Social Media and Political Party Campaign: Case of Lesotho June 2017 Election

Tawanda Mukurunge,Takura Bhila

doi:10.31142/ijtsrd20222

Abstract

Social Media and Political Party Campaign: Case of Lesotho June 2017 Election

Highlights

The public uses social media to get information about politician’s policy preferences including their opinions, becoming a communication strategy [1]
1.1 Statement of the problem In Lesotho, citizens’ presence on social media platforms and social media use is on the increase but social media’s potential to emancipate has not been properly harnessed in order to facilitate physical face to face communication influencing decisions and reaching out directly to the electorate by both parties
The “Lesotho Congress for Democracy” abbreviated (LCD) was coined in 1997, “Alliance of Democrats” (AD) which was formed in December 2016, “Movement for Economic Change” (MEC) which was formed in February 2017, “Reformed Congress of Lesotho” (RCL) which was formed in December 2014 and “Majalefa Development Movement” (MDM) which was formed in March 2017

Summary

Introduction

The public uses social media to get information about politician’s policy preferences including their opinions, becoming a communication strategy [1]. This is a significant departure from the traditional call for political rallies where by the candidate would expound his/ her election manifesto to a mass audience with very little time, if at all, for one on one interaction. Audiences would just be bombarded with messages from the candidate with no room for the constituencies to ask questions and getting feedback from the candidate. There is a significant departure from massification of audiences as individual potential voters can ask questions of candidates and they get feedback from the candidates with immediacy. In Lesotho [4] writes that more people in Lesotho are accessing internet on their phones, with cheap data package bundles being comparable to costs in South Africa

Methods

Results

Conclusion