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Electoral cycles are highly charged, politically intense moments that influence public discourse. Political elites, citizens, and the traditional news media seek to generate opinions and interactions on social networks. This research is motivated by the following questions: What are the communicative and deliberative practices used in these spaces? Is it possible to identify the characteristics that --through deliberative conversations-- potentially foster or undermine democratic debate, particularly when using populist and polarizing discourse? Using a mixed methods approach, we apply a social network analysis tool to track conversations and identify the volume of political discourse (N=346,000). Using selective and staged filtering, we identified posts from nine Peruvian Twitter accounts during the September 2022 electoral campaign in Lima: three candidates, three media outlets, and three accounts with high levels of engagement. Our data comprised the comments from these nine accounts and was extracted using an Application Programming Interface (API). Subsequently, we carried out ethnographic content analysis on publications with more than 30 comments. In this phase, we analyzed Twitter comments using a codebook to identify deliberative practices and user responses. Our findings underscore the significant role of principal media outlets in shaping political conversation on Twitter. We also discovered that attempts to interact and deliberate were often overshadowed by heated comments attempting to impose opinions on others. Most importantly, our research reveals a widespread disillusionment with politics, political institutions, and even the political preferences of fellow citizens in Peru, highlighting a key challenge for democratic discourse on social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people have become the main targets of campaigns of European radical right-wing populist parties. The aim of this research is to analyze the messages delivered to the youth electorate by the political party Vox during the 19 June 2022 campaign for the Parliament of Andalusia (Spain). Critical discourse analysis (CDA) of a selection of general press sources and the party's electoral program revealed how nativist and conservative messages generated a unitary, essentialist and stereotyped vision of youth as part of the Spanish nation. Based on the emotionalization and spectacularization of the campaign and its protagonists, the retrotopic discourses were constructed from a double rhetoric of confrontation and victimization of the young population. From a gender perspective, the analysis also revealed that the emotional connection with young people was based on the male supremacy of Santiago Abascal and the subordination of the presidential candidate, Macarena Olona, whose media projection combined the traditional model of femininity with the image of a combative and competent woman, an exponent of the struggle for Spanish values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic, social, and health crises have shaken and polarized contemporary politics. An element fueling this polarization is the dissemination of divisive topics on social media platforms. While these polarizing social media tendencies are increasingly studied, research exploring digital political communication in South America remains scarce. This study aims to analyze the electoral campaigns in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Peru to define the features that trigger polarized emotional reactions on Facebook. The corpus comprises a sample of 2,930 posts published by candidates and political parties during the first round of the presidential elections held in these countries between 2021 and 2022. We hypothesize that users are more likely to react in a polarized way to content focused on divisive issues. In addition, we examine how these patterns differ across countries and the influence of the level of political polarization. Finally, the role played by party-level characteristics in the emotional reactions of users is also analyzed. By means of quantitative content analysis, these questions are addressed using multilevel negative binomial regressions to identify what predicts Love and Angry reactions. The bandwagon effect seems to work positively on users' moods since the most popular political actors receive significantly more Love reactions, irrespective of the post's subject. In more polarized countries, there is a tendency to react more negatively to certain divisive issues, generating greater visibility of these issues on social networks and thus promoting more polarization. These findings expand knowledge about the dynamics of digital political communication in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Global Media Journal México is the property of Francisco Javier Martinez Garza 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.)

Copyright of Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodistico is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid 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.)

Electoral cycles are highly charged, politically intense moments that influence public discourse. Political elites, citizens, and the traditional news media seek to generate opinions and interactions on social networks. This research is motivated by the following questions: What are the communicative and deliberative practices used in these spaces? Is it possible to identify the characteristics that –through deliberative conversations– potentially foster or undermine democratic debate, particularly when using populist and polarizing discourse? Using a mixed methods approach, we apply a social network analysis tool to track conversations and identify the volume of political discourse (N=346,000). Using selective and staged filtering, we identified posts from nine Peruvian Twitter accounts during the September 2022 electoral campaign in Lima: three candidates, three media outlets, and three accounts with high levels of engagement. Our data comprised the comments from these nine accounts and was extracted using an Application Programming Interface (API). Subsequently, we carried out ethnographic content analysis on publications with more than 30 comments. In this phase, we analyzed Twitter comments using a codebook to identify deliberative practices and user responses. Our findings underscore the significant role of principal media outlets in shaping political conversation on Twitter. We also discovered that attempts to interact and deliberate were often overshadowed by heated comments attempting to impose opinions on others. Most importantly, our research reveals a widespread disillusionment with politics, political institutions, and even the political preferences of fellow citizens in Peru, highlighting a key challenge for democratic discourse on social media.

