Internal democracy of political parties in the age of political communication
2.0: the case of the 2018 primary elections of the Partido Popular
La democracia interna de los partidos en la era de la comunicación política 2.0:
el caso de las primarias del partido popular de 2018
doxa.comunicación |
nº 35, pp. 39-58
| 59
July-December of 2022
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
How to cite this article:
Pérez-Gabaldón, M. and Nicasio-Varea, B. (2022). Internal democracy of political parties in the age of political communication 2.0: the case of
the 2018 primary elections of the Partido Popular.
Doxa Comunicación
, 35, pp. 59-81.
https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n35a1618
Marta Pérez Gabaldón
. Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Administration (2008, Extraordinary Award), and a
PhD from UCH-CEU (2012, Extraordinary Award). She is a graduate of Law (UNED, 2018). In addition to being an active
member of several research projects, she has published articles in indexed journals, book chapters for Q1 publications
in SPI, and two monographs, in addition to having coordinated three collective works for Q1 publications. Her research
has focused on intergovernmental relations, environmental policy, public transparency, and political communication.
Moreover, she has won several awards, such as the
Les Corts Valencianes Prize
for the best paper presented at Valencian
universities in 2010, and the
Ángel Herrera
Award for the best work in the eld of Social Sciences in 2019. She is currently
an assistant professor (accredited by
AVAP
), who imparts classes in both Law and Political Science, and she is also the
Academic Secretary of the Faculty of Law, Business and Political Science at UCH-CEU.
Cardenal Herrera-CEU University, CEU Universities, Spain
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-5734-0207
Blanca Nicasio Varea
. Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science (2009), and a second BA in Journalism (2010). PhD Cum
Laude and Extraordinary Doctorate Award (2017), conferred by the University of Cardenal Herrera-CEU. From 2015 to
2018, she worked as a parliamentary assistant in
Les Corts Valencianes
(Valencian Regional Courts), as well as in the
European Parliament. She currently works as a professor of Political Science at UCH-CEU University. Moreover, she
has published several articles in academic journals related to Marketing 2.0 in the Valencian Autonomous Region: in
the primary elections of this region, the campaign entitled
Campañas 2.0 de la Coalició Compromís y Ciutadans
was
published as a case study in the journal
Ámbitos Revista Internacional de Comunicación
; another article, “
Comunicación
Parlamentaria 2.0: El Debate de la Moción de Censura en Twitter
” (Parliamentary Communication 2.0: e debate on the
Motion of No Condence in Twitter), appeared in the journal
MH Communication
. She has also published book chapters
and coordinated collective works, an example of which is
La Regeneración del Sistema: reexiones en torno a la Calidad
Democrática, el Buen Gobierno y la Lucha contra la Corrupción
(Regenerating the System: Reections on Democratic
Quality, Good Governance, and the Fight against Corruption) (
Olelibros
, 2015), and
Defender la Democracia. Studies on
Democratic Quality, Good Governance and the Fight against Corruption
(Tirant lo Blanch, 2019).
Cardenal Herrera-CEU University, CEU Universities, Spain
[email protected]
ORCID:0000-0002-6210-242X
Abstract:
In the summer of 2018, the Popular Party
(Spanish: Partido Popular,
PP
) held its rst national primaries to elect its president. is study
aims to analyse, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the Twitter
campaign of the two main candidates in the two stages of this process
Resumen:
En verano de 2018, el Partido Popular celebró sus primeras primarias a
nivel nacional para elegir a su presidente. El presente estudio tiene como
objeto el análisis, tanto cuantitativo como cualitativo, de la campaña
en Twitter de los dos principales candidatos en las dos etapas de dicho
Received: 03/02/2022 - Accepted: 23/05/2022 - Early access: 09/06/2022 - Published: 01/07/2022
Recibido: 03/02/2022 - Aceptado: 23/05/2022 - En edición: 09/06/2022 - Publicado: 01/07/2022
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1. Introduction
1.1. e importance of primary elections as an instrument of political participation
In recent years, numerous phenomena have taken place in Spain that have called into question the permanence of some of the
classic parameters of democracy. Some of them, including deliberation, citizen representation, the separation and independence
of public powers, and the accountability to citizens of those in power, are fundamental in guaranteeing the legitimacy of the
current political system (Torcal and Christmann, 2020; Coller et al., 2019; González de la Garza, 2018; Rodríguez, 2015; Aznar and
Pérez, 2014; Villoria, 2011; Rosanvallon, 2009 Cohen, 2007; O’Donnell, 2004; among others). Likewise, the assessment of political
parties by citizens has deteriorated considerably (Torcal, 2008). e retrospective opinion of citizens reveals that parties have
turned their backs on society (Maravall, 2013) and left the areas of interaction with citizens desolate (Mair, 2008).
