The Afghan presidential election will also play on Facebook

Afghanistan, a country at war for three decades, has a low internet rates. But the past decade, the number of cyber cafes exploded.Afghans are trying to catch up in the use of social networks. For proof: Afghan candidates for the next presidential realized that a good election campaign plays on the web.

We learned last month that the number of Afghans registered on the most famous social network, Facebook, has exceeded one million. This is low for a country of about 30 million people, and if we compare this figure to the percentage recorded in Europe or North America.But it is a strong growth for this community tool virtually unknown there is still three years in the country.

Afghans are still not connected to the Internet. Less than 5% of households are equipped. But, as for example in Africa, it seems that the stage ADSL – cable internet – is exceeded. 3G network, so the internet via the mobile phone is booming in the country.

► A (RE) LISTEN: The electoral process in Afghanistan

The presidential election to choose a successor to Karzai to be held in April. The final list of candidates should be known next week. Receipt of applications from 26 individuals in early October had already shaken the Internet. And the campaign will certainly follow the same path.

It is predicted that Dan Murphy, Director of Democracy International , a U.S. organization to support the electoral process: ” The internet penetration is not global, but this in large cities, especially among young people. Many go on Facebook every day. So for the candidates and the media is very important. “And Representative Democracy Iternational added:” The advantage of the internet is its free. ”

The campaign on the Web

Creating a support page on the U.S. social network is completely free. It is for this reason that all serious candidates for the election opened their page. He is the former finalist of the 2009 elections, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah leading the race, with more than 110 000 words “I love.” For his part, the former finance minister Ashraf Ghani has more than 82,000. These pages are mainly in Dari and Pashto, the two Afghan national languages.

Some candidates also stormed the micro-blogging site Twitter. And there, against the English dominates. The target audience is different. It is advantage to pass messages to the international community and foreign journalists.

Teams of candidates are organized to respond to encouragement or criticism. The Afghan campaign, which may be complicated on the ground due to insecurity, could therefore take place, at least in part, online.

The Afghan presidential election will also play on Facebook