This article identifies the discursive strategy of "extreme or radical" leaderships. With that in mind, it inquires the discursive content of Javier Milei's campaign closings before the Open Simultaneous and Obligatory Primaries (PASO) and the general elections, celebrated between August and October 2023 in Argentina, from a sociosemiotic perspective. The study concludes that Javier Milei's leadership generated attraction and adherence by a "rhetoric of rejection" towards "the political caste" during the first closing and by a "hyperbolic rhetoric", as the "resurrection or illumination" of the hero was witnessed, during the second campaign closing. In this manner, it advances in the knowledge of a case that, because of its novelty, remains little explored and delineates possible investigation agendas around leaderships and democratic quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delves into the role of image schemas in language with a specific focus on their presence in the construction of metaphors in political speeches delivered during the 2018 electoral campaigns in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Image schemas refer to recurring patterns of understanding that arise from our bodily movements through space. To achieve this, the study utilizes the Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Image-Schema Theory, which investigate the presence of image schemas in political discourse. The study centers on the PATH, CONTAINER and FORCE image schemas, examining their role in the formation of metaphors and how they structure the relationship between source domains (journey and container) and the target domain (politics). Precisely, the study examines how politicians conceptualize politics as a journey or container, identifying four structural elements that define this relationship. The research also considers the persuasive techniques employed by Kurdish politicians and how they impact voting patterns. Overall, the study shows that image schemas are an essential tool in gaining public support and influencing voters, and they work as source domains for accessing target domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish far-right Vox party ran for the first time as a candidate for the Catalan parliamentary elections in February 2021. This paper analyses the party's political discourse on Twitter during the Catalan parliamentary election campaign in order to assess whether the degree of dialectical confrontation of their messages can exceed the limits of democratic debate. The results reveal how this far-right party's inflammatory messages, which seek to insult its political opponents, ultimately foster an undemocratic environment that turns Vox's political rivals into its enemy, driving social polarisation and a discourse of hatred towards individuals defending other ideologies or parties. Ultimately, it is intended to add that political-ideological nuance for future research that surpasses traditional hate speech —such as those based on criteria such as race or sex— and the suitability of Twitter for the proliferation of the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we introduce an innovative approach to examining campaign themes in Italy, by performing an original corpus linguistic analysis of the party manifestos related to the crucial 2022 election. Through its systematicity and flexibility, our approach allows us to gauge theory-driven propositions using a large amount of so far unexplored textual data. As anticipated, the 2022 Italian party manifestos are characterised by a somewhat balanced configuration of emphasis across a variety of themes, of which some are more controversial and others more widely shared among voters and parties. Further, we also corroborate that parties primarily focus on those themes that historically fit them best, ideologically and in terms of perceived competence. Lastly, salient 'issues of the day' are differently emphasised by Italian parties, which particularly avoid devoting considerable attention to the highly sensitive Russian-Ukrainian war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile instant messaging services have been consolidated in political communication because they favor continuous connection and generate more trust than other social media. For this reason, most political parties use this type of apps. The aim of this work is to identify the communication strategies of Vox on Telegram in electoral contexts. Using content analysis techniques, all the messages that this far-right party published on its Telegram channel during two electoral campaigns, in the 2019 general elections and the 2021 Catalan elections, are studied. Specifically, five variables are examined: functions of the messages; thematic agenda; role of criticism; personalization in the leader; and level of hybridization with mainstream media. The results indicate an incipient evolution towards more innovative functions, although there is still room for improvement. In addition to promoting his campaign agenda, Vox uses Telegram to mobilize the vote and attack other parties by appealing to emotions on ideological issues; personalize its speech in a leader characterized by his emotional attributes; and replace conventional media. All of these strategies fit the populist style of other far-right international parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hatred is distinguished from the expression of democratic opinion by its harmful intent. Dissemination of hate speech on social media is characterised by its virulence (Zamora-Medina et al., 2021), especially when directed towards the political class, and particularly at women, who are challenged in a different way to their male counterparts (Soriano, 2019). This violence triggers an anti-feminist reaction (Wilhelm & Joeckel, 2018) characterised by extreme misogyny, reaction, and a tendency towards personal attacks. Thus, the aggression exerted by haters against this vulnerable group contaminates the public sphere and negatively affects the quality of democracies. On the basis of this state of affairs, this research seeks, through content analysis, to identify and analyse expressions of hatred directed towards the five female candidates for the presidency of the Community of Madrid (Isabel Díaz of the Partido Popular, Mónica García of Más Madrid, Rocío Monasterio of Vox, Alejandra Jacinto of Podemos, Izquierda Unida, and Alianza Verde, and Aruca Gómez of Ciudadanos) in the comments made on their official Instagram accounts during the May 2023 election campaign. In addition, it aims to examine hate discourses that may be related to both a female gender bias and other vulnerable groups through issues such as aporophobia or xenophobia, among others. The results show that hatred is directed towards female politicians with great intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pandectele Române is the property of Wolters Kluwer Romania 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.)

