E-Democracy in Africa: Assessing Internet Use by Major Political Parties during Elections in Cameroon

Abstract

The Internet provides important opportunities for interactions between candidates and voters as well as new arenas for voter-to-voter discussions and interaction before, during and even after an election. Growing concerns on the use of the Internet for political propaganda warrants an understanding of its preponderance on Cameroon’s political communication landscape. This is done following the theoretical underpinnings of Uses and Gratifications theory (Katz & Blumler, 1974) and Agenda Setting theory (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). Through carefully selected approaches (mix research methods), this study content analyzes the websites of two major political parties in Cameroon: the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM), which is the ruling party for the past 34 years and Social Democratic Front (SDF), as the leading opposition party for the past 29 years. It also surveys, through self-administered questionnaires, the effects of Internet use by these political parties on 100 academics and party supporters who participated as respondents in the study. The findings reveal that with the growth of Internet-mediated political communication in the country, political participation is on the increase with 77% of academics/party supporters attesting to their participation in online political discussions. This firmly supports evidence that political parties use the Internet to mobilize support (43%) as well as set political agendas (18%). The study concludes that as new media use keeps increasing in the political process in Cameroon, there will be a considerable drift from the use of “old media” in communicating political agendas. To achieve the full benefits of this shift, need exists for stakeholders, especially the government, to develop and implement adequate ICT policies. Looking at the present day impact of the Internet on human existence, especially on the political sphere, it is expedient that all those in this stratum of influence study and better understand the dynamics of this new form of communication. By so doing, the incidence of unnecessary propaganda, capable of distorting every day existence, shall be reduced.