The post it campaign

Something new recently happened in Italian politics. The different political parties part of the left-wing coalition L’Unione decided to have a primary election in order to choose the coalition leader for the upcoming general elections. The primary took place on October 16, 2005 and it is reported that more than 4 million Italian people, including Italian people living abroad, cast their vote.

As expected Prodi, the center-left candidate who also is a former European Commission president, won 74.4 percent of the vote. Among the different candidates, one of them , Fausto Bertinotti, the veteran leader of the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista run an attractive on line campaign, which I would call the “post it campaign”. Just take a look at Faustino’ web site by clicking on the picture below.

Fausto Bertinotti web site's homepage. Click to explore

There is a lot on Faustino’s web site, including many videos of the campaign trail, a bulletin board to express opinions, an animated cartoon and a blog. It is interesting to see how much Faustino personalized his campaign : the main objectives of his manifesto all start by a “I voglio” (I want). The old communist symbolic is no longer apparent and it is almost by accident that you find out the sickle and the hammer.
Faustino only won 14.6 percent of the vote. Whether he would have got less or more without his post it campaign is an open question.

Thanks to Sara Bentivegna, University of Rome, for letting me know this site.

Tags: elections - Italy