The #election_lgu hashtag for a local government unit is a systematically defined #tagcoding hashtag. It is constructed by combining a world wide local government unit (WWlgu) hashtag with a code that is characteristic for the representative that must be elected in a state, province, county, district, municipality, or other electoral constituency.


As regular, free and fair elections is one of the principles of democratic government the utility of #election_lgu #tagcoding hashtags derives from giving support to several other such principles as clarified in the table below.

Principle of democratic government How #election_lgu hashtags support the principle
Accountability Elected officials can use the #election_lgu #tagcoding hashtag to explain to the people that elected them how they have made decisions and perform their duties according to the will and wishes of the people.
Citizen participation Participation is a right and duty of citizens in a democracy. Citizens can use the #election_lgu #tagcoding hashtag before and after an election to become informed, to debate issues, and even to protest. Community or civic meetings can share their debates and minutes using the hashtag, and private voluntary organizations can use it to share information about their intentions and activities.
Multi-party system As more than one political party participates in the elections one must expect that there will be different viewpoints on issues. By using the #election_lgu #tagcoding hashtag all candidates can be assured that their viewpoints can reach the interested members of the electoral constituency.
Political tolerance While the majority of the people will win the election in a democracy, the rights of the minority must be protected. People who are not in power must be allowed to organize and speak out. By using the #election_lgu #tagcoding hashtag (and more specific hashtags such as those for functions of government) all citizens can be allowed to discuss, debate and question decisions before they are made. In this way decisions are more likely to be accepted, even by those who oppose them.
Transparency For government to be accountable the people must be aware of what is happening in the country or the electoral constituency. This is referred to as transparency in government. A transparent government holds public meetings and allows citizens to attend. By using the #election_lgu #tagcoding hashtag (and more specific hashtags such as those for functions of government) the press and the people are able to get information about what decisions are being made, by whom and why.

The benefit of #election_lgu hashtags is that they establish at once, for all the electoral units equal and inclusive communication channels. These channels are for local social media communications and information sharing

  • in the fight for democratic government,
  • at no cost to users,
  • yet leveraging the social media infrastructure,
  • for as many communities as possible.

Because the definition of electoral constituencies differs from country to country, the construction of #election_lgu hashtags is done per country.

As representative hashtags are increasingly being adopted in the United States we kick off with the definition of US Congressional hashtags and invite propositions for other countries where #WWlgu #tagcoding hashtags have been defined already: