Even those who don't know how to use the World Wide Web know that with the help of the internet, one can win an election, like Barack Obama did. Whether Prykarpattia politicians have followed Obama in the fight for voters, an e-marketing specialist, Head of the Union of Young Political Scientists of Ukraine Andrii Famuha helped OPORA to explore.
Prykarpattia candidates for People's Deputies keep using traditional and proven over time campaigning means while neglecting the world No.1 tool — the internet. When almost every politician in the capital has his own website, only six in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast can boast a personal website. 21 persons of 99 registered candidates in the oblast are represented on the internet. Most of them have profiles in Vkontakte and Facebook though not everyone understands why they created them. The rest of Prykarpattia candidates generally ignore the web.
Candidates running in Ivano-Frankivsk, Kolomyia, and Kalush are the most active as they understand that many of their potential voters use internet. The further you go "into the mountains", the more closed and cost-cutting of resources there is. Obviously, candidates think dim villagers won't look them up on the internet. Surprisingly, in the age of internet, candidates spend a huge amount of money at billboard rental, advertising in the media, and printing leaflets but can't allocate 2-3 thousand of hryvnias to create their own website. It is likely that candidates don't have websites due to low professionalism of their assistants and headquarters employees, who make little of the work on the internet.
For a politician, a personal website is an effective way to tell about himself and keep in touch with his supporters. If a candidate has a website a voter will easily find his biography and information on the activities, go through the election programme, and so on. Having a website indicates openness to the society. From this point of view, almost all Prykarpattia candidates are "closed" to a voter. Viktor Anushkevychus, Vyacheslav Kredisov, Bohdan Hdychynskyi, Yurii Derevyanko, Oleksandr Shevchenko, and Oleksandr Levytskyi have their own websites.
The websites of Mr Anushkevychus and Mr Hdychynskyi are currently not working. Anushkevychus has a profile on VKontakte, and has recently registered a profile on Facebook. His only activity on Facebook these days was the appearance a picture. Why Anushkevychus needs this profile remains unclear since his author doesn't comment or post anything, or add any friends.
The website of Levytskyi has been launched recently. Only a few news and a biography — a voter is not spoilt with interesting information. Instead, the websites of Yurii Derevyanko and Oleksandr Shevchenko amuse by their professionalism, accessibility, and quality of information. Voters will find everything they are interested in, and, considering the quantity of news, will be able to imagine that it is not that easy for a candidates before the election. The website of Shevchenko is the most balanced and pleasant looking. Though the website has appeared recently, it is already filled with information and is interesting to the reader. The website of Vyacheslav Kredisov is significantly weaker but still gives some idea of the candidate's work in the district.
Oleksandr Levytskyi, at first glance, seems the most progressive candidate on the internet: he has a Vkontakte profile with an impressive amount of friends — 1085, a Vkontakte page, and a less active profile on Facebook. 'All this looks like social media promotion ordered as a package at one of the online companies. A close analysis reveals that most of the friends on Vkontakte are from other oblasts and have nothing to do with Ivano-Frankivsk. Looks like bought friends, the amount of which is being increased to tick the box,' Andrii Farmuha notes.
Kredisov's profile on Facebook is an interesting example of promoting a certain image. On several pictures, Kredisov is holding a girl in a swimsuit high in his outstretched arms. Unusual for a candidate for People's Deputy. 'I think these pictures were posted there deliberately,' Andrii Farmuha notes. 'It indicates he is a human. If others can post pictures with girls in swimsuits why a candidate can't? Probably, he is building himself the image of "an ordinary person". The candidate also has an active profile on Vkontakte.
Oleksandr Kohut is thoroughly promoting himself on the website of the youth organisation of the Party of Regions. Hence, both the party brand and the image of a certain person are improved. This works on people who support a certain party, therefore will be ready to support its candidates,' Mr Farmuha says. To improve the image, Kohut personally works on his profile on Vkontakte, and has also recently created another profile on Facebook. In the previous profile, he appeared as "Sasha Kohut", and in the new one — the candidate one — as Oleksandr. Kohut also has a page on Vkontakte "I vote for Kohut" but there are only 26 people there. Probably, the headquarters staff and his inner circle.
For the representatives of UDAR and Svoboda, the use of regional and national party resources are typical for self-promotion. Indeed, the candidates of Svoboda post information about themselves on the party's website, and UDAR has a regional page on Facebook where posts both party information and personal information from the candidates. 'Hence, they are killing two birds with one stone — saving funds and campaigning both for the party and for certain candidates who are running on the list. This is bad because the information on the party and the candidate goes through one channel — the party information prevails and blurs a candidate's image,' the e-marketing specialist emphasises.
