Election Campaign Research Articles

Wall-building policy: nationalist space management and borderphobia as right-wing populists' tools for doing authoritarian politics

The article analyses the situation that arose after the crisis on the Poland-Belarus border in the second half of 2021. The authors use the term “borderphobia” to describe social, political and propaganda mechanisms that became a form of border space management used to legitimize and gain support for the actions taken by the right-wing populist government in Poland. The phenomenon of borderphobia can be a symbol of the symbiosis between political authoritarianism, nationalism and economic neoliberalism: the combination of these three forces affects the development of the “border industry” in Europe and in the world. The policy based on borderphobia facilitates the suspension of civil rights in the border area: this is what happened in Poland, where a state of emergency was introduced in the border area under the pretext of “border protection.” The case of building the wall on the Polish-Belarusian border can also show how the nationalist right in Poland can use the borderphobic discourse for political mobilization and in an election campaign to maintain their influence and political power in the country. The article indicates that although the leaders of right-wing populist parties believe that the slogans of defending the “security border” and building border walls can bring them political benefits, the example of the Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland has shown that this is not always the case.

Denigrating democracy: How electoral competition fuels xenophobia in Lebanon

When do electoral incentives encourage candidates to target immigrants with discriminatory rhetoric? I address this question through a novel dataset of refugee-related tweets by elites in Lebanon, the country hosting the most Syrian refugees per capita globally. I find that Lebanon’s 2018 election, the first under a new set of electoral rules, precipitated an increase in anti-migrant tweets. However, the electoral campaign did not affect candidates’ rhetoric uniformly, but rather fueled xenophobic discourses specifically among Christian candidates, whose voter base is particularly hostile towards refugees, and especially among Christians facing the fiercest electoral competition. This paper makes three contributions: theoretically, it elucidates the consequences of partisan competition for xenophobia; conceptually, it relaxes an assumption common in the ethnic institutions literature that ethnic composition is fixed over time; and empirically, it demonstrates how social media data can be harnessed for expanding a nascent literature on migration politics in the Global South.

French political symbolism and identity construction

The present study examines how the language of political symbolism operates within the framework of identity construction. It focusses on the themes of sovereignty during the 2022 French presidency of the European Union and the national presidential election campaign. On the basis of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, it suggests that, apart from purely linguistic features, extra-linguistic factors are also essential in order to convey a global view of symbolic rhetoric. The analysis is conducted according to an overall 6-tier model of figurative origins involving the parameters of personal background, political context, cultural history, reference, conceptual metaphor and linguistic metaphor. By applying the parameters of the model, it is proposed that the core of political argumentation in the corpus analysis is based on national symbols and the conceptual mapping they embody. The basic hypothesis of the model assumes that a politician attempts to portray the symbolisation of unity in accordance with his or her political background and personal biography. A political narrative is thereby created within the current political context using predominant symbols in cultural history. An over-riding factor is the role of referential points which may determine divergence in conceptual mapping. These features then lead to the construction of conceptual metaphors which can take on a particularly hyperbolic structure in the ensuing linguistic metaphors. The implications of the study highlight the important role of symbolism in political debate, its interaction with conceptual metaphor, the relevance of extra-linguistic factors portrayed by the 6-tier model, the link between cultural history and hyperbolic linguistic structures and political divergence in similar symbols.

The instrumentalization of post-truth politics in Turkey: the case of the 2023 elections

ABSTRACT The global rise of populism has led to efforts to create an ‘alternative truth’ to support populist political aims. This is recently seen in Turkey in the use of post-truth political discourse by the AKP as a primary election campaign strategy. This study investigates how the AKP used post-truth politics to create an alternative truth about the opposition. The main argument of the article is that the AKP used instrumentalization of post-truth politics as a tool to reproduce biases and opinions about the opposition, which contributed to its entire strategy of winning the ballot box in the 2023 Turkish elections.

STUDY ON THE USE OF DATA MINING TECHNOLOGY FOR ELECTION CAMPAIGNS IN INDONESIA

Indonesia adheres to democracy with a presidential government format. From the beginning of the reform era in Indonesia, the system of electing government representatives in the realm of council members, regional heads, and heads of state was carried out by looking for direct elections. Direct elections are carried out with several stages starting from registration, campaigning, elections, to the decision to recapitulate the winner's vote. One of the ways that candidates for election participants do is to campaign massively to the public. This campaign is expected to introduce the candidate to be the top choice of the community. The biggest challenge of this massive campaign is how much it costs compared to the reach of socialization to the community. Campaigns in conventional forms such as banners and social assistance do not necessarily make the election participants win an election, especially when the campaign funds have been enlarged to exceed the competitor who won the election. With the existence of social media, which is developing quite rapidly today such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (x), TikTok, and so on, election participants have used social media as an alternative and even the main campaign media. The next challenge is how the use of social media can produce significant results in the campaign of election participants. One of the sciences in the world of technology is data mining. Data mining helps in processing data to provide decision references that are in accordance with the sampling conditions of the conditions taken from the data. The purpose of this journal is about the utilization of data mining technology in helping election campaigns with social media to the factors involved in this in the current era of Indonesian democracy.