is crisis of political parties has been widely addressed in the literature. ere is a widespread theory that states that part of the
transformations that parties are undergoing result from the crisis of the democratic system to a large extent (Vargas, 1988). Some
authors speak of a “gradual process of deterioration” of democratic quality that has been taking place over the last two decades
(Ruiz and Bovero, 2005, p. 57), resulting from the abuse of their dominant position (Garrido, 2017). is is an unprecedented
crisis of legitimacy, which has generated an obvious disconnection with the rank and le members of political parties. Moreover,
this has not gone unnoticed by citizens (Garrido, 2017), as evidenced by successive opinion polls carried out by the
Centro de
Investigaciones Sociológicas
(
CIS
). As a result, parties have been forced to seek new ways to carry out participation (Di Palma,
1970, p. 30), and to reconsider their structure, model and internal selection process (Conde, 2019).
However, a decline in trust in institutions (Torcal, 2006) does not necessarily have to be negative, nor a bad omen. In the long
run, it may provide a kind of incentive to improve the system by establishing “new, more demanding criteria for assessing the
performance of government” (Inglehart, 1998, p. 392). In other words, “a certain degree of mistrust may be a necessary condition
for democratic quality” (Llera, 2014, p. 197), as it creates niches of opportunity for the implementation of measures aimed at
enhancing democratic standards (Gómez and Navarro, 2019).
of internal democracy: from 23 June to 5 July, and from 6 to 21 July.
e results show that social networks are a necessary instrument
in candidates’ political communication strategy, as they encourage
citizen participation and instant communication, and they allow
interaction as well. Nevertheless, the ndings also point out that this
social network has not fully capitalized on its potential, as the one-way
transmission of content has taken centre stage.
Keywords:
Twitter; internal democracy; primaries;
Partido Popular
; political
communication.
proceso de democracia interna: del 23 de junio al 5 de julio, y del 6 y al
21 de julio. Los resultados demuestran cómo las redes sociales son un
instrumento necesario en la estrategia de comunicación política de los
candidatos al favorecer la participación ciudadana y la comunicación
instantánea, así como también posibilitando la interacción. No obstan
-
te, también evidencian un desaprovechamiento del potencial que tiene
la red social al prevalecer la transmisión unidireccional de contenidos.
Palabras clave:
Twitter; democracia interna; primarias; Partido Popular; comunica
-
ción política.
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e need for internal democracy in political groupings has been present since the emergence of large-scale, mass parties (Vírgala,
2015). In the Spanish political system, reconsidering the selection of the elite, as well as the conguration of the internal party
structure, took place at the end of the 20th century (Pérez, 2012). In 1998, the rst primary elections in Spain were held within
the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (
Partido Socialista Obrero Español
[
PSOE
], in Spanish). is represented a breakthrough for
participatory democracy in this country by placing an important decision in the hands of the rank and le members of a political
party. It also started a debate in the media about “the legitimacy of the process, as well as the problems it generated, and whether
the process should be restricted to party members only or open to all citizens, and most importantly, the erosion that it might
produce within the party” (Conde, 2019, p. 194).
