Newspaper launches SA elections web site

The new web site will be powered by the news and opinion from The Times (www.thetimes.co.za). The site will also provide election news from across the web and blogosphere, media analysis and interactive features like online voting.

“… the site will keep readers up to date, and also allow them to interact. Readers can pledge their support by voting for their chosen party online. This ‘online followers' log is displayed across the website encouraging more users to do the same and to keep coming back to check how their party is doing,” says Colin Daniels, publisher of The Times Online.

2500 votes already cast
Since its launch on February 17, the online-voting feature has received over 2500 votes for the various parties. Some of the parties' Facebook groups, such as the DA Youth and COPE have picked up on it and are encouraging their members to vote online to show their support.

“We're also planning on launching a number of additional features in the coming weeks, including polls and surveys, a mobile site with SMS voting, interactive maps and graphs and integration of other web feeds such as Twitter and Flickr,” Daniels added.

The opinion section includes election-related opinions and analysis from a variety of contributors including editors, columnists and bloggers from The Times and Sunday Times, political analysts and industry “thought leaders”.

Graphs and analysis are provided in collaboration with Media Tenor, the media-research institute.

Information and links to all political parties is provided, including links to Facebook groups and Twitter streams. There is also an information centre, which provides information and links for major political and electoral organisations, FAQs and so on.

You can visit the new site here.