Online videos of MPs could help people choose who to vote for in the upcoming General Election.

Videos of many UK Members of Parliament (MPs) are being collated on Winkball.com to help assist voters’ decisions in the upcoming General Election, which must take place no later than Thursday 3 June 2010.

The video communications company has invited all 3000 Prospective Parliamentary candidates (PPC’s) to be represented on video online in its initiative: “Do you know who you are voting for?”

Winkball.com also commissioned a survey that found that 74% of the population plan to vote – a significant increase on the 60% that utilised their vote last time.

However, the study also found that enthusiasm for the election doesn’t necessarily go in hand with political knowledge. Nearly half of people questioned (44%) can’t name their current MP and three in four voters admit to not knowing who is standing at the next election.

First impressions are crucial, says Winkball.com; one in three of said that seeing one’s prospective MP online is now as effective as getting a leaflet through the door in terms of helping people decide who to vote for. The younger you are, the more likely you are to be influenced by seeing a prospective parliamentary candidate online.

Young people (16 - 24) are most likely not to vote because they lack information about the candidates. And 45 - 54 year olds are the most disillusioned with politics, with 77% saying politicians are all as bad as each other.

Among the hundreds of political speakers to have uploaded a video on the site are Clare Short, Lembit Opik and William Hague.

WinkBall Co-founder Dr James Ohene-Djan said: “Campaigning has never been this exciting and, as our research shows, the electorate has never seemingly been so interested in politics! This is truly an online election and that gives the electorate an amazing insight into so many prospective parliamentary candidates. We’re aiming to interview and feature as many PPCs as possible on Winkball.com.

“This is a first for the UK and a fantastic opportunity for voters to see what exactly makes their local candidates tick. General Elections are so often fought and won on national issues, but by publishing the views of practically every candidate standing online, this is a great way of making a national election local.”

Professor Ivor Gaber, Professor of Political Campaigning at City University added: “As every election campaign approaches, pundits say “This time it’s going to be different” – but this time it might. In 2005 – three years BB (Before Barack) – there was no Facebook or Twitter, YouTube and the blogosphere were just blinking their way into the light and no one had thought of using Photoshop to subvert political posters.

“But it’s not just online campaigning and anarchy that could make the difference. We’ve never had leaders’ debates before. So hang on, the election ride could get bumpy but it’s almost sure to be fun (and that’s not something I have ever said before).”

The research* findings:

• 53% of people think Conservatives will win, but only 29% say they’ll be voting Conservative
• 1 in 3 think it’ll be Labour, but only 22% say they’ll vote Labour, with 13% voting Lib Dem
• The older we get the more likely we are to vote Tory: 25% of 16-24 year olds say they’ll vote Tory, but 65 and over it’s nearly half (44%)
• The younger you are the more likely you are to vote Labour: 29% of 16 -24 year olds say they’ll vote Labour
• For 68% of voters the overwhelming issue for the forthcoming election is the economy; for 13% it’s the personality of the Party Leaders; MPs expenses are the main issue for just 9% of people.
*Research conducted by PollLab March 10 2010 – 1088 people questioned.