The impact of the war on Gaza on the US presidential election

The War on Gaza, caused by a recurring occupation of Palestinian land by Israel, has long been a focal point of international attention and debate. The escalation of killings and wanton destruction of Palestinian land and people in the ongoing genocide in Gaza has not only had profound humanitarian implications for the Palestinian people but has also reverberated across the global political landscape, including in the context of U.S. presidential elections. This article provides an analytical examination of the impact of the Massacre in Gaza on U.S. presidential elections, with a focus on the electoral dynamics, public opinion, and policy responses. Through a comprehensive review of literature and analysis of electoral outcomes, this article explores the ways in which the War on Gaza has influenced electoral campaigns, candidate positions, and voter perceptions, and assesses its implications for U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East.

Second thoughts on digital first: Exploring the development of election campaigning among Swedish political parties, 2010–2022

Abstract This article offers a longitudinal perspective on communications during election campaigns from a political-party perspective, where strategic considerations about digital media are compared across time. Our analysis is grounded on the concepts of hybridisation and data-driven campaigning, where digital technology tends to play a central role without replacing all traditional campaign features. Empirically, the study is based on a longitudinal analysis of four election campaigns in Sweden during 2010–2022. The analysis shows that Swedish political parties have gradually integrated digital campaign features in their structure and strategy. The process is not linear, but rather back and forth, as party perceptions of the importance of communication channels vary across time. The results imply a development where all parties, regardless of size and ideology, are increasingly making rational judgments of which combinations of old and new campaign methods and communication channels are most effective.

Political communication as television news: Party-produced news of the Sweden Democrats during the 2022 election campaign

Abstract Political communication has taken new and complex forms within the contemporary hybrid media system. In this article, we examine how political campaigning that draws on television news forms utilises the increasingly blurred boundaries between news journalism and politics online. We assess the digital television news channel Riks, which during the 2022 national election was operated by the Sweden Democrats party and distributed via YouTube. Deploying a mixed-methods approach, we analysed all videos published by Riks four weeks prior to the election. Results show that Riks blends descriptive, interpretative, and outrage genres, and strategically frames the most important political issues of the election campaign in favour of the party’s policies. Hence, the study contributes to political communication scholarship by emphasising how news has become an integral part of strategic party communication, challenging established scholarly conceptualisations of alternative media and hyperpartisan news.

Administrative and legal aspects of voter information in the Russian Federation

The object of the study is the system of information support for voters in the Russian Federation. The subject of the scientific article is the administrative and legal aspects of informing Russian voters, analyzed in the context of modern socio-political processes. The authors consider in detail such aspects of the topic as the ratio of information and campaigning in the course of public administration of elections, responsibility for administrative offenses in the field of information support of the electoral process, the ambiguity of the administrative and legal status of a candidate in elections and the problems of administrative and legal regulation of voter information carried out by various subjects. Special attention is paid to the problems and prospects for the development of administrative and legal regulation of voter information in the context of today's technological and geopolitical challenges. Based on the understanding of modern scientific research and innovative approaches, as well as the experience of the 2024 election campaign for the election of the President of the Russian Federation, the authors also touch upon some problems of digitalization of the electoral process. The study is based on a systematic approach that allows us to study the mechanism of public administration of voter information as a set of inextricably interrelated and interacting elements organized as a single whole. The work uses a whole range of scientific research methods: formal-logical; comparative-legal; sociological and so on. The main conclusions of the conducted research are the authors' proposals with scientific novelty on clarifying the status of a candidate and legislative legal differentiation of the statuses of "registered" and "nominated candidates", clearer administrative and legal regulation of the voter information mechanism carried out by various entities, and the introduction of administrative responsibility directly for violations in the field of voter information.

What makes the difference? Social media platforms and party characteristics as contextual factors for political parties’ use of populist political communication

Abstract Social media has contributed to the spread of populist political communication, yet we still lack systematic knowledge of the contextual factors affecting its use. In this study, we investigated how and to what degree platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and party characteristics (populist vs. non-populist parties; political ideology) affected the use of populist communication by Norwegian political parties on social media during the 2021 national election campaign. Based on a tripartite conceptualisation of populist communication consisting of people-centrism, anti-elitism, and the exclusion of out-groups, we conducted a standardised content analysis of the official social media accounts of nine parties and their party leaders. Populist communication was overall rather rare, being most widespread on Facebook and least widespread on Twitter. Which parties used populist communication the most depended on the platform, and it was not always the populist Progress Party [Fremskrittspartiet] that communicated in the most populist manner. Parties located towards the fringes of the political party spectrum used more populist communication. Anti-elitism was more widespread among left-wing parties, and almost exclusively the right-wing Progress Party excluded out-groups.

