Parties, Candidates and Citizens On-Line - Åbo Akademi

underline the view stated by Margolis and Resnick (2000: 16) that the parties and
candidates most likely to produce the most sophisticated websites are those with
sufficient resources. These should be the major parties, since Finnish parties rely heavily
on direct state funding mostly based on the share of parliamentary seats (Djupsund 1989:
20; Sundberg 1996: 150).
Concerning intra-party variables, both candidate competitiveness and incumbency
status proved significant predictors of both website functions and delivery. One can argue
that all significant intra-party effects lend more support a no-change scenario concerning
the internet’s effect on candidate on-line competition. As competitiveness and
incumbency consistently predict higher mean scores, the non-competitive and challenging
candidates seemingly do not put the same effort into their campaign web sites. Possibly
due to their slim chances of election, these candidates might not find it worthwhile to
invest extensive amounts of money and effort in their general campaigns (cf. Davis 1999:
94; Herrnson & Stokes 2003: 11). Their internet campaigns are lagging behind as well. It
is also interesting to note that the incumbents and competitive candidates are putting
significantly more effort into their campaign sites. These candidates possibly incorporate
their sites more fully into their overall campaign strategies because they are more
compelled to seize every possible vote (Kamarck 2002: 86-7). Incumbents who are more
likely known to the public (Davis 1999: 94-5) might also have credibility to lose in
boasting a relatively lack-lustre website. Overall, although again adding some intra-party
depth to the discussion on electoral competition on the internet, these findings still
mostly point in a ‘no-change’ direction. This conclusion is obviously not per se transferable
to all areas of internet politics. The article has, for instance, not addressed the challenge to
the no-change scenario possibly posed by new social movements and transnational
movements embracing the technology (cf. Foot & Schneider 2002: Norris 2001b: 233-9;
2003).
In sum, what are the major patterns found in this study, and what summarizing
conclusions can be drawn? Firstly, the study has shown that most candidates did not
campaign on-line, and the majority of those who did had websites which did not make
full use of the possibilities of the new communication technology. The study has
moreover served to shed more light on the ways in which candidate-level electoral
competition works on the internet. Evidently, even though the Finnish context contains
elements which would suggest otherwise, party size is nonetheless highly influential on
candidates’ web campaigning. Both launching and further developing functions and
delivery aspects of campaign websites is more likely for major party candidates. These
findings lend some support to a no-change scenario vis-à-vis the internet’s impact on
candidate-level electoral competition (cf. Margolis & Resnick 2000: 54). Major parties, and
their candidates, should, in theory, control more financial and organizational resources
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