From that moment on, there were primaries at the national, regional and/or local levels to designate the leaders and/or heads of
lists of dierent political formations that competed in successive elections (Rodríguez et al., 2010). It was in 2015 when a turning
point occurred for two reasons. On the one hand, after “the implosion of the party system” (Giménez, 2019, p.23), the holding
of general elections in that year meant the institutional entry of parties whose essence consisted of renewing democracy and
transparency, as well as greater political participation in the decision-making process. Among their slogans, one that stands
out refers to the need for internal democracy and the role of rank and le members in determining the candidates who assume
positions of leadership in representing the party. On the other hand, traditional parties felt obligated to employ strategies in order
to adapt to the new circumstances (Rodríguez et al., 2010), due to the crisis of legitimacy. ey also had to confront disaection in
order to meet the new standards of transparency and participation set by the nascent political formations, which viewed internal
party democracy as an eective way of increasing democracy in general (Maravall, 2013).
Most political groupings with parliamentary representation have introduced primaries for the election of their leaders. is has
increased the participation of party members in the decision-making process regarding the organisation and structure of parties,
thereby increasing credibility and renewed interest in the political system (Haro, 1992).
With regard to this candidate selection model, this doctrine has become an eective way of measuring the democratisation of
political parties (Garrido, 2017), as well as a valuable instrument for resolving the dicult process of replacing political leaders
(Boix, 1998). However, experience has revealed some drawbacks with primary elections. Among them, the literature shows that
primaries might be construed as a sign of the inability to govern, or a sign of political opportunism on the part of their leaders, or
possibly even a contradiction by presenting divergent internal positions. ey might also lead to excessive fragmentation, thereby
weakening intra-party cohesion. Primary elections might also foster rivalries among diverse political trends, solidify conicts
hidden from the public, and highlight the dierences between the political promises made to party members and voters (Conde,
2019; Blanco Valdés, 2016; Maravall, 2013; Boix, 1998; Haro, 1992).
Nevertheless, the empirical reality shows the importance of primary elections in the selection of candidates, bearing two issues
in mind. On the one hand, continued work is needed to improve the functioning of these processes in order to guarantee the
participation of citizens in their diverse roles (Ignazi, 2021). On the other hand, progress must be made toward a more complex,
nuanced political culture (Innerarity, 2019), which could mitigate the problems derived from these primary elections. e
question is whether or not primaries are the most appropriate way to generate more plurality and give greater relevance to those
represented (Boix, 1998). In view of this situation, one can arm that although primaries have become a nearly inescapable
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requirement, they should not be considered the only way to specically improve the quality of internal party democracy, nor the
democratic quality of the system in general. Otherwise, disaection with politics and threats to the democratic system are likely
to remain or worsen in the future, even if the reasons for this may change (Innerarity, 2002; Sartori et al., 1999).
1.2. Primary elections of the Partido Popular in the era of political communication 2.0
Society is increasingly aware of the importance of strengthening internal party democracy, and the way in which primary
elections can contribute to this aim. However, citizens have little knowledge about the selection instruments used by parties,
other than the rules contained in their statutes (Coller et al., 2019; Cordero and Coller, 2015). e statutes include the existence
of closed primaries (such is the case with
PSOE
and
Ciudadanos
), in which party members choose the candidates for public
positions through a vote that is direct, free, and condential. ey also include open primaries (such is the case with
Compromís
and
Podemos
), which are those in which any citizen, aliated or not, who is a registered voter can participate in the designation
of candidates.
e
Partido Popular
has decided to hold closed primaries in accordance with articles 31 and 32 of the National Statutes of the
Party, approved at the XVIII National Congress held in February 2017 in Madrid, in both the Regulatory Guidelines of Congresses
as well as the Regulations for the XIX Extraordinary National Congress of the
Partido Popula
r. us, according to the agreement
adopted on 11 June 2018 by the National Board of Directors, the XIX National Congress of the
Partido Popular
was held as an
extraordinary event in Madrid on 20-21 July of 2018.
