How are Brazilian politicians using the Internet for purposes of communication and interaction with voters? A study of candidates’ Internet use during the October 2006 elections in southern Brazil

Abstract

On the occasion of the last Brazilian elections, some analysts predicted that the Internet would become the prime novelty on the electoral scenario. Was this what really happened? This article seeks to present evidence that enables us to provide a more well-founded answer to this question and to reflect on more subustantive issues regarding the use that Brazilian politicians are making of the Internet in communicating and interacting with the electorate. Our empirical universe is made up of 2076 candidates disputing state and federal positions during the October 2006 elections in the country’s southern region. We come to the conclusion that Brazilian politicians’ use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is still highly inadequate, and – most significantly – is unequally distributed by party, state and categories of representation. These conclusions suggest that much effort can be made to improve the utilization of the tools that the Internet in fact provides for perfecting communication and interaction between elite representatives and common citizens. Keywords: Internet and politics; 2006 elections; democratic controls.