Campaign materials in conventional and new medium observed in the contest for the P.171 parliamentary and N.12 state assembly seats in the Malaysia 14th general election
List of Authors
  • Noraini Abdullah , Suhaimi Salleh

Keyword
  • election campaign, digital media, social media

Abstract
  • This paper examines the use of conventional and new election campaign materials prior to the recently concluded Malaysia’s 14th General Election. Photographs of posters and buntings and screenshots of Facebook statuses are analysed to discern the contents put forward by the candidates for the Sepanggar Parliamentary and Karambunai State Assemby seats. Results of the analyses indicated the incumbent government-backed candidate for the parliamentary seat was allocated much fund to come up with superior campaign materials. However, Facebook statuses for both parliamentary and state assembly seats were poorly utilised as campaign tools. The initial assumption that voters would be swayed by the wordings and grandiose modes of display into supporting the better-funded candidate was disproved by the result of the poll. The final outcome of the election also suggested that the prolific displays of conventional campaign materials in the form of party flags, banners, buntings and bill boarded messages has lost their appeals to voters. Across the nation campaign via social media, especially Facebook, managed to provide traction for voters’ choice. However, for the two seats in question, post-election interviews reveal that undercurrents resulting from perception of the parachuted candidate and non-performance by incumbent were two main reasons for party-supporters to vote against their own candidates. Specifically for the subjects studied, other grass-roots factors rendered the conventional and digital campaign materials into insignificance.

Reference
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