Its mission was to elect the president of the Party, who would consequently be the candidate who might be selected and sworn
in by Congress as President of the Government after the subsequent general elections. To this end, the nomination period for
candidates was opened at 12 noon on the 18
th
of June. ose eligible to apply included all of those who had been members for
at least the past 12 months and were up-to-date on payment of their membership fees, and who had the support of at least 100
members in full use of their rights. Six party leaders presented their candidacy to the Congress Organising Committee before
2 p.m. on 20 June: Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, Pablo Casado, María Dolores de Cospedal, José Manuel García Margallo, José
Ramón García Hernández, and Elio Cabanes. Finally, after José Luis Bayo’s candidacy was ruled out due to an error with the
endorsements, the candidates for the party’s presidency were ocially proclaimed on 22 June, and the internal election campaign
began.
e campaign ran from 23 June to 4 July, with the rst round of voting taking place on 5 July with an 86% turnout. All party
members who had registered to vote by 25 June were able to participate in the vote. e results were as follows: Sáenz de
Santamaría obtained 37.03 % of the vote; Casado, 34.36 %; Cospedal, 25.97 %; García Margallo, 1.17 %; García Hernández, 1.15 %;
and Cabanes had 0.32 %.
None of the candidates obtained at least 50 % of the votes in the rst ballot, nor had anyone kept a distance of at least 15 points
from the other contenders nor obtained an absolute majority in at least half of the sixty electoral constituencies.
us, under the terms established by article 16.9 of the Framework Regulations for Congresses, the two candidates who received
the most votes, Sáenz de Santamaría and Casado, were proclaimed the nal two candidates. Both had to undergo a new vote in
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order to obtain the support of the 3,082 delegates
1
during the Congress held on 20 and 21 July of 2018. Finally, in the second vote,
Casado emerged victorious with 1,701 (57.2 %) of the 2,973 votes cast, 451 more than Sáenz de Santamaría.
is type of primary chosen by the
Partido Popular
is part of the dynamics of the relationship between members and the party’s
governing bodies, according to which “it is not a question of transferring part of the decision regarding candidates to the citizens
as a whole, but of democratising as much as possible how the decision-making process is carried out within the party itself,
and of strengthening members’ rights” (Giménez, 2014: 219). Clearly, the PP considers this to be a highly signicant, relevant
internal process. rough these primary elections, the party displays an image of internal democracy and transparency, both
ad
intra
(inside) and
ad extra
(outside), thereby providing itself with leadership that arises from the will of the party’s rank and le
members.
To emphasise this image, the use of social networks was a crucial element in connecting with the aliated voters (and with the
delegates in the second round), in order to achieve broad participation. One of the main aspects of elections within political
parties is the communication strategy, which must ensure the participation of party members and supporters. Along these lines,
in recent years social networks have been consolidated as fundamental instruments of political communication, both in electoral
and primary campaigns, and in all other political processes as well (Marcos, et al., 2021; González, et al, 2020; Bustos and Ruiz,
2019; Campos-Domínguez, 2017; Vázquez, 2017; Quevedo et al., 2016; López, 2016; López et al., 2016; García, 2016; Gamir, 2016;
Machado and Capdevila, 2016; Sampedro et al., 2013; Abejón et al., 2012; Barberá and Rivero, 2012; Izquierdo, 2012; Congosto et
al., 2011; Castells, 2010, among others).
eir use as a weapon for political action, or as a means for politicians and institutions to establish a connection with citizens, is
no longer a mere possibility for the future, but an undisputed reality at the present time (Vallespín, 2011). is is due to the fact
that social networks are used as an open, fast, eective, horizontal, two-way channel for communication and the dissemination of
information, in order to make sure the message arrives to the voters-users with hardly any mediation or access barriers. ey also
stand out for enabling self-promotion and the viralisation of messages adjusted to the needs of the candidates in the campaign
(Galán-García, 2017). During this type of electoral period, Twitter is a key dissemination channel both for “publicising electoral
programmes and promises made by candidates” (Simón, 2019, p. 79), and for criticising political opponents as well (Conde, 2019;
Moue, 2010; Boix, 1998), in order to obtain the support of voters.
