Balloting on eBay

Politically disillusioned and computer-savvy youth have been mixing high-tech with contemporary Italian politics. According to media reports, a handful of 20somethings are illegally selling their election ballots on the popular online auction site eBay. Citing their financial difficulties, skyrocketing prices and a general sense of political and social disenchantment, these young adults have launched a provocative and comical act of protest against the upcoming spring elections. The price of an election ballot: approximately 2 or 3 euro. As an anonymous ballot buyer from Rome wrote online, ‘I am buying ballots partly for fun and partly for the symbolic act it represents. The truth is that the political class is taking us for a ride by simply changing the names of the parties, without changing the politicians’.