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March 6, 2012 Thomson Reuters Foundation's Egyptian elections news website, Aswat Masriya announced a new initiative today to connect Egyptian presidential candidates with the voting public through social media. The website, launched in October of last year, strives to strengthen the Egyptian media by providing objective news about the elections in Arabic and English. All Aswat Masriya journalists were trained in elections reporting by the Foundation. The new campaign, called “Ask Presidential Candidates,” encourages Egyptian voters to ask candidates questions through email, Facebook and Twitter. Editor-in-chief of Aswat Masriya, Saif Hamdan, said the new project will engage voters in a constructive dialogue through new media and further educate the Egyptian public. “This is part of Aswat Masriya's declared targets to further prepare the voters to make informed decisions,” Hamdan said. “Such interaction between voters and their potential representatives would help the cause of democracy and push forward the Egyptian society in hope of a better future." Interested participants can send questions to Aswat Masriya and prominent presidential candidates will answer them in a series of interviews featured on the website. Aswat Masriya is accepting questions via email at q4c@aswatmasriya.com, through Facebook by posting questions under the picture of the campaign and on Twitter using the hashtag #askcandidate. Please keep questions appropriate and relevant.