At the same time, in today’s networked society (Castells, 2006, 2000), the percentage of the audience that consumes content from
diverse platforms is increasing, leaving behind the usual way of obtaining political or other information (Pérez et al., 2017). is
is due to the plethora of opportunities oered by ICT for interaction and conversation, with party members and supporters being
co-participants in more deliberative politics (Steenbergen et al., 2003). Aliates or members of political organisations comprise
a public that is active and informed, with a penchant for participation (Bustos and Ruiz, 2019; Sampedro and Resina, 2010). As a
consequence of this situation, the development of electoral processes on the Internet provides tools that allow users to go beyond
mediatised political discourse toward a narrative that is more innovative and based on interaction and the in-depth analysis of
issues (Machado and Capdevila, 2016).
1
e National Congress shall be constituted, according to the provisions of the Statutes, by the long-standing as well as the elected delegates. e latter will number
2,612 –40 to the Party abroad and 10 to the Organising Commission, by virtue of the agreement adopted by the National Board of Directors on 11 June 2018.
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us, the revitalising eorts of political parties as a result of introducing primary elections into their way of proceeding and
organising themselves has increased with the transfer of these electoral processes to social media. ese are the spaces where
network democracy (Sampedro et al., 2013) or democracy 2.0 (Caldevilla, 2009) takes place. Social networks also allow more
citizen involvement in political decisions through new types of participation (Sánchez, 2014). us, since 2016, Twitter has been
eectively and eciently integrated into the communication strategies of political parties and the candidates themselves (Lee
and Lim, 2016). On the other hand, the opportunities oered by the Internet are not being fully exploited, given the scarce or
even non-existent interaction between politicians and their voters. With some exceptions, the use of Twitter as a traditional
communication platform has prevailed, yet with the predomination of one-way transmission of content, in practice (Renobell,
2021; Zugasti and Pérez, 2015; López et al., 2015; Criado et al., 2013; Grant et al., 2010). As a result, Twitter has not been used to
establish dialogue between candidates, but rather to generate
deaf
dialogues in the best of cases (López, 2016).
2. Methodology
Based on the foregoing context, the aim of this research is to analyse the use of communication on Twitter in the process of
democratisation that the celebration of primary elections represents for political parties. For this purpose, we have studied the
presence and activity on this social network of the two main candidates who competed in the
PP
primary elections in June and
July of 2018. Specically, we have examined the two stages of the process. e rst phase ran from 23 June to 5 July, with the latter
date being the day on which the two candidates with the most votes were chosen. e second phase was carried out from 6 to 21
July, and again, the latter date was the day on which the second vote took place during the party’s 19th Congress. In addition to
examining this entire scenario, we have not neglected to study interaction with citizens.
e study period was determined based on the deadlines established for the election of the party’s president, as stipulated in the
Regulations for the XIX Extraordinary National Congress of the
PP
, given the existence of more than two candidates, according to
the terms of article 11.c of the aforementioned Regulations.
e selection of the candidates to be studied was made by taking into account those who had passed the rst round of the primary
elections, and who competed in the second phase to be elected President of the party (Table 1).
Table 1. Results of the voting by party members in the rst round
Sáenz de Santamaría
21,513
Casado Blanco
19,967
De Cospedal
15,090
García Margallo
680
García Hernández
668
Cabanes Sanchís
85
Sources: prepared by the authors based on data published by the PP
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e following hypotheses have been set forth, based on research related to changes in political communication procedures in
connection with the development of Internet and social media, specically in general and primary elections.
–
H1: In terms of content of the messages, it is expected that the variable “proposals” will be the most used by the two candidates.
–
H2: It is foreseen that the messages framed in the variable “criticism” will be directed at members of other political parties. On
the other hand, we do not expect to nd messages critical of other candidates from their own party.
–
H3: Broad public participation is to be expected in response to the content published by the candidates.
–
H4: It is predicted that the 2.0 platform will be under-used as a tool to make the process of internal democracy visible during
the primary elections, as the candidates will mostly resort to one-way use of the channel.