Understanding Partisan news use in election campaigns: A Motivational Approach

Understanding Partisan news use in election campaigns: A Motivational Approach

Contra-hate spin di media sosial twitter jelang pilpres 2019 dengan pendekatan strategi sun-tzu

This study aims to identify hate spins through hate speech content on Twitter social media during the 2019 Presidential Election campaign, and analyze patterns of hate spin movements, strategies and obstacles to overcome hate spins using the Sun Tzu approach. Research methods with content analysis to analyze hate speech and hate spins that occur on Twitter ahead of the 2019 Presidential Election, starting 15 February-15 April 2019. There are 36 (thirty-six) hate spins that attack candidate pairs 01 and 12 (twelve) hate spin attacking candidate 02. There are four cyber-attack patterns in the form of hate spins, namely: a wave and gradual hate spin attacks on the same candidate pair, single hate spin attacks, and hate spin attacks attacking each other between the two teams of candidates. Polri uses several counter-strategies: (1) using a plan to win; (2) a strategy of dealing directly with the enemy; (3) a strategy of chaos; and (4) a strategy of losing. The obstacles faced are the competent police personnel were limited and the discretionary conditions of security and order. Policy recommendations require additional personnel both in quantity and quality for information and communication technology (ICT).

Training on election process dispute resolution between participants in Baubau City

Bawaslu has been granted the authority to resolve disputes that arise among participants through PerBawaslu Number 9 of 2022, which concerns Procedures for Resolving General Election Process Disputes. Panwascam will play a crucial role in resolving election process disputes, particularly those between election participants. The aim of this activity is to ensure the effectiveness of Panwascam in resolving disputes, maintaining election integrity, and building public trust in the democratic system in Baubau City. The method used in this service involves providing material through technical work meetings. The technical working meeting for implementing dispute resolution during the 2024 general election campaign process resulted in increased understanding for Panwascam in resolving election disputes, especially those between election participants. This includes enhancing the capacity of Panwascam members, ensuring their independence from political intervention, and facilitating a quick resolution of election disputes through collaborative efforts with relevant stakeholders such as community leaders.

IMPACT OF RUSSIA’S ELITES ON THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

This article examines the issue of the relationship between the elites of Russia, as well as their possible influence on the course of the election campaign for the election of the President of the Russian Federation. The work analyzes the varying degrees of influence on the formation of approaches in the process of transformation of the Russian political system. The purpose of preparing a scientific article is to study the problems of the influence of significant elite groups on pre-election scenarios, with an assessment of the position of competing political structures during the federal election campaign. In addition, there is speculation about possible steps they will take to acquire more influential positions in the next six months, when preliminary nominations of candidates take place and the prospects for election “battles” are outlined. The conclusions underlying this work make it possible to determine the current state of the elites in their competition in the field of political influence on candidates in the presidential “race”.

The Role of New Media in the 2024 General Election Campaign

Political parties extensively used New media in the 2014 and 2019 general elections. This platform proved vital to the ruling BJP. Other political parties have learned from this and refined their New media tactics. As the 2024 general election approaches, each political party has begun strategizing according to their strength. Political strife is escalating over New media. The current study investigates the possibilities of political parties' usage of New media for election campaigning in the impending 2024 general elections. It also tries to understand the role of New media in the upcoming elections. A quantitative study of voters in Delhi and the National Capital Region was done. According to the findings, people anticipate that New media will also play a major role in political parties' election campaigns in the 2024 general election. The study also anticipates that the 2024 general elections will be fought primarily through New media rather than traditional media.

Use of Facebook Accounts with Inauthentic Behavior in Elections: The Romanian Presidential Election Case

Astroturfing, trolling, bots, false amplifiers and social media accounts with inauthentic behavior are used in online political communication even if they have a real-world dangerous effect on democratic systems. Some of these activities are involving users that are over-proportionally active in relation to the mean. This explanatory research sought to determine whether such hyperactive users are utilized to share political posts to create an impression of popularity for a specific political message and, thus, to influence the recommendation algorithms of social networks in order to increase the exposure of political messages. In this study, I analyzed the most shared posts during the election campaign on the official Facebook pages of the first three ranked candidates in the 2019 Romanian presidential election. The research revealed an average of 18.3% of shares were made by hyperactive users on their own timeline or in different Facebook groups, with users that shared the same post for 69 times. Furthermore, I identified some of the characteristics of hyperactive users’ accounts based on their public social media profile, which may helps understand the specifics of these accounts. The results show that election communication involves activities considered by Facebook to be a practice of „manipulating public opinion“ and of „manipulating political discussion“ (Weedon et al., 2017, p. 5).

