Pacific

Social media a factor in Cook Islands poll

20:12 pm on 23 June 2014

Political parties in the Cook Islands have been utilising social media in an attempt to tap into the younger, swing voters for this years election.

The ruling Cook Islands Party, the Democratic Party and independents have been using facebook as a way of interracting with and informing the public, leading up to the July 9 election.

William Numanga has been driving the Cook Island Party's online media campaign and says they're reaching out to people who might not pay attention to TV ads or newspaper articles.

He says for targetting the younger vote, facebook has been the way to go.

"The younger population, say between 18 to 35, 40 - that's where the swing voters are, and I think you've got to build a strategy around that age group and a lot of those people in that age group have access to either a phone, a laptop or a tablet of some sort."

William Numanga says radio campaigns and home visits are still needed to reach people in the outer-islands.