In order to answer the hypotheses, a social research method based on content analysis of the political texts has been used. is
is considered an established technique for determining the positions of political parties and their leaders (Alonso, Gómez and
Volkens, 2012). e main objective pursued by content analysis is the structured representation of a large volume of data. Manual
coding of the data was also attempted which, broadly speaking, can be identied with the domain of qualitative techniques
(Navarro and Díaz, 1994). To this end, a qualitative analysis of the discourses has been carried out as well.
Content analysis of a political message involves making decisions related to the sample, the breakdown into coding units, and
the specic coding technique to be applied. In this regard, the sample is composed of 1,288 messages posted on Twitter in the
period under study.
Examination of each coding unit, which corresponds to every tweet that comprises the sample as a whole, has been carried out
on two levels; one quantitative, and the other qualitative. For the quantitative analysis of the period indicated above, the total
number of tweets and retweets on the proles of Casado and Sáenz de Santamaría were collected and counted manually. When
the candidates used the Twitter option that allowed them to retweet a message by adding a message of their own, these were
counted as their own tweets, due to the fact that by adding a comment they are generating their own content, which must be
analysed specically. Moreover, within the two candidates’ own messages, the total number of retweets, likes, and comments
were recorded in order to measure the degree of citizen interaction with the candidates.
With regard to the development of a classication chart, also called a coding system, the following codes or variables have been
established, in which the examined units of analysis have been classied as follows:
1
Information related to the primary election process (date and format of the ballot, procedural rules, etc.)
2
Information on campaign events
3
Call for participation and mobilisation to go to the polls
4
Active request to vote
5
Announcement of policy proposals
6
News headlines published in the media for the dissemination of interviews
7
Messages of support for the candidate from users
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8
Messages of support from the candidate to the political party
9
Messages of criticism
10
Other (messages that present content unrelated to the primary elections)
Of these units of analysis, one is pointed out after the message has been read in full, and in this way, they are mutually exclusive
variables
2
.
3. Results
3.1. Quantitative data analysis
After compiling the information, a total of 1,288 messages were obtained. Of these, 432 tweets were found on Sáenz de
Santamaría’s prole, and 856 on that of Casado. us, an initial assessment of the data shows more intensive use by the candidate
who ultimately won the party’s primary election, with 66.5 % of the total sample analysed.
Table 2. Number of messages published on the Twitter proles of Sáenz de Santamaría and Casado for the periods analysed
Total no. of tweets
RTs
Personal tweets
% Personal tweets
Avg. per day (of the total)
Saenz de Santamaría
26/06/2018–05/07/2018
20151150
74.62 %
20
06/07/2018–21/07/2018
23168163
70.56 %
14.4
TOTAL
432119313
Casado
26/06/2018–05/07/2018
394129265
67 %
39.4
06/072018–21/07/2018
462185277
60 %
28.8
TOTAL
856314542
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from
www.twitter.com
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When comparing the number of messages published by both candidates in the two periods analysed, it can be seen that Casado
continues to be the one with the greatest presence on the social network, both through his own tweets and retweets. In the
rst phase, Sáenz de Santamaría published 150 messages of her own and retweeted 51messages, while Casado published 265
messages of his own and retweeted 129. In the second phase, Sáenz de Santamaría published 163 of her own messages and
retweeted 68 times, compared to Casado with 277 tweets of his own and 185 retweets.
From the average number of messages published by each candidate per day in each period of the campaign, two observations
can be made. On the one hand, there is a trend toward greater intensity of average daily activity during the period from 26 June
to 5 July, during which time the competition included four other candidates who did not move on to the second round. On the
other hand, it can be seen that Casado is the one who maintains a higher average number of daily publications in both periods.
While Sáenz de Santamaría has an average of 20 daily messages in the rst period, compared to 14.4 in the second, Casado has an
average of 39.4 daily tweets in the rst phase, compared to 28.8 in the second period of the campaign.
e data show that the two cases analysed display a higher incidence of self-made messages in both periods. In the rst period,
Casado’s gure stands at 67%, and for Sáenz de Santamaría, the rate is 74.6%, while in the second period, the numbers are 60% in
Casado’s prole and 70.5% for that of Sáenz de Santamaría.
