Guyana is on the eve of back-to-back national elections; long delayed local government elections are due to be run off this year, while general elections are constitutionally due before the end of 2011.

In addition to ratcheting up the rhetoric, political parties have already begun to stake claim to the new virtual landscape created by the growing use of social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Among the major parties, the ruling PPP as well as the main opposition PNCR and the AFC all have websites and at least two have ventured into social media networks (both the PPP/C and the AFC have Facebook pages, while the latter party also maintains a Twitter account).

The 2008 presidential election in the US is considered the first social media election, as a result of the unprecedented way the tools were used to connect with voters, organise support and raise funds.

The ruling party’s ppp-civic.org is not regularly maintained, with the most recent content being press statements dating back to 2008 and photographs of the funeral ceremonies last year for former President Janet Jagan. The party’s election website votepppc.com has not been updated since the declaration of election results in 2006. Similarly, the main opposition’s guyanapnc.org has only been sporadically updated and the “latest” news releases date back to 2008. For its part, the AFC’s afcguyana.com is updated regularly, with news releases, photographs as well as other multimedia content. Addi-tionally, the party has also been using the site to seek donations.

On Facebook, the AFC enjoys a slight numerical advantage over the PPP; its fan page counts 478 members compared with the 450 claimed by the ruling party.

The AFC has trumpeted the success of its use of social media platforms, noting that it has managed to craft a constant online presence. It is an initiative credited to its young members and the party has said that it helped to increase its support, particularly in helping to win and consolidate the support of “those who we feel were never there,” especially young people.

“Ours is a living site,” AFC Vice-Chair Sheila Holder told Stabroek News, while explaining that  the party has also been using social media networks to spread its message. At the same time, she noted that the party places great emphasis on reaching members of the diaspora, who have the advantage of internet connectivity that is unavailable locally and use the online edition of the local dailies as well as the party’s site to stay informed about national developments.

“What people don’t understand is that we have our diaspora members participating in our decision-making processes,” she added, while pointing out that at the most recent National Executive meeting here, representatives from the Caribbean, Canada, the US and London were participating live using a Skype connection.

Holder was sceptical about any immediate changes that could be brought by the Suriname-Guyana Submarine Cable System (expected to make available at least 3,000 times the current bandwidth capacity in use locally), or the Guyana government’s plan for an overland fibre optic cable from Brazil.

She noted it will take some time to get connectivity to a broad cross-section and to get it computer-literate. Currently, Holder added, the party’s social media ventures target younger Guyanese, who have been gravitating to the tools and show signs of being less rooted to the traditional politics that have kept the country moribund.

She noted, however, that the party’s online presence is no substitute for grassroots work. “Our focus is eye-to-eye contact and we have a constant outreach programme and we have begun to see a definite growth in the establishment of groups in the various regions,” she added.