Search

In an electoral competition, campaign teams choose strategies that can most easily decide their own candidate's victory. The present study aims at an incursion into the field of negative campaigns, having two components: the debates of specialists in political science on the subject and the way in which this direction was reflected in the electoral campaigns in Romania during 1990–2000. The article diachronically follows the evolution of Ion Iliescu during the four electoral rounds, highlighting the degree to which the negative campaign was imposed as the main strategy, against whom it was carried out, what topics were promoted, and to what extent it determined the success or failure of the candidate. In the analysis, the first part presents the views of sociologists, historians, and specialists in communication and political science, whereas the case study on the Romanian political environment is based on the written press of the period and the statements of politicians, reflected through the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The voting behaviour of people in the local Romanian election has important social implications, yet due to strong mentality influences in electoral research, it has rarely been studied from the behavioural analytical perspective. In this article a behavioural analysis of voting is presented from the moment of pre campaigning, campaign, until the voting day and how it has been affected by other factors, more complex than in other elections, including the analysis of the influence of the changes of electoral laws and restrictions of campaign budget. Moreover, the experience gained as a candidate in this local election, led me to write about the perception and the behaviour of voting people. It is concluded that such an analysis is both theoretically fruitful and empirically relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study below aims to provide a political approach to the electoral campaign practices in Romania by correlating the political and the electoral marketing theory with the electoral reality, trying to find the key to success in politics for individuals. The study presents a case research over an electoral evolution of an MP who will be named in our study as "X", in order to exemplify better how the electoral marketing techniques influence in a considerable proportion the electoral score, if they are applied on a medium and long term, not only during the electoral campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to present instances of political communication during electoral processes carried out with new media tools. The high rate of Internet penetration and the spreading of social networks triggered the response on the part of political candidates, interested to reach their publics wherever possible. In addition, the development of e-democracy, e-governance and e-politics naturally produces effects in electoral processes. The 2012 parliamentary elections in Romania have as distinctive features the breakdown of constituencies into smaller units and the uninominal vote instead of the previously employed party lists. These features placed the burden of communication tasks on individual candidates, who had to resort to at least one web based communication channel during the campaign. The article is structured in five sections, as follows: the first section is dedicated to presenting the context and tools of the study. The second section views the digital communication as the new frontier to conquer for political communicators. The third is dedicated to Romanian politicians and their Internet presence. The fourth section, which is the largest, places the 2012 parliamentary elections in Timis County under the microscope and highlights the choices of communication tools preferred by the candidates coming from the two political alliances that dominated the elections, the Social Liberal Union (USL) and the Right Romania Alliance (ARD). Finally, the concluding sections discusses further research to be carried in understanding how digital technologies shape the pillar of political communication in the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article illustrates how the growing complexity of regulations regarding party funding in post-communist Romania is paralleled by practices employed by political parties in their attempt to gain increased access to state resources. Our document analysis indicate that political parties managed to exploit the weaknesses of the increasingly complex legislative framework. A cyclical process takes places: parties use the existing flaws in the legislation on party funding to indirectly obtain and exploit state resources for their (electoral) purposes, an improved law tackling those shortcomings is passed, but political parties are able to identify other flaws and use them to gain financial benefits. To make the case, we assess comparatively the evolution of legislative provisions and practices employed by political parties over two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Our material introduces the concept of hybrid electoral area, as a distinct electoral entity set up by special territorial and administrative processes. We analyze specific cases of such spaces in Iasi and we see how the winning electoral strategies have been configured here. We provide examples of campaign activities and actions which ensured the candidates' success by simultaneously targeting both the electoral sub-spaces and the community seen as whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National-Christian Defence League reached its peak between 1926-1927, without becoming a major decisive political force for the country's destiny. Four Bucovina representatives have managed to get in the Romanian Parliament. But the lack of experience took its tole on them, making them unable to build-up a coherent political message. Moreover, the dissidences and conflicts between 1927-1928 led to the League entering (into) a shadow cone. The Statutory N.C.D.L. (the National-Christian Defence League) Organisation attracted big personalities of the time, such as Ion Zelea Codreanu or Traian Brăileanu. Even so, the statutory organization had an ephemeral existence, not having been able to obtain new electoral success. Not even the local leaders, such as Nichifor Robu, Gheorghe Cârlan or Ioan Iliuţ, who stood by A.C. Cuza, were able to win the electorate. The 1927's electoral failure, led to the N.C.D.L.'s restructuring . The unity's remake, in 1928, was unsolid, many of the old activists having already lost their trust. The "Cuza" anti-Semitism found votaries, but situated the League only on a position of chasing/tracing the big Romanian political parties. The existence of many ethnic communities, especially those of Jewish in the country's northern region province, allowed anti-Semitism to spread itself. Still, the realities of the Romanian society in the past century's third decade were much more complex and have not found their solution in the anti-Semitism. In this context, only some spectacular events or a new movement could have brought the Romanian Right towards electorate conquest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Romana de Comunicare si Relatii Publice is the property of College of Communication & Public Relations, NUPSPA Bucharest and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)