Tech plays a leading role in the elections of Uganda

Technology has taken a central role in the electoral process in Uganda, with SMS campaigns, websites, so-called robocalls and even a rap Presidency on YouTube play a part in political campaigns conclude this week before the elections of today.

At the beginning of the election campaign, President Museveni did a rap song in one of the main local languages. An amateur video of Museveni by rap made its way to YouTube, with the aim of attracting young people to vote for him and has now over 1.8 million views. Was constantly connected to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The national resistance movement (NRM), the Party of Musveni, used an automated system "robocall" pre-recorded message delivery to ask people to vote for "the old man in a hat." Is an expensive method to get out the vote that until now has been used mainly in elections in the United States.

Mass SMS broadcasts were also widely distributed as a tool for messaging campaign, public information campaigns and direct requests from candidates asking users to vote them into Office.

Organizations that have been asking for election violence-free SMS messages is also used to call people to honor the voting rights of citizens. Such an organization, a coalition of citizens for the electoral democracy in Uganda (CCEDU), uses its website to spread its message of tolerance.

The major political parties have used websites and social networking sites to communicate with voters and offer interactive means of communication. (For a history of elections online, see 12 more dirty tricks of the Web ").

The members of the party, for example, were able to follow the activities of their candidates on the campaign trail across the country, using Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Visitors of the websites were also able to listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos, and view still images out of the Flickr Web site.

Blogs, RSS feeds and mailing lists were also actively used in the electoral process. The key role that technology has played in the elections of Uganda should be reflected in the elections of the continent as tele-density grows and broadband Internet access and more becoming reality. With elections set for Nigeria in April, will be put to the test these expectations.