VZCZCXYZ0012
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMN #0267/01 1331935
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131935Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9007
INFO RUCNMER/MESUR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS MONTEVIDEO 000267 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/BSC MARY DASCHBACH 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON UY
SUBJECT: NEW MEDIA AND THE URUGUAYAN ELECTION 
 
REF: MVD 249 AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1. (U) This telegram is sensitive but unclassified, and not for 
Internet distribution. 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶2. (U) With the primary to decide presidential candidates set for 
June, and national elections for October, the campaigns of Uruguay's 
presidential hopefuls have ramped up.  However, Uruguay's electoral 
court restricts television and radio campaign publicity to 30 days 
before the primary elections and 45 days before the national 
elections.  Contenders therefore employ a broad range of strategies 
that allow them to begin moving ahead of the starter's whistle.  In 
this year's presidential race, traditional approaches to 
electioneering have been augmented by the campaigning opportunities 
offered by the Internet.  Tracking and assessing the online traffic 
generated by this virtual activity informs speculation on the 
relative fortunes of each candidate and allows for informative 
parallels to be drawn with national polls.  End Summary. 
 
Uruguay's Campaigns Embrace New Media 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Traditionally, Uruguay's vibrant election season has been 
defined by flag-festooned rallies; jingles and music; a slew of 
television, radio and press publicity; showers of political leaflets 
and numerous public appearances by candidates who strive to maximize 
the attendant media coverage.  Such strategies will undoubtedly 
continue to form the bedrock of each campaign, but this year's 
campaigns are bolstering their more traditional efforts with 
alternative approaches.  Digital imaging has facilitated the use of 
billboards; telemarketing and call centers are beginning to play a 
role; but above all, campaign managers are turning to the Internet. 
Websites, e-mail and on-line advertising are increasingly seen as 
direct and effective ways to reach the electorate.  Whereas web 
pages for Uruguayan political parties have existed for some time, 
the last twelve months have seen many of these sites upgraded as 
well as new sites emerge that are specifically dedicated to 
supporting individual presidential candidates.  Most of these are 
linked to web '2.0' platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs, 
with some even offering supporters campaign ringtones.  One campaign 
manager estimated that a full 25 percent of his campaign is 
currently being conducted on line.  He also noted that the time and 
financial resources needed to support the online effort were 
considerably less than those required for the more traditional 
approaches. 
 
¶4. (SBU) By running a comparative analysis of the amount of online 
traffic generated by each of these sites, it can be clearly noted 
that the online fortunes of the competing candidates constitute an 
informative echo to the more traditional data yielded by public 
polls.  In general, it is evident that websites dedicated to 
individual candidates attract greater on-line interest than those of 
the parties to which they belong.  A lonely exception to this is the 
website of the former Minister of Finance and Frente Amplio (FA) 
presidential candidate Danilo Astori.  The number of visitors to his 
personal page languishes far below both that of the main FA site and 
the more modestly placed Asamblea Uruguay site (Asamblea Uruguay is 
Astori's faction within the wider FA).  While Astori's page is the 
least frequented of all the presidential candidates, the blog page 
of his main rival in the FA, Jose "Pepe" Mujica, is the most 
visited, barely topping National (Blanco) Party candidate Luis 
Alberto Lacalle's page's Internet rankings.   This is reflected in 
the latest polls, which place Mujica some 23 points ahead of Astori. 
 Similarly, polls place Lacalle ahead of intra-party rival Jorge 
Larranaga. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In the ranks of the third-place Colorado party, leader 
Pedro Bordaberry's candidacy is almost assured.  And while the 
online ranking of his Vamos Uruguay faction (which is functioning 
more or less as his personal web page) falls below the sites of the 
top three candidates (Mujica, Lacalle and Larranaga), his site is 
much more popular than the site of the Colorado Party itself. 
 
Facebook vs. Blogging vs. Traditional Media 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) All the main candidates have made use of the social 
networking device Facebook, with Lacalle, Larranaga and Bordaberry 
all updating their pages on a daily basis.  Arranging the candidates 
in terms of their "Facebook friends" reveals a pattern roughly 
comparable to the relative interest in the candidates' websites 
proper.  One interesting exception is Lacalle, who is racing ahead 
with over 7,000 friends, while the next most popular Facebook 
candidate, Larranaga, has just over 2,000 friends (a fact Lacalle 
dutifully records in his Facebook page).  The other candidates 
follow in increments behind, with Danilo Astori displaying the most 
modest level of Facebook approval with just over 1,000 friends. 
Mujica's candidacy has spurred the largest number of unofficial 
pro-Mujica Facebook sites, alongside a handful opposed to his 
presidential bid.  All candidates, in fact, have generated 'fan 
groups' opposed to their candidacies.  As for Twitter, the other 
social network service emerging as a political tool, only Larranaga 
has attempted to make use of it.  His Twitter account only has four 
followers as of this writing, however. 
 
¶7. (SBU) While the use of Facebook and blogs by presidential 
candidates was novel enough to be the cause of commentary in the 
press when first announced, use of these new sources of 
communication has nevertheless been rapidly assimilated.  For 
example, when Mujica recently refuted an attempt to link him with 
Argentina's Kirchner administration, he did so through his blog, 
which was then cited directly by the media covering the incident. 
 
The One-laptop-per-child Effect 
------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) It is worth noting that integral to the acceptance and 
success of this virtual electioneering is the fact that the 
percentage of Uruguay's population on-line has rocketed in recent 
months, particularly in the country's interior.  Research has linked 
this increase with the success of the GOU's "Plan Ceibal," Uruguay's 
version of the One-Laptop-per-Child program set for completion by 
the end of the year.  Media reports recorded a jump of 240,000 new 
users this year, bringing the total to 41 percent of the country. 
And it's not just young people who are logging on.  One campaign 
website administrator reported that while he had expected that the 
site would be visited mainly by younger voters, the general profile 
of visitors reflected a much broader age profile. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) It is impossible to tell whether the parallels between 
results generated by traditional opinion polling and each 
candidate's online traffic will hold, but for now the connection 
appears clear.  Mujica and Lacalle's present standing as 
presidential front runners in both the internet rankings and public 
polls suggest that Uruguay's virtual campaign battle is already 
mature enough to function as a useful barometer of political 
fortune. 
 
MATTHEWMAN