Introducing Internet in Election

The National Diet of Japan passed a legislature to let use of internet in campaigns of elections open. Has it been prohibited for a candidate to use internet for his/her campaign? Yes, it has, simply because the officials had not been confident in controlling it. The greatest reason for new policy is aimed at encouraging voters’ turnout at elections, especially young voters. Although the discussion over introducing internet in election has been focused on how to avoid negative campaign on web pages, the true issue is how to educate voters not to easily believe in negative messages.

The new legislature makes it possible for candidates to build homepage up, use blog, twitter, or facebook. Voters can know about the candidate with the information on the webpage, and discuss about policies directly with the candidate. If a voter wants to support the candidate, he/she can ask friends, relatives or every voter to vote for the candidate through internet.

The highest hurdle for the legislature was how to deal with disturbance against opposite campaign. It has been worried that someone would operate defamation against a candidate. It also is possible for a man to pretend himself to be an actual candidate and provide with wrong information about the candidate. The legislature set penalties for wrong use of internet and demanded for candidates to show information to identify the webpage contains true message.

Some contradicts between cyber space and real world have already appeared. The number of campaign brochures and posters for a candidate is still limited. Although it is prohibited to disseminate brochures to ask votes for him/her, a candidate may e-mail to voters to ask votes for him/her. Sending e-mails to appreciate for successful campaign is approved, while postal mail is still prohibited.

Those contradicts come from traditional skepticisms of voters against politicians. In 1970s and 80s, huge amount of money used for election was broadly criticized as oligopoly of politics. But internet made that concern diminished, since disseminating information through internet is so cheap that money advantage became meaningless.

The more information spread, the harder voters’ quality is challenged. Voters need to distinguish true message from pretended message through internet. Not only whether a webpage is made by true candidate, but also whether the candidate is telling truth will matter. The Japanese who have been indifferent and dependent on politics will become easy targets of dishonest campaign strategy. The key to successful election system is on the hand of voters.