Created to encourage all voters to actively participate in political life, www.presidentielles-2007.org stands out. Say goodbye to polls, entertaining but misleading. Say goodbye to grand speeches. The site places internet users at the heart of the electoral process.
Ahead of the 2007 presidential election, they will find a genuine tool to debate with their elected representatives. Mayors, departmental and regional councilors, deputies, and senators are within reach. To contact them, up-to-date contact information and letter templates are provided. To challenge them, the option to publish exchanges, whether successful or not, is available. There’s also an invitation to contact the press, the faithful watchdog of power.
Beyond the tools, the site offers to consult the voting regulations, www.legifrance.gouv.fr, or www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr, with direct links to the organic laws applicable to presidential elections. For those nostalgic for past elections, there are summary tables of all presidential elections since 1974.
A useful and citizen-focused site without political bias, it invites all non-voters to debate and all elected officials to come down from their pedestals. Presidentielles 2007 conveys a message that is too rarely broadcasted: citizens hold the power but seldom take the time to consider elections. Some due to weariness, others due to indifference, and others still due to incredulity. All the same, we tell ourselves as we turn back to our blue screen.
Regaining power is not an easy task, especially in a country like France, proud of its welfare state, and struck by a fear of the citizen. This is why the creators of the site chose the Internet, this new Agora where people express themselves openly, some more so than others, both citizens and politicians alike.
Restoring dialogue between elected officials and voters is the optimistic solution proposed by the site. Worth discovering.
www.presidentielles-2007.org
