INTERACTIVE: GE15’s online battle for votes

PETALING JAYA: Armed with an arsenal of catchy social media posts, GE15 candidates, parties and their supporters are fighting to woo voters in a lively online campaign ahead of polling on Nov 19.

The Star analysed samples of online campaign messages and found Pakatan Harapan drawing the bulk of attention on Twitter.

Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional were more popular among TikTok users.

The study looked at the number of likes, retweets or shares, as well as comments on online campaign posts.

The analysis found many parties using TikTok and Instagram to post brief introductions to their candidates.

Also common on the two platforms were posts by influencers, often youths, proclaiming support for a political party.

Many Perikatan Nasional supporters used the two platforms to post messages targeting Malay voters, explaining why the coalition was the best option, especially from a religious perspective.

@tamtz_ Kalau nk sangat kpd Amalan rasuah silakan #pru15#bijakmemilih Bangkit Pertahan - Soutul Amal

Celebrities are also a familiar sight in GE15 online campaigns, with a number expressing support for Barisan.

@pejuangumno_malaysia Kepada pengundi muda , pilih “BIRU ORIGINAL”. Bukan biru gelap #pru15 #barisannasional #umno #pru15tolakph #politikmalaysia original sound - Pejuang Umno

Barisan and Perikatan supporters widely shared Pakatan’s alleged failure to govern the country in its 22-month rule.

Twitter and Facebook were more popular options for posts aimed at giving a more detailed background on candidates.

On Twitter, some of the issues drawing lively debates were the alleged shortcomings of the government, corruption, cost of living, and the environment.

Also popular were posts on low salaries in Malaysia, public transport issues, and how the country handled the Covid-19 pandemic.

Perbandingan pic.twitter.com/kVTOHHMARo

— Amirudin Shari (@AmirudinShari) November 14, 2022

During the early part of campaigning, one of the top topics for Pakatan and its supporters especially on Twitter was the allegation that one vote for Barisan is equivalent to one vote for coalition chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to become prime minister.

This was followed by a wave of Barisan supporters denying the allegation and arguing that Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was the coalition’s candidate for prime minister if it wins GE15.

@thestarmalaysia #GE15 : Sg Buloh - toughest fight of my political career, says @khairykj original sound - The Star

On Nov 15, a wave of Pakatan supporters urged Malaysians not to vote for Perikatan, claiming that the coalition was willing to work with any party including Barisan after GE15.

The allegation was refuted by Perikatan chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan as well as Perikatan supporters online.

Tujuan Perikatan Nasional bertanding dalam PRU 15 adalah untuk membentuk kerajaan tanpa perlu bergabung dengan Barisan Nasional atau Pakatan Harapan. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/xSV0QoGXLX — Muhyiddin Yassin (@MuhyiddinYassin) November 15, 2022

A search using a social listening tool on 40 keywords such as #ge15, #Pru15, “party leader”, “PH candidate”, “PN supporter” and so on, generated a sample of 8,166 posts between Nov 5 and Nov 14.

The majority of mentions tracked were from Twitter (66.7%), followed by online news portal (17.46%), Facebook (6.12%), blogs (3.81%), forums (1.89%), Instagram (1.89%), and others (0.38%).

The following shows the top keywords and hashtags found in the posts:

Based on the keyword search, the following shows the top GE15 candidates on Twitter based on their influence score, which was measured by a social listening tool called Mention:

On Facebook, at least 1,735 political ads were run by various parties targeting voters during the campaigning period.

The following shows the top authors and Facebook pages based on the associated political parties:

The following shows the most shared or liked social media posts across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok from Nov 5 to Nov 13.

The following shows the top politicians based on the number of followers on each social media platform:

To encourage voters to return to their hometowns to vote, an initiative using the hashtag #carpoolge15 was also started by Twitter users earlier in October and continues to be used until now.

Those using the hashtag searched for others who are interested to carpool back to the same hometown or purchase bus or train tickets, where information on their place of departure, destination and dates were provided to help find a match.

For voters looking forward to vote tomorrow, check out the guide below on how to cast your ballot: