The mobile reminder to register
All you need to be a target of an electoral campaign is a mobile (cell) phone of any kind, with a SIM, sold everywhere at markets alleys. Having a mobile will make you a target of endless SMS messages from any party, urging you to participate in the upcoming elections, through registering your name and giving your vote to this or that nominee. The National Elections Commission (NEC) was quick to use this tool. Since the last week of October, the Commission started sending a 15-letter SMS message to subscribers of a number of mobile service companies, informing them that November 1, 2009 would be the date for starting registration of voters of 18 years of age and above. The SMS messages, even though they were more or less belated, had saved the Commission from being accused of negligence in respect of performing its media efforts to inform the inhabitants about the election phases. But mobile phones will not only be used by the NEC, they will also be used by political parties. Many parties are in the process of planning to send SMS messages to advertise or familiarize potential voters about registration times and the identity of election nominees.
Another media technology contests with the mobile service in playing that promotional effort, namely the e-mail messages sent over the Internet. But thanks to its unprecedented use among all population groups estimated at about 10 million cell phones, the success will most probably be in favor of the mobile service. Internet users are limited in numbers. Besides, the geographical areas covered by the mobile companies are larger than that covered by the internet service.
The plan designed by the Communist Party, likely to be launched in the coming few days, is based on sending letters to the prospective voters urging them to register their names and preserve their constitutional right for voting. The letters will be addressed to Party members in the same manner ordinary personal letters are addressed. The letters will urge the party members to circulate these letters to their acquaintances and friends, who will in turn re-send them to other addressees. The result will be an expanded form of an electoral publicity. The reason for using this method of advertising lies in the high cost of sending short messages over the mobile networks. According to the party's elections officer, Eng. Sidiq Yusif, the telecommunications companies quoted a total cost of 160 million Sudanese Pounds for SMS messages to about 10 million persons, at a cost of 34 Piasters a message. This amount is beyond the modest financial capability of the Communist Party, which made the party look for a less costly alternative of ordinary letters.
Mobiles provide a great, facilitated and inexpensive service for sending messages, as Mr. Kamal Omar, Political Secretary of People's Congress (PC) party has put it. His party also has a special plan for managing its elections and awareness raising campaign over the mobile network. He describes mobile service as an excellent publicity and instruction tool. The party will also use mobile service for communicating messages and information between the party leadership and its members. This means that the designed communication plan is in fact an expansion of the old system and a change of the content of messages, designed to suit the different elections stages.
The PC admits having a financial problem similar to that faced by the Communist Party. Mr. Omar says they will end up choosing a way that suits their financial situation, hinting to the possibility of using and circulating the traditional exchange of ordinary letters, which can be re-circulated to friends and acquaintances. Omar does not rule out that opposition parties may pool efforts during the registration period to be able to share the total cost of SMS messages charged by the mobile companies. This joint effort emanates from the fact that the messages circulated at the registration time aim at urging the voters to register, which is a goal shared by all the contesting parties, unlike the nomination and voting stage, when each party has its own nominee.
The Umma Party, usually classified as a traditional party, is not far removed from mobile usage. The party's publicity plan also depends on taking advantage of all modern telecommunication technologies, including the mobile service and the Internet. Lt. General ret. Saddiq Mohammad Ismael, Umma Party Secretary General, says the party will use all the mechanisms it used in the past, over and above modern communication systems produced by modern technology. He expects that the modern means of telecommunication, including the mobile service, will play a huge role at the different stages of the elections process, considering its role as an important tool of communicating with the young generations. Saddiq evades speaking directly as to whether the Umma Party faces the problem of the rising SMS communication charges, stating that his party has worked out a publicity and elections plan which covers all aspects, including the financial costs.
Money in particular, of all other issues, is regarded as the decisive point for using mobile as an effective elections advantage by the National Congress Party and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, given that these two ruling parties possess according to experts' opinion huge financial capabilities, compared with the opposition parties, which complain of lack of sufficient financial resources. The opposition parties, according to Dr. Mukhtar Al-Assam, Commission member and a political analyst at a seminar arranged by” Al-Ra'ee Al-Aam" last week, are not even able to pay the charges incurred on transferring its membership to the registration centers. He expects that the two parties will take a leading position amongst the political powers using modern communication technologies at the various electoral stages.
The advertising and instructive mobile applications are not limited to the SMS service, as mobiles may also be used to make political speeches addressed to people from a distance. Some Darfur leaders use mobiles to address their supporters, considering that a mobile address provides such leaders the opportunity to talk to their supporters even if they are far from their geographical locations, both in and out of the country.
Mobiles can also be used to urge the peoples to get to the streets for creating disorder and spreading chaos. One recent example is the Iranian elections, where the Iranian government accused foreign countries of communicating and directing the people from regions located beyond the border, be it through SMS or voice messages. They were allegedly urged to refuse the elections results and get to the streets to create a chaotic situation on the Iranian city streets. Should these accusations be true, similar risks could happen on the Sudanese streets. Any person residing abroad may then send desired SMS messages to targeted or randomly chosen numbers, as these short messages are similar to the personal messages exchanged on festive and other events.
Irrespective of the intentions behind publicity SMS messages, a limited number of such messages sent to some numbers will ultimately be transferred from one mobile to another. Sending a synchronized or successive number of SMS messages to large numbers of persons or all subscribers can only be arranged by the telecommunication companies themselves, according to a statement made by an expert working at one of these mobile companies. The capability to send SMS packages to all subscribers or large numbers thereof is only available at the companies themselves through coded electronic operation systems and SMS centers. These facilities are only accessible by certain specialists at these companies. Such SMS packages are only possible through a commercial agreement, based on enforced laws, after settlement of incurred charges.
