KIRGIZİSTAN 2011 CUMHURBAŞKANLIĞI SEÇİM KAMPANYALARININ YÜRÜTÜLMESİNDE SOSYAL MEDYANIN ÖNEMİ
THE ROLE OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN KYRGYZSTAN’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN IN 2011

Summary/Abstract: Kyrgyzstan is the first and only country among the independent post-Soviet Turkic republics, which was called “Island of Democracy” and in two decades four different presidents took the office. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Kyrgyzstan gained independence and in 2011 for the first time there were more than 80 candidates who wanted to participate in the presidential election. It means that there was a big competition among the contenders for achieving voters’ trust, support and votes. Therefore candidates had to apply all methods to enhance their impact and the efficiency of their election campaign. This paper explores Kyrgyzstan’s last Presidential Elections, Network Society, Social Media position and new methods to attract audience by election campaign. The personal blogs of contenders will be examined. A special emphasis will be paid on political parties’ leaders promises to voters, whether political parties were able to organize creative election campaigns, the similarities and differences in election communication, the coherence of the party identity, image of the leader, the party program, and political and ideological structure of the party, which will be analyzed according to their brand identities. The research will be conducted through the application of qualitative methodology.

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