Citizens of Jamaica will go to the polls on August 27th this year to form a new House of Representatives, the main legislative body in the Caribbean island country. These elections will form only the 10th Jamaican government since independence from Britain in 1962. As with many modern elections around the world, the internet is already being used by the main players in these elections. In fact, it is often the case that parties in countries which aren’t ‘most developed’ such as those in Western Europe or North America, are making the most out of a resource which is relatively inexpensive to employ – if done properly.

The current political set up in Jamaica is based on the last general election, which took place in October 2002. There are only two main parties, the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) and the Jamaican Labour Party (JLP), which together received about 99% of the total vote last time around. Although the PNP currently enjoys a majority in the House, and therefore the right to form a government, the majority is only by five percentage points (52.2 % vs. 47.2%), so it should be an interesting election to watch.

The PNP’s Government is headed by Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, the first female head of government in Jamaica.

The PNP and JLP are both using the internet to get their electoral messages out to the voters. Looking firstly at their own party websites, I think they’re making a good start at mounting a decent e-campaign. http://www.pnpjamaica.org and http://www.jamaicalabourparty.com are both well designed. What first jumps to mind when comparing the two is that the PNP makes it their top priority to place a good picture of their candidate, at the top, smiling and looking professional. The first headline in the site’s news section (which is also on the front page) is: ‘Portia, A Woman of her Word’ – this combined with the picture is what the user sees first, and puts a very clear message of positivism and professionalism to the voter who isn’t bound to any particular party.

The JLP site is glossy and well designed, but I don’t think they make the best use of the home page. The party’s tag line ‘Justice, Liberty & Prosperity’ isn’t prominent enough, and the main picture isn’t of the party leader, but is an older woman smiling. Next to that picture are four links to main policy areas: Education, Agriculture, Tourism & IT Expansion. The user has to scroll down to see a picture of the party leader, Bruce Golding, and to read his welcome message. The policy sections are a bit heavy and in-depth, which probably won’t be very helpful for the swing voter. The site is used to highlight the JLP leaders, team & achievements, and allows people to read speeches, watch TV ads online and download JLP ringtones for mobile phones.

There isn’t a lot in terms of multimedia from either party. The PNP has said they will start putting official party videos on video-sharing site YouTube, and I think all parties in any country where there is good net penetration should use this channel for communicating with different audiences. The JLP has its official YouTube channel – http://www.youtube.com/jamaicalabourparty - which it uses to post the ads that it has shown on TV. It’s a start, but YouTube could and should be used to really reach out to disengaged audiences, and people who don’t usually get involved with politics. It can also be used as a place to hold dialogue.

Overall conclusion: I was surprised to see parties in a country like Jamaica really using the web to campaign, so well done them. However, I think the JLP has a way to go if it wants to win votes using the web. Also, the PNP should seek to use different ways of getting its message out online, by video for one. Both parties are using their sites to solicit new members and money contributions.

Labels: Jamaica, Jamaican Labour Party, JLP, People's National Party, PNP