, make campaigns more open and encourage citizens to become involved and participate in electoral debates. This paper includes results of a case study about the Portuguese Parliamentary Elections held in 2011 and conclusions derived from the use of iLeger. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.