Windhoek — As the election campaign gathers steam, political parties are looking at new ways of reaching out to voters.

And, unlike in the past when election campaigns in Namibia were dominated by political rallies with members in colourful party attires, other "medium of campaigning" have been added to the "reach out tools".

Parties and candidates have this year decided to use new technology and media to make their pitch.

Indeed, the growing number of mobile phone users, and increasing use of the Internet has provided the parties with a new campaign platform.

Some parties are busy sending catchy text messages to voters through mobile phones. The ruling Swapo Party, says although it has not designed or set up a team to generate campaign slogans to be transmitted via mobile phones and e-mail, members of the party have taken their own individual initiative to reach out to others using Short Messaging Service (SMS). Party Secretary General, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, says "young people, being who they are, are making use of SMS and Internet creating awareness and encouraging each other to participate in the upcoming elections".

The Congress of Democrats (CoD) has secured a hotline with the Mobile Telecommunications (MTC) through which it sends all party messages in bulk to its members.

"We use the line for different messages on the party's planned activities," says Deputy Secretary General, Gretchen Boois.

Republican Party (RP) leader, Henk Mudge, says by using SMS, the candidates can directly target voters who may otherwise be apathetic. While his party is still in the process of making use of this medium, he adds it is one of the inexpensive yet effective ways of communicating.

"The youths have cellphones and most of them are apathetic to politics. This could be one way of getting to them and encouraging them to be involved in politics/elections," says Mudge.

Similarly, the Director of Administration for the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo), Theophilus Uahongoro, says the main objective of using SMS is to reach the 'born-frees'.

As technology advances, young people are also becoming sophisticated in their lifestyle.

"We thought we could use SMS as a useful method to reach young people and motivate them to vote," he says. The party instructed its regional coordinators to make use of the tool in its campaign. The message being sent is simple, "Vote for the party for a better future", he adds.

Secretary General of the Namibia Democratic Movement for Change (Namibia DMC), Joseph Kauandenge, supports the strategy saying it is the use of such technology by the then United States' Democratic Party presidential candidate, Barack Obama, that earned him the youth vote.

However, Namibia DMC wants to make optimal use of technology, thus, the party is in the process of introducing campaigns on Facebook - a free access social networking website.

Meanwhile, John Ekongo reports that six of the registered political parties have reactivated or developed websites where they post party information at ease.

The Swapo Party of Namibia, Swanu of Namibia, the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia, Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), Monitor Action Group (MAG) and the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo of Namibia) are set to launch their websites today.

Apart from Swapo having an active site with chat features, youth activists of the party are also constantly networking on sites such as Facebook. Groups such as "Swapo Comrades for Life", "Swapo of Namibia" and "Swapo Youth League" are information platforms that are being used by the Swapo Party youth whose demographic features are mostly university and college graduates.

The RDP equivalent is "VIVA RDP-Namibians Unite, no more Swapo politics".

Similarly party activists have also taken up the "blogging culture". Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject while others function as more personal online diaries where a blogger periodically feeds it with information - thus creating a platform for more than one person to read his opinion and comments and a debate ensues.

A political blog is common format that comments on politics and is said to shape political discourses particularly during election period.