London Elections - what do campaign groups think of the candidates

Some influential campaign groups have set up webpages. These contain manifestos and discussion of what they want from the new mayor.

Environmental
Woodland trust
London wildlife trusts
Clean air in London.

Business
Federation of Small Businesses 
CBI  Manifesto for business

London First business campaign

Social policy groups.

Age UK
Mumsnet blog
Citizensuk alliance of civil society groups
Operation black vote
Glas London irish forum
Evangelical alliance
Fawcett society.Womens Rights.
Big issue- homeless
Family friendly London.
Refugee council.
Homes for London.
Centre for cities manifesto
Migrants Rights
Stonewall .
End Violence Against Women

Transport

SUSTRAN
London cycling campaign
RMT Union

Say no to crow.- Boris supporters campaign.

Mayor of London elections - still not decided- try these user education sites!

Here are some useful examples of political communication sites,which have been created to encourage citizen participation in the elections.

Mayor 4 London - make your selection using this site created by staff at the LSE
Bite the bullet  Bite the Ballot and Spirit of London have joined forces with Unlock Democracy to bring you the first Vote Match

for young people.
Vote match  Unlock Democracy and Confused.com site that compares the candidates.
Full fact is seeking to expose inaccurate reporting and statements in the Mayoral campaigns 

London Mayor elections - what do the polls say?

Polls


UK polling report
Provides a summary of polls from the major newspapers
Ipso mori
TNS
Guardian ICM Polls

London Mayor Elections - key blogs to follow

Here is a short list of key people to follow.
most of the candidates web pages have links to their own followers.

British politics and policy LSE
Comment from academic staff and researchers at the London School of Economics
Left foot forward Leading progressive left wing blog.
Conservativehome
Spectator Coffeehouse blog
Guido fawkes.
Dale & Co.  Iain Dale conservative
Political advertising – Benedict pringle good analysis of adverts.
Labourhome
Liberal conspiracy

London Mayor elections follow the news coverage

In the second posting- here are some news services covering the elections. All have analysis, photos and social media.

BBC news
ITV
Guardian
Data store.
Dave Hill London blog

Independent – uk politics
FT politics and policy (general politics some content protected)
Telegraph
Telegraph blogs
Sun – general politics coverage.
London Standard
LBC radio
Jewish chronicle
Sky news
Mayorwatch independent news
Huffington post
Pink News- LGBT

London Mayor Elections 2012- get started with research

In May the 2012 London Mayor elections will take place. this is the first of our special posts to get you started with academic research.

What does the mayor do?
Try reading this briefing paper from the House of Commons Library
The GLA website has information on decision making and the structure of government in London.
For academic discussion see the Centre for Cities - which has papers on the roles of elected mayors
The Institute for Government has conducted extensive research on the role and impact of elected mayors. see their website for news and reports. The Warwick Commission on Elected Mayors and City Leadership was established by Warwick University. It published a report in April 2012 which contained interviews with over 40 mayors. You can also search the PSA (Political Studies association) proceedings to find some conference papers.

2012 elections.
London Elects  - designed for the voter find out when and how to vote. Includes past election results.


Electoral Commission Includes guidance and resources for returning officers. Search the election reports to get research papers on the conduct of past elections.
 
Candidates
All of the candidates have their own websites. Most with use of social media such as facebook, twitter, blogs. Here are the links.
 
Ken Livingstone (Labour) Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
Main supporters websites United4ken – unite union support

Yourken – for activists need to sign in via facebook or twitter. 
Boris Johnson (Conservative) Back Boris , Facebook, Twitter
Not ken again site from Boris campaign

There are also some Boris watch sites. You decide wehter they support him or not?
Boriswatch
Boris Watch
Sack Boris 2012

Brian Piddick (LibDems) Twitter, YouTube
London Liberal Democrats
LibDem voice - supporters and their blogs.
LibDem blogs portal to a wide range

Jenny Jones (Green party), Facebook, Twitter

Lawrence Webb –(UKIP) Facebook, LinkedIn

Carlos Cortiglia (British National Party) BNP TV

Facebook
 Hope not hate criticism

Siobhan Benita (independent) Twitter pledgebank site

French presidential elections online

In this third posting some good places to lok to find information about online social media activity inthe 2012 elections.
This has an immediate relevancy as liberation has drawn attention to the role of twitter. See this posting.
For an explanation of the rules see the Economist website
L’Observatoire des présidentielles 2012from Blueboat is analysing campaign visibility
Image & Strategie has an e-reputation barometer
Agoravox is a well-known citizen media website. Agoravox
Get a useful directory of links to key political blogs and websites from this project. The blogrolls are on the right hand side of the page.
Finally an excellent place for discussion and links to all aspects of the use of the internet and social media is Netpolitique
For a final spot of humour the Daily Motion also has some videos (many comical)

French presidential elections - how popular are the candidates!

In this second posting see how popular the candidates are:
those contesting are
Sarkozy 2012
Hollande 2012
Le Pen 2012
Bayrou 2012
Melenchon 2012
Joly 2012

Polls and analysis of polls can viewed on these sites.
Sondages en France
Harris interactive includes discussion of use of internet and voting intentions.
TNS –sofres polls and analysis.
CEVIPOL has current and historic reports on voting intentions.
Comparison of polls on Nouvelobs
Sciences Po coverage of the election includes expert analysis and polls.

French presidential elections coming soon!

Coming on 22nd is the first round of the French presidential elections.
her eare some recomended websites to follow the news.

A good introduction is the Conseil constitutionel dossier which the explains process. Élection présidentielle 2012
The other key government site is the Ministry of the Interior

Newspapers covering the election include:
Le Monde.
Le Parisien
L’Express
Humanite
Tribune.
Le Figaro
Les Echos.
Liberation.
Nouvel Observateur
Huffington Post French edition. – satire and news.
La présidentielle vue d'ailleurs": dessins de presse,
Courrier Internationale - offers summaries from major newspapers worldwide. translated into french.


Special search engine services.
Yahoo.fr.Access blogs, polls, canal + videos. Sections for candidates and themes.

Google France elections. Includes sections for themes, candidates, plus a YouTube elections section.


French TV and audio news.
Canalplus + TV, videos debates
TV5
RFI radio
France TV- links to coverage, polls and videos from main tv stations. English language coverage is available from Guardian.
BBC coverage.
Economist.

Burma Elections

This week - some good news from Burma. with the election of Aung Suu Kyi. But does this herald a new era of democracy? Here are some starting points for research.

Newspaper Coverage from the Guardian and the New York Times
Irawaddy
Democratic Voice of Burma includes video film election coverage.
New Light of Burma (Burmese Government backed publication.)
The following organisations were observing the election. Their websites therefore have insight into conduct.
IRI
ASEAN
EU election observation.
Other major human rights groups. These are some of the main organisations. Their websites have current and historical information on events.
Burma partnership a network of organisations from Asia-Pacific campaigning for democracy.
International Center for Transitional Justice.
Burma campaign UK The resources section includes an extensive photo gallery, plus reports and links.

Network for Human Rights Documentation Burma. A Network of Burmese organisations.
Amnesty International reports.

Huamn Rights Watch Burma