Mobile First For Reading Lib-Dems

8th April, London Remember Labour’s famous election pledges text messages in 2001? Local Lib Dems have gone one better this time. They are using mobile phone technology to invite voters to produce their alternative budget on the cost of the Iraq War. Aimed especially at mobile phone savvy younger voters, the Java based application provides opportunities to distribute the £5bn cost of the war into alternative areas of spending such as health, education, policing and the environment. Those taking part can then see how their own budgets compare with the national totals. They can also pass the ‘game’ onto friends by a simple SMS message.

Full details can be found at http://localhost:10003/www.iraqcost.com/.

John Howson, Reading East’s prospective parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats, said “Reading has the largest concentration of ICT companies in the UK. Making use of new technology is a good way to engage a section of the population who are used to mobile phones and texting, but don’t find most political campaigning of interest.” He added, “This way they can tell us what they think about the key issue of the past four years. There is no doubt that the Iraq war will decide how many people vote in the general election.”

Masabi, who designed the Iraqcost application, are a leading mobile phone software company creating mobile phone-based marketing applications and games. They designed their first political application, based upon the same technology, during last year’s US Presidential election race.

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For more information contact John Howson on 0118 926 2252 or 07958 702292.