Copyright of Esferas is the property of Esferas 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.)

Economic, social, and health crises have shaken and polarized contemporary politics. An element fueling this polarization is the dissemination of divisive topics on social media platforms. While these polarizing social media tendencies are increasingly studied, research exploring digital political communication in South America remains scarce. This study aims to analyze the electoral campaigns in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Peru to define the features that trigger polarized emotional reactions on Facebook. The corpus comprises a sample of 2,930 posts published by candidates and political parties during the first round of the presidential elections held in these countries between 2021 and 2022. We hypothesize that users are more likely to react in a polarized way to content focused on divisive issues. In addition, we examine how these patterns differ across countries and the influence of the level of political polarization. Finally, the role played by party-level characteristics in the emotional reactions of users is also analyzed. By means of quantitative content analysis, these questions are addressed using multilevel negative binomial regressions to identify what predicts Love and Angry reactions. The bandwagon effect seems to work positively on users’ moods since the most popular political actors receive significantly more Love reactions, irrespective of the post’s subject. In more polarized countries, there is a tendency to react more negatively to certain divisive issues, generating greater visibility of these issues on social networks and thus promoting more polarization. These findings expand knowledge about the dynamics of digital political communication in the Global South.

Lulismo, as a broad phenomenon of adhesion to the political figure of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is also based on the approval of the image of “man of the people,” which was mobilized in the 2002 elections and continuously evoked against the Brazilian Social Democratic Party. In this article, we analyze the electoral propaganda strategies of the Workers’ Party at a time when its major leader was imprisoned and its main opponents were others: the “dragons” of anti-petismo. Based on the fact that television continues to be important in the Brazilian electoral game, the corpus of the analysis is the electoral television calendar of the Workers’ Party during the first and second rounds. The methodology used combines the observation of the types of ads with the analysis of the French matrix discourse, based mainly on the contributions of Charaudeau and Orlandi. As categories, ethos and antiethos, interdiscourses, discursive formations, ideological formations, and social conditions of production are observed. It is concluded that Lulismo was mobilized to fight against the Temer government and the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, which were not dangerous rivals; however, it failed to build a narrative against the “dragons” of anti-petismo that questioned not only the Brazilian electoral game, but the democratic regime itself.

