E-politics in Brazil

Politics is going online in Brazil. In June the number of Brazilian users on Orkut, the online community, outnumbered Americans. Now, according to the Folha, politics is increasingly becoming a source of discussion among those wired Brazilians. But it's not good news for the government: of the 26 dedicated to discussion about President Lula, only 3 are in favour of him and his policies.

It must be a sign of the times that the use of the web for political purposes in Brazil still merits discussion by the media. Yesterday the Folha also noted that Sao Paulo mayor, Marta Suplicy, is going online to make her case to the public - or the computer-literate section of the population at any rate. It's quite professionally done but obviously looks like the PT website (which is better than most other party political websites in Brazil - most just have contact details at present) and includes details of her achievements to date.

Could this be a sign of Marta's campaign building up steam? With a positive poll out by Ibope last week (see post below) and details of her administration's actions over the past four years, are we about to see a more effective candidacy?