Political communication of the candidates on social networks in 2019-2020 croatian presidential election

Abstract

The rise of “candidate-centered politics” has influenced a change in communication strategies of politicians who are increasingly using privatisation techniques to get closer to their voters. Social media have proven to be an ideal channel for “softening” their images. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether, and to what extent, the candidates used social media for privatization, i.e., personalization of politics, in the 2019-2020 Croatian presidential election. Using the content analysis method, researchers discovered that the candidates significantly used privatization techniques on social media to present themselves as “one of us”. The winner of the election was Zoran Milanović, who led a completely personalized campaign in which he emphasized rather frequently his distinctive character and his personal characteristics.