The use of emotions in electoral campaigns, the role of leadership in these campaigns and the presence of electoral content in social networks are relevant elements of Political Science. This work provides a proposal for the measurement of these elements in electoral campaign materials. Indicators covering the highlighted topics will be presented, using the regional elections of Castile and Leon from February 2022 as a measurement test. In this way, it is established that positive emotions are the most frequently used by political parties, and the presence of regional leaders and the extensive use of social networks has been common practice during this exceptional campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changes brought by new technologies and the ensuing rapid development of the communication field have resulted in an increasing number of studies on politicians’ use of the internet and social media. However, while election campaigns have been the predominant research area in political communication scholarship, music has not yet been taken as an object of study alongside spectacularisation and politainment. Aside from some preliminary studies, systematic research on music in politics is scarce. The literature holds that music is a universal language. Music in politics can therefore be deemed to be an identification tool that can help politicians connect with voters and bring together positions between the different actors of international relations. This is an exploratory study about the use of music in political campaigning. It is focused on the role played by the Spotify playlists created by the main political parties in recent election campaigns in Spain. The initial hypothesis is that some of the candidates strategically selected songs to be shared with their followers. A quantitative content analysis (N = 400) of some Spotify playlists showed that there were significant differences in the selection of songs among the different political parties. This research contributes to the understanding of how Spotify has been used for electoral campaigning, as well as shedding some light on the current communication literature on music and politics.

Maxwell McCombs (2004) defines electoral campaigns as "natural laboratories" for analyzing how near or far the proposals of the programs of political parties, the issues as set out by the media and the concerns expressed by the general public are from each other. This article contributes a comparative analysis in two ways. On the one hand, it systematizes the existing similarities and differences in the media coverage of three general election campaigns (Ecuador 2021, Spain 2019 and Argentina 2019), based on the indicators concerning "issue agendas" and "attribute agendas" (1st and 2nd level of agenda setting). On the other hand, it explores the existing associations between the most significant issues of the media and public agendas in the framework of the three aforementioned electoral campaigns. Among the results obtained, it is worth pointing out, firstly, the dissociation of the main concerns expressed by public opinion and the most prominent issues in the main media of the three countries. In other words, the media (media agenda) give greater visibility to issues of political conflict than to issues of concerns of the citizens themselves (public agenda). Secondly, the agenda of the media studied using a content analysis of the following daily newspapers: El Comercio (Ecuador), El País (Spain) and Clarín (Argentina), is like the most unobtrusive issues (Zucker, 1978), such as corruption or political activity. They are clearly different from those issues which feature in the political and social conflicts of those countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Issue contributes to the growing literature on parties abroad. Expansive citizenship has transformed and reinforced the civic and political links between emigrants and their home country. Political parties face the dilemma of engaging or not in this new arena for electoral politics and must consider how. However, until recently the literature on transnationalism and on party politics has surprisingly largely overlooked this issue. This introduction identifies the existing gaps in the literature, and stresses two main questions that remains largely unanswered, namely (1) why and how parties decide to campaign abroad, and (2) how voters abroad are receptive to these campaigns and operate their party choice in this specific context. The five articles offer a mix of case studies and comparative perspective, and quantitative and qualitative analyses. This case selection allows to explore the diversity of strategies adopted by political parties abroad in different settings, with different tools. The results illustrate the impact of local party branches and entrepreneurs' outreach and local campaigns on mobilisation, turnout, and the result of elections, but also show that emigrants' vote choice is influenced both by the context of their country of origin and of their country of residence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lulismo, as a broad phenomenon of adhesion to the political figure of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is also based on the approval of the image of “man of the people,” which was mobilized in the 2002 elections and continuously evoked against the Brazilian Social Democratic Party. In this article, we analyze the electoral propaganda strategies of the Workers’ Party at a time when its major leader was imprisoned and its main opponents were others: the “dragons” of anti-petismo. Based on the fact that television continues to be important in the Brazilian electoral game, the corpus of the analysis is the electoral television calendar of the Workers’ Party during the first and second rounds. The methodology used combines the observation of the types of ads with the analysis of the French matrix discourse, based mainly on the contributions of Charaudeau and Orlandi. As categories, ethos and antiethos, interdiscourses, discursive formations, ideological formations, and social conditions of production are observed. It is concluded that Lulismo was mobilized to fight against the Temer government and the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, which were not dangerous rivals; however, it failed to build a narrative against the “dragons” of anti-petismo that questioned not only the Brazilian electoral game, but the democratic regime itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodistico is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid 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.)

