Foundation Metamorphosis analysis shows that 96% of the mayor candidates do not use Internet for promotion, and most of the candidates that use Internet are using only few of opportunities that Internet offers for communication with the citizens. There are no women among candidates with web sites.

 

 

 

Use of information and communication technologies (ICT) influences the work of the local self-government, especially in enhancing life and work of the citizens. In addition, ICT is one of the key elements in the euro-integration process.

 

Regardless the fact that the number of published web sites is on a very low level (4%), there is a certain progress compared with the previous elections when web sites have not been used at all for promotion and communication with electorate.

 

Citizens will have the opportunity to vote for at least one candidate with web site in only 8 of 85 election districts (84 municipalities and the City Skopje), i.e. in 9% of the election districts. Election districts City Skopje and municipality Aerodrom are districts where mayor candidates are most interested in promotion by using Internet (40%).

 

In most of the cases candidates use only few of the opportunities for communication with the citizens that ICT offers, forums, polls and answering questions. Not one of the candidates use public site meter, preventing the chance to evaluate the web sites impact on the public.

 

Most of the candidates with web sites show neither interest for multilanguage communication, nor concern for the quality of the published data since they have not hired proof-reader. Only few of them work on surpassing the disadvantages of the standard support for languages other than English.

 

Most of the candidates (70%) host the web sites in Macedonia, and the others use foreign hosts. Same ration goes for use of Microsoft Windows (70%) compared to other alternatives (30%) for the server platform.

 

The analysis encompasses only active web sites for whose existence Metamorphosis’s team obtained information by the end of the analysis (March 7, 2005). With the analysis Metamorphosis continues the tradition started with the analysis of the web sites of the candidates for the president elections.

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