Nativist nationalism, cultural homogenisation and bullfighting: VOX’s cultural policy as an instrument for cultural battle (2019–2023)

ABSTRACT The extreme right’s influence on cultural politics is an issue that has received limited attention and most studies in this area have focused on the use of history or attitudes towards multiculturalism, although fewer have addressed cultural policy itself. Thus, the emergence of the political party VOX in Spain is analysed in order to shed light on the character of these cultural policies, whether it constitutes a shift towards the extreme right or radical populist right, or it’s a continuation of the attitude towards nationalism and authoritarianism typical of the conservative right. Based on the analysis of electoral programmes and discourses in the general election campaigns and in the two autonomous regions where it is responsible for cultural policy (Castilla and León and Valencian Community), the article finds that VOX has introduced themes of the alt-right and clearly prioritises culture as a tool for cultural battles especially in terms of elements of national identity, such as in the party’s promotion of anti-Catalanism and bullfighting.

Emotional showdown on social media: analyzing user reactions to the 2016 US presidential campaign

Purpose Social media platforms are highly visible platforms, so politicians try to maximize their benefits from their use, especially during election campaigns. On the other side, people express their views and sentiments toward politicians and political issues on social media, thus enabling them to observe their online political behavior. Therefore, this study aims to investigate user reactions on social media during the 2016 US presidential campaign to decide which candidate invoked stronger emotions on social media. Design/methodology/approach For testing the proposed hypotheses regarding emotional reactions to social media content during the 2016 presidential campaign, regression analysis was used to analyze a data set that consists of Trump’s 996 posts and Clinton’s 1,253 posts on Facebook. The proposed regression models are based on viral (likes, shares, comments) and emotional Facebook reactions (Angry, Haha, Sad, Surprise, Wow) as well as Russell’s valence, arousal, dominance (VAD) circumplex model for valence, arousal and dominance. Findings The results of regression analysis indicate how Facebook users felt about both presidential candidates. For Clinton’s page, both positive and negative content are equally liked, while Trump’s followers prefer funny and positive emotions. For both candidates, positive and negative content influences the number of comments. Trump’s followers mostly share positive content and the content that makes them angry, while Clinton’s followers share any content that does not make them angry. Based on VAD analysis, less dominant content, with high arousal and more positive emotions, is more liked on Trump’s page, where valence is a significant predictor for commenting and sharing. More positive content is more liked on Clinton’s page, where both positive and negative emotions with low arousal are correlated to commenting and sharing of posts. Originality/value Building on an empirical data set from Facebook, this study shows how differently the presidential candidates communicated on social media during the 2016 election campaign. According to the findings, Trump used a hard campaign strategy, while Clinton used a soft strategy.

Calls to (what kind of?) action: A framework for comparing political actors’ campaign strategies across social media platforms

Politicians can use social media to prompt citizens to engage by means of calls to action—statements, often in imperative form, that explicitly encourage audiences to take immediate action. This study makes a twofold contribution to this field: (1) Theoretically, we relate three factors shaping social media campaigns (audiences, affordances, genres) to calls to action related to three main campaign functions (information, mobilization, interaction). (2) Empirically, we show the applicability of this framework to systematic platform comparisons in the Western European context, taking the use of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter by political actors in Norway as an example. Conducting a standardized manual content analysis, we find that calls for certain kinds of action are more common than others, probably related to shortage of time and resources in election campaigns. Which calls to action are used is clearly affected by the platforms on which they are published.

Political Financing around the World: A Historical Overview and Financing Models; Which Model for Uganda?

This paper provides an overview of political financing in the world. This enables the proposal to select a suitable political financing model for Uganda. In this regard, an effort has been made to trace the origins of political financing from North America to Africa. The justification for its existence has also been illustrated. Political financing can facilitate the protection and promotion of international human rights standards. This is especially so, regarding citizens’ rights to participate in their public affairs. The paper also shows that money has justifiable and legitimate purposes in electoral campaigns. Its unregulated use, however, may lead to corruption. Finally, the paper suggests a political financing model appropriate to Uganda’s environment. Doctrinal methods of research were used to carry out the study. This method of research involves a library-based analysis of legal sources. There are two steps to the doctrinal research methods. The first step is finding the primary sources of law. The second step is the examination of these primary sources.