Copyright of Doxa Comunicación is the property of Fundacion Universitaria San Pablo - CEU 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.)

Political parties take advantage of the internet to disseminate their messages, particularly during election campaigns. In addition to the public, these messages reach journalists, who have turned these platforms into another tool for their professional work. The aim of this study is to reflect on how the nature of publications can affect the work of journalists who use this content as raw material to work with. In order to explore this more deeply, a quantitative approach is proposed, consisting of a metric analysis of 1,280 Facebook posts by 10 political forces and a survey of 1,004 people, representing the universe of the Spanish population. The results show that the parties disseminate unidirectional and propagandistic content on Facebook during campaigns, marginalising dialogue and interaction. This restricts journalists’ ability to converse with political parties through the social network, which at the same time is impacted by messages whose veracity is secondary to their objective of reaching as many internet users as possible.

This paper analyzed the legal framework regarding transparency in financing political parties for the election campaign in Albania and North Macedonia. The main object was the identification and analysis of the changes in the legislative solutions that are implemented in these two countries for issues related to (i) the method of reporting the financing of the election campaign, (ii) the periodicity and time of reporting, (iii) the publication of donations with private funds, (iv) the institutions of monitoring and auditing financial reports, (v) publication of financial reports and (vi) sanctions for violators of the law. The assessment of the level of law enforcement, as a reflection of the differences in the two countries' efforts toward the development of democratic elections, was part of the objectives of this study. The comparative analysis was the main methodology used in this paper. Based on the results of this analysis, it can be confirmed that the national legislation for the financing of election campaigns in Albania and North Macedonia is: (i) drafted following the requirements and standards defined in international documents, (ii) the differences are a reflection of the process of democratic development of these two countries. The quality in the implementation of the legislation was identified as a factor with hindering effects on the transparency of the financing of political campaigns. The commitment to improve the legislation aiming, in particular, additional capacities development for controlling and law-enforcing institutions, as well as the engagement in education and strengthening the culture for implementing the rule of law, are necessary for both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzed the legal framework regarding transparency in financing political parties for the election campaign in Albania and North Macedonia. The main object was the identification and analysis of the changes in the legislative solutions that are implemented in these two countries for issues related to (i) the method of reporting the financing of the election campaign, (ii) the periodicity and time of reporting, (iii) the publication of donations with private funds, (iv) the institutions of monitoring and auditing financial reports, (v) publication of financial reports and (vi) sanctions for violators of the law. The assessment of the level of law enforcement, as a reflection of the differences in the two countries' efforts toward the development of democratic elections, was part of the objectives of this study. The comparative analysis was the main methodology used in this paper. Based on the results of this analysis, it can be confirmed that the national legislation for the financing of election campaigns in Albania and North Macedonia is: (i) drafted following the requirements and standards defined in international documents, (ii) the differences are a reflection of the process of democratic development of these two countries. The quality in the implementation of the legislation was identified as a factor with hindering effects on the transparency of the financing of political campaigns. The commitment to improve the legislation aiming, in particular, additional capacities development for controlling and law-enforcing institutions, as well as the engagement in education and strengthening the culture for implementing the rule of law, are necessary for both countries.

Political parties are a suitable option when one wants to implement a democratic system in a country, and this process has undergone plenty of changes over time. The best way for political parties to become attractive for citizens is to show that they share the same interests, usually through election promises. In terms of pledge fulfillment, there isample research made by academic writers and we can identify certain reasons for which political parties fulfill their electoral promises or not. My paper has two components and aims to identify the situation of fulfilling the electoral promises of a political party in Romania in 2020. I propose to add to the previous papers a supplement, having as case study of a political party „Alliance for the Union of Romanians” in Romania. The gap I was able to identify in the literature refers to Romanian political parties and their rate of pledge fulfillment. The thesis I illustrate an answer in this paper is” Why does (or does not) the party AUR keep its electoral promises?”. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether or not the party AUR has fulfilled its electoral promises (and in what percentage) and what are the main causes that have influenced the fulfillment of these promises. The data collected come from online sources, more specifically all the AUR party posts on social portals and legislative initiatives, both in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies, and the method used for data analysis is process tracing. My results are represented by a small rate of fulfilling electoral pledges (17,64%) and 6 specific causes that affected this rate (one of them didn’t go through, four of them showed why these percentage is so low and the last of them showed why the percentage is not 0%).

