Although the electoral campaign will take place from August 8 to 17, according to the schedule published by the National Electoral Council (CNE), a communication battle is already taking place on digital platforms between candidates for different dignities.
Some more creative than others, there are proposals that seek to attack the adversary’s vulnerabilities, according to analysts. All the campaigns were advanced in the networks, in the middle of a debate to know how the CNE will control it.
Before explaining how communication is treated in the current electoral context, sociologist and former professor Humberto Chacón analyzes how the political scene is configured. According to his hypothesis, there are two candidates who, from his perspective, would be out of the electoral battle: Bolívar Armijos and Daniel Noboa. He sees a medium-term interest in them to intervene in future electoral processes.
Then, he observes a group of five candidates who, according to his analysis, intend to force a second round; They are: Yaku Pérez, Fernando Villavicencio, Otto Sonnenholzner, Jan Topic and Xavier Hervas.
Chacón classifies the Citizen Revolution movement as the party that aims to resolve the electoral contest in a single round.
In this framework, explains the political analyst, from the communicative point of view, the five opponents of correísmo seek to violate the weaknesses of the candidate Luisa Gozález. “Through an agreement or an implicit or explicit plan… I couldn’t say… it is intended to show the fragility of list 5”, comments Chacón.
So, the messages are worked from this vision. Villavicencio, from the denunciation of acts of corruption; Topic, denoting that insecurity is not a current problem and that it has been dragging on since the days of Correa. Meanwhile, Hervas, also from the acts of corruption; and, Pérez from from natural resources. All embodied from the digital communicative discourse.
The only one, Chacón points out, who does not affect anyone and does not allow himself to be affected, is Otto Sonnenholzner, the candidate who, very likely, would be the “cornerstone of the correista opposition.” This candidate, according to Chacón, has taken care in his message, although he has been the only one who has directly expressed that he will reach the second round.
Bells
The communication work developed by the Citizen Revolution stands out. “Without a doubt, turning the negative into a positive has been one of the great achievements of this movement,” he mentions. This when referring to the proposal in networks, massified by correísmo, in which the image of a sheep is used to show everything that was achieved during the Government of Rafael Correa and that is trying to be recovered now.
Chacón describes the communication proposal as creative and ingenious and “I think it has been successful”. Additionally, he recalls that one of the values that this political force preserves is the organization of its structure on a national scale. Thanks to this, the proposal has weight and impact.
Another of the achievements in communicative content, the analyst details, is the recovery of joy, adapting rhythms such as cumbia and songs like ‘Chonera Linda’ to their spots, due to the candidate’s (Luisa González) origins from Manabita”, highlights Chacon. (FCS)-(I)
“Far from reality”
The sociologist Patricio Carpio assures that in terms of communication, political groups have not understood the current moment in which the country is experiencing and “develop speeches out of context.” The hypothesis that he handles is that everyone is already in the electoral campaign and their niche is social networks. However, he believes that the networks have reached their ceiling to the extent that the needs of the people do not match what the candidates offer. He points out that Pérez, González and Sonnenholzner, among others who are already campaigning, are the ones with the greatest acceptance in relation to the rest of the candidates for the Presidency. For Carpio, it is key that the candidates are clear about how to begin to solve the country’s problems in the 18 months of their functions, and that reflect this in their messages. (YO)