Oleksandr Sych is actively and thoroughly promoting himself on Svoboda website. After the recent scandal on the internet, the posts on the website are of a more neutral nature, and the name of Oleksandr Sych rarely makes the headlines. Let us remind that in one of the Facebook groups, Oleksandr Sych was blamed that all the notices on the main page started with the following words — 'The Head of the Oblast Council Oleksandr Sych', and further — congratulated, wished, met etc. Mr Sych deserves a complement for not ignoring comments of the users and responded to it quite quickly. Oleksandr Sych has been present on Facebook for a while where he has a record amount of friends — 1472. Mr Sych is one of the most active FB users among the local candidates. He often posted interesting political news adding his own comment. However, during the election, his activity has dropped significantly. Maybe, it is the lack of time. Or, maybe, Mr Sych has distanced himself from the internet not to respond to negative comments that recently burst down Svoboda. One way or another, now Oleksandr Sych doesn't consider Facebook as an opportunity to win extra votes.
The member of UDAR Volodymyr Chornous can boast high activity in the social media. He has a profile on Vkontakte, works with it personally but doesn’t aim at making the profile a channel of communication with voters. Mr Chornous has been actively working on Facebook for a while, in particular — by posting the party news. Another member of UDAR — Taras Parfan, is also active on FB; he participates in discussions and reposts information. The members of UDAR, apparently, follow the party strategy on work on the internet — repost all the news on the party and like absolutely every page of UDAR in social media.
Taras Bodnar uses the website of the Call of the Nation (Poklyk Natsiyi) for PR. Mr Bodnar has started a profile on Vkontakte rather for personal purposes. When on Facebook Mr Bodnar is one of the champions among Prykarpattia candidates. He has 1033 friends. He actively publishes news, and comments and posts information that interests him personally. On Mr Bodnar's profile on FB, there is information that he is a candidate but the profile has been created long before the election and is rarely used as a means of campaigning.
Oleksandr Shevchenko, among all the social media, prefers Facebook. He has joined it long ago and always demonstrated high activity. Recently, a public page — YaShevchenko UA — has also appeared on Facebook. 'It was created by professionals since he is the only candidate who has a public page, and the only one using apps — separate pages, in this case with the election programme and biography,' notes Farmuha. 'Despite the most professional, in my opinion, approach to the promotion of his own brand on the internet, Shevchenko lacks one more component of the perfect e-marketing — tracking negative information flows against him and responding to them.
Among the most active candidates on the internet, there is also Mykola Zelinskyi. He has an interesting and filled page on Facebook. However, he shouldn't waste words. Recently, at a press conference, Zelinskyi announced he would raise money for the election campaign through social networks but, at the moment, there is no information how to do it.
Petro Shkutiak has quite a strange relationship with the internet. He has been active on Facebook for a long time. However, Shkutiak is the only candidate who carries out almost no campaigning on Facebook at all when having 1415 friends. He has acquired almost all the friends before the election. Perhaps, Petro Shkutiak simply understands that the election will soon be over, and he shouldn't alienate friends by the politics?
Candidates who started profiles in social networks for the election include Valerii Kelestyn, Anatolii Dyriv, Manolii Pitsuriak, and Yurii Derevyanko. The profiles on Facebook were registered mainly in August and aren't that active. Olha Sikora and Yurii Nyzhnyk don't even respond to friend requests on Facebook; Volodymyr Herheliuk and Volodymyr Hrabovetskyi are also not that active. The latter posts information about himself on the website of Yurii Derevyanko Fund. Derevyanko also doesn't accept friend requests on Facebook; the profile, apparently, has been created for the election. It is either candidates have no time for virtual campaigning, or a profile is led by unprofessional staff who don't understand at all why this profile is necessary. Mykola Paliichuk promotes himself on the website of his own fund completely having abandoned his profile on Facebook.
The above listed candidates are positive exceptions against the backdrop of the less progressive ones. Most of Prykarpattia candidates ignore a huge army of voters not working with them over the internet. And those present on the internet don't always do that correctly. However, if a candidate is not on the internet it doesn't mean he is not discussed there.
Nataliia Holomidova
Reference:
Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing violations through comprehensive civic action. Professional monitoring at all stages of the election process indirectly influences the quality of the campaign. The public opinion, both foreign and domestic is formed through gathering and spreading of information among the target audience.
From a strategic perspective public monitoring of elections focuses upon improving the system and certain procedures.
In 2012, during Parliamentary elections in Ukraine OPORA is carrying out a large-scale campaign of long- and short term observation, organizing a statistical vote-count by the results of voting with the proportional component of the electoral system on a basis of representative selection, will provide 100% coverage of polling stations by observers in separate single-mandate majoritarian districts. OPORA observers will work in all 225 electoral districts, and 3,500 activists will join them on the voting day. Organization will use the latest means of spreading information on observation results, including infographics and interactive maps.