Election Advertising in the Mainstream Print Media

Abstract

Malaysia’s 2013 general election was widely regarded as ‘the mother of all elections’ mainly because a reinvigorated opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat (PR), following its 2008 electoral victory, was expected to wrestle a few more seats from the incumbent Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to reduce the government’s two-thirds majority in federal parliament. The election was a crucial moment for the BN’s leader, Najib Abdul Razak, as he needed a new mandate from the electorate after succeeding as prime minister from Abdullah Badawi in 2009. It is in this context that this extended commentary examines how the incumbent and opposition parties had executed their political campaigns through advertisements in the mainstream papers— The Star, New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia—starting from the date of candidate nomination (20 April 2013) until polling day (5 May 2013).