Politicians take 2015 campaign to social media

Feb 16, 2015 News

By: Kiana Wilburg

Forget the humdrum roadside meetings, radio programmes and television advertisements. Political candidates in the 2015 election campaign are turning even more to social media to whip up supporters and bash their opponents.
Take the Facebook page of Education Minister, Priya Manickchand. This politician does a fine job at making posts that are informative. But just recently, she certainly made known, her views on what the recent APNU-AFC ‘marriage’ truly reflects.
Nonetheless, several politicians have unanimously agreed that the social media platform is not only powerful but extremely useful. And its followers, both young and old, are hungry for every possible development they post online.
The power of social media is as such, that a breaking event can occur within the hour and it is guaranteed that some politicians will post his or her views on sites, the most popular being Facebook.

One of Opposition Leader David Granger’s Facebook profiles

Indeed, information in social media is like ripples in a small pool, it’s only a matter of minutes before millions of its users are aware of it.
Politicians also agree that this tool has been helpful as well in increasing their relationships with the electorate. And it has already been pronounced that the opposition parties at least, will be taking their election campaign to the online world like never before for the May 11 polls.
Presidential Candidate of the APNU-AFC prodemocracy alliance, David Granger, has several profiles on Facebook.
Granger told Kaieteur News that the APNU would be using social media during this election period, but stressed that it is waging a positive campaign.
The Opposition leader said that his coalition would definitely be distancing itself from negativity. Instead, the APNU-AFC coalition he said would be emphasizing “the good life” online for all Guyanese among other initiatives, such as sharing its policies and its plan for improving the lives of the internet-savvy electorate.
“We are not going to go into dirty politics and we will be using it more intensely to explain how we are going to transform people’s lives. We are to launch soon and after that you will see a change in the tempo,” the politician asserted.
The Leader of the newly married APNU-AFC pre-election alliance admitted that his online profile has also been used to not only target supporters but render criticisms on the current administration.

Facebook profile of Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand

“We have been able to use it to criticize and we have been able to use it to get supporters. There is a much greater penetration of phones and internet access via those means in hinterland areas. I was surprised that in the Rupununi, there is a huge Digicel connection there and people have cell phones and internet access and it has vastly improved from what I saw in 2011.
“We stay in touch through social media and it has been very effective in getting our message out to them since that development. Social media really is an extremely effective way in improving the relationships and connections you have with the electorate. It is changing the way we engage the nation in political discourse,” Granger added.
His Prime Ministerial Candidate, Moses Nagamootoo, has been more brutally vocal on his own Facebook profile.
Nagamotoo told Kaieteur News that social media is there for everyone to access and it could be helpful but at the same time harmful. The lawyer asserted that it depends, however, on how it is being used and by whom.
He was not the least bit afraid to express how he relishes utilizing the medium to engage with “faithful fans” and new supporters.
Nagamootoo said that it is an additional dimension for expression and it is part and parcel of supporting the human need to articulate one’s emotions and feelings. This he said, is particularly significant when one considers that Guyanese live in a country where the state media and radio are held closely to the government’s bosom.
He noted too, that the social media is being abused by some politicians who are quite aware that there are no laws to regulate it in Guyana. He then urged that in the lead up to the May 11 polls, politicians from either side of the fence engage in peaceful debates via social media and refrain from using it to promote “gutter-politics.”

AFC Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo Facebook profile

“Criticize if you must, but don’t use the social media for personal attacks. I believe the morality we have as Guyanese in public life must now be seen in social media,” he added.
The Alliance For Change (AFC) Vice Chairman believes too, that social media offers politicians an immense platform to share ideas, values, visions and dreams for a better country.
He stated that the AFC would be maximizing the potentials of the social media stage due to its own limited access to state media.
The politician posited that the online medium has been a successful tool in increasing its support base and in engaging the electorate at a more personal level whenever an issue arises.
In citing one of his Facebook experiences which turned out for the better, Nagamootoo recounted that there were some users who started off attacking him.
In the most crude and offensive language, some users, he said, accused him of being a “sell out” to the AFC for interacting with the APNU. But after continued discourse with these very persons, he said he was successful in opening up their perspective in seeing that it is not about race, but rather about policies and joining forces with those who have the nation’s best interest at heart. Nagamootoo said he was pleased to know that he was able to convince those users that “talking of sell-out” would only serve to deepen the wounds of division.
“So the social media certainly helps in ensuring that we take our vision to a wider audience and even in affecting and reaching out to the younger generation. It is cost effective as opposed to traditional methods,” he concluded.