This article develops a reputational theory of political falsehoods. Politicians are motivated by the desire to build a positive reputation, therefore, they will be more likely to deliver false statements (incurring the risk of being fact-checked) when the potential benefit outweighs the cost. This happens as new elections come closer, since the electoral benefit of falsehoods increases along with the probability of being checked too late (after the election day). Politicians are less likely to issue falsehoods in detailed statements and in scripted communication, since the reputational cost is higher because such falsehoods would be considered intentional. Conversely, the stronger trust that voters attribute to politicians on issues they own, allows politicians to lie on such topics. Statistical analysis of almost 8000 statements released by politicians and assessed by fact-checkers, in the United States and Italy (2007–2018), supports the hypotheses. The results hold irrespective of party affiliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1989 presidential elections in Argentina and Brazil can be considered a pivotal moment. In Brazil, it was the first popular election after two decades of dictatorship. In Argentina, even though citizens had already voted for president in 1983, 1989 marked a scene of disenchantment with party politics and a deepening economic crisis. In those contexts, the ways in which young people were represented in electoral campaigns on television took on a special significance. We can observe, in those representations, the circulation and latency of discourses and images about democracy itself and its future. This article systematizes the representations of youth (especially around youth activism, but also in other forms of reference to young people) in the programs of the Horário Gratuito de Propaganda Eleitoral (HGPE), in Brazil, and in the TV spots, in Argentina, of the most voted candidates (Collor, Lula da Silva, Menem and Angeloz). This double comparative analysis (of political forces and of national cases) is part of a broader objective of examining the mutations in campaigning and as part of the discussion on the transformations in the political linkage since the return to democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By adopting a political communication perspective, this article describes the Italian electoral campaign of 2022. First, we reconstruct the coalition formation phase and discuss the issues at the center of the electoral campaign. Second, we describe the communicative macro-frames at the heart of the political strategies of Italian political actors and how these macro-frames are used to campaign on more specific issues. Third, we delve into the hybrid communication strategies of Italian politicians. To do so, we integrate the analysis of legacy media, showing their enduring centrality, and that of social media. We conclude that the 2022 election was marked by many novelties, such as the unusual national summer campaign, the massive use of Instagram, and the introduction of TikTok in the parties' communication strategies. At the same time, elements of continuity were present, such as leaders' reliance on traditional media and the high political instability forcing the Italian political system to intense and hurried electoral campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how political activities affect the political efficiency and political participation in real life among the citizens of the city of Durrës, Albania. Focusing on the parliamentary election campaign of April 25, 2021, this article analyzes the basic concepts of addressing the most important topics for the mass audience and to what extent the data influences voters in the way they vote. This article analyzes how the voter follows the election campaign of political parties and candidates through various forms, face to face, television, online, etc. and the level of issues addressed during the election campaign, how much the demographic context of the voter influences the electoral campaign follow-up, etc. Based on a poll voters conducted after the election, we interpreted these factors to finally identify which of them reflects the greatest weight. For this we examine the candidate’s social media messages and how they are understood by the direct audience. In addition, this study sheds light on the relationship between political activities and political awareness. We conducted a survey with (N = 300). To answer the research questions, regression and correlation models were constructed, laminating the impact of various factors on voter campaign attendance. To complete the analysis framework, the latter is also analyzed in the context of the independent variable. The analysis further includes testing the impact of the new media, political messages, on voter perception and their connection to election campaign follow-up. In addition, social media is a vital platform for network users to participate in real-life political activities. In conclusion, the study findings suggest that online political activities are strongly related to political awareness and political participation. The analysis also shows that politicians use new media for different purposes. The article concludes on the ways in which the political message influences voter behavior by exploiting the effects of social media and how new media has changed the campaigns of political parties.

