Steven Clift
Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:14:43 -0700
*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://dowire.org *** *** Headlines from top blogs: http://dowire.org/feeds ***
No that is still illegal for candidates. Quite surprising really. Steven Clift http://dowire.org P.S. The LDP recruited an Internet star to run for parliament: http://news.google.com/news?hl=&q=Takafumi+Horie From: http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200508300116.html E-mail canvassing would beat screechy vans 08/30/2005 The Lower House election campaign kicks off Tuesday. In this muggy heat, it makes me feel even worse waiting for that usual election- time ordeal of having to hear the names of candidates being screeched out endlessly from campaign cars. But one type of political activity will have ceased on the dot of midnight Monday. The Public Offices Election Law does not recognize online campaigning. Throughout the campaign period, candidates are forbidden to update their Web sites or report their activities in e- mail magazines. In contrast, the law permits unlimited vote canvassing by phone. While purporting to prevent vote-buying and other forms of corruption, this law effectively denies candidates the use of the cheapest and fastest means of communication and data transmission. ... In Japan, an election study team from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications recommended three years ago that online campaigning be partially legalized. However, the Diet has yet to revise the law, mainly because many Liberal Democratic Party members are reluctant. Their reasons are that allowing campaigning on the Net will "disadvantage parties with elderly supporters" and "the system could be abused to slander candidates." It would be quite interesting and informative to be able to know candidates' honest thoughts and feelings about party platforms on their Web sites during the campaign. Voters will no longer have to remain passive, as they will be able to access any site they are interested in. And even if candidates never stop begging and screaming for voters' support, it will at least be less annoying if they do so by e-mail. --The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 29(IHT/Asahi: August 30,2005) ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - - - W: http://publicus.net Minneapolis - - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift UK Office Hours - 1pm - 11pm - - T: 0870.340.1266 Join my Democracies Online Newswire: http://dowire.org *** Past Messages, to Subscribe: http://dowire.org *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To UNSUBSCRIBE instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** New RSS XML Feed Available: *** http://www.mail-archive.com/do-wire@lists.umn.edu/maillist.xml