This paper studies the strategic adoption of populist rhetoric in electoral campaigns – i.e., the supply side of populism. We build on existing studies to argue that populist campaigning is more likely to be chosen by politicians who face an electorate characterized by high economic insecurity. We add that two other factors are crucial determinants of the choice of a populist campaign strategy, namely the closeness of the election and the candidate's outsider status. We apply automated text analysis to campaign websites for the 2018 and 2020 congressional elections and construct a continuous index of populism in campaign documents. We provide evidence that indeed outsider candidates in competitive races resort to more populism in response to higher economic insecurity. Drawing connections between theories of voter mobilization and populist discourse, this paper sheds light on how local economic and political conditions are key to understanding the strategic supply of populism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the use of search engine optimization (SEO) by political and non-political actors to amplify the visibility of search engine results. While there has been much theoretical speculation around the role of SEO techniques in boosting the ranking appearance of a website, few empirical studies have been undertaken to understand the extent to which SEO techniques are used to promote visibility online. This study takes Italy as a case study to map the information landscape around nine highly controversial issues during the Italian electoral campaign of 2022. Using a combination of digital methods and a tool detecting optimization in websites, our article aims at examining which actors employ SEO techniques to foster the circulation of their ideas and agendas around hot topics. Our analysis reveals that information channels, institutions, and companies are predominant, while political actors remain in the background. Contextually, data indicate that SEO techniques are employed by several recurrent editorial groups, company owners, and institutions. Ultimately, we discuss the impact of SEO techniques on the circulation and visibility of information around relevant policy issues, contributing to shaping and influencing public debate and opinion.

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]

This study evaluates dyadic representation, that is, the link between the policy preferences of the constituencies and their representatives in the Japanese Lower House (LH). More specifically, this study examines how the within-party variation in policy positions among party candidates corresponds with that across their districts. By examining a series of candidate surveys conducted between 2003 and 2012 as well as the local employment structure, this study maps the association between the policy preferences of constituencies and those of their district candidates for two major parties. Specifically, candidates were found to take more rural-oriented positions on economic policies when running in districts with rural employment structures, while there remained a clear difference between parties. Moreover, this study demonstrates that constituencies accord more votes to candidates who better represent their preferences, strengthening the link by electing those who fulfill the responsibility beyond their party label. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of mobile instant messaging services has brought about a new transformation in the communication driven by political actors. Such services have turned these platforms into a tool for disseminating information to attract new voters. The aim of this research is to find out how Telegram is used by the main political parties which stood for the elections to the Community of Madrid held on the 4th of May, 2021. In order to do so, we choose an exploratory study and a quantitative content analysis over a sample of 710 messages published by the Partido Popular, Ciudadanos, Podemos, Más Madrid and Vox between the 18th of April and the 5th of May is used. Results show that political parties have incorporated Telegram as another tool in their campaign communication strategies. Moreover, its use is conditioned by factors such as ideology, trajectory and opposition on the government/opposition axis. The main function assigned to this platform is of an informative nature. Finally, the theme preferred by the parties during the campaign are the electoral proposals. This aspect reveals that Telegram is primarily configured as a channel for political selfpromotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of mobile instant messaging platforms has increased in recent years in political communication given the private nature of this form of communication, a trend which has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this research is to know the Telegram usage done by the main political parties within the election campaign. For this purpose, the Catalan election of the 14th of February 2021 are studied with a quantitative content analysis on a sample composed of 600 messages published by five political parties (PSC, Vox Barcelona, ERC, Junts per Catalunya, CUP and En Comú Podem). Results show that one of the most important functions of this platforms is the information and dissemination of its electoral programme. Regarding the main topics, the organization and functioning of the campaign and the political wrangling predominate. Our findings show that the position of the different parties regarding the independence of Catalonia, their political trajectory and their position within the government/opposition axis are conditioning factors of their communication strategy on this platform. Finally, the analysis of the public impact of the published messages reveals the disconnection between the parties and the citizens. In addition, a "more is more" effect which determines that the more messages are broadcast on this platform, the greater the number of views by users is, is detected. These data reveal new evidence on how Telegram is being used in the election campaign by political actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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