Chart 1. Total number of tweets and retweets in the rst period of the primaries
second round. On the other hand, it can be seen that Casado is the one who maintains a
higher average number of daily publications in both periods. While Sáenz de Santamaría
has an average of 20 daily messages in the first period, compared to 14.4 in the second,
Casado has an average of 39.4 daily tweets in the first phase, compared to 28.8 in the
second period of the campaign.
The data show that the two cases analysed
display
a higher incidence of self
-
made
messages
in both periods. In the first period,
Casado
’s figure stands at
67%,
and for Sáenz
de Santamaría
,
the rate is
74.6%
, while in the second period
,
the
numbers are 60% in
Casado's profile and 70.5% for that of Sáenz de Santamaría.
Chart
1:
Total number of tweets and retweets in the first period of the primaries
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from a
www.twitter.com
Chart
2:
Total number of tweets and retweets in the second period of the primaries
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from
www.twitter.com
ͳͷͲ
ʹͷ
ͷͳ
ͳʹͻ
Ͳ
ͷͲ
ͳͲͲ
ͳͷͲ
ʹͲͲ
ʹͷͲ
͵ͲͲ
± À
̵
ͳ͵
ʹ
ͺ
ͳͷ
Ͳ
ͷͲ
ͳͲͲ
ͳͷͲ
ʹͲͲ
ʹͷͲ
͵ͲͲ
À
̵
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from a
www.twitter.com
68
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ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
doxa.comunicación
Chart 2. Total number of tweets and retweets in the second period of the primaries
second round. On the other hand, it can be seen that Casado is the one who maintains a
higher average number of daily publications in both periods. While Sáenz de Santamaría
has an average of 20 daily messages in the first period, compared to 14.4 in the second,
Casado has an average of 39.4 daily tweets in the first phase, compared to 28.8 in the
second period of the campaign.
The data show that the two cases analysed
display
a higher incidence of self
-
made
messages
in both periods. In the first period,
Casado
’s figure stands at
67%,
and for Sáenz
de Santamaría
,
the rate is
74.6%
, while in the second period
,
the
numbers are 60% in
Casado's profile and 70.5% for that of Sáenz de Santamaría.
Chart
1:
Total number of tweets and retweets in the first period of the primaries
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from a
www.twitter.com
Chart
2:
Total number of tweets and retweets in the second period of the primaries
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from
www.twitter.com
ͳͷͲ
ʹͷ
ͷͳ
ͳʹͻ
Ͳ
ͷͲ
ͳͲͲ
ͳͷͲ
ʹͲͲ
ʹͷͲ
͵ͲͲ
± À
̵
ͳ͵
ʹ
ͺ
ͳͷ
Ͳ
ͷͲ
ͳͲͲ
ͳͷͲ
ʹͲͲ
ʹͷͲ
͵ͲͲ
À
̵
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from
www.twitter.com
3.2. Qualitative data analysis
By focusing attention on the predominant content of the messages published on the ocial Twitter proles of Casado and Sáenz
de Santamaría, a series of similarities and dierences can be observed in the prevailing issues of their discursive approaches
(Graphs 3 and 4). is highlights the discrepancies in their priorities and campaign strategy.
3.2.1. Qualitative results in the rst round of voting
During the period from 26 June to 5 July, when they were running alongside four other candidates, the predominant variable in the
tweets published by Casado was the presentation of proposals, while that of Sáenz de Santamaría was the promotion of campaign
events. Both variables reect the candidates’ interest in maintaining a close relationship with party members/voters, either by
presenting them with his proposals (in the case of Casado) or by referring to the campaign events in which these proposals would
be presented live (the case of Sáenz de Santamaría). e second variable that is most frequently used by Casado is that which
refers to campaign events, and the third most often used by Sáenz de Santamaría is that which makes reference to proposals.
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Chart 3. ematic content of the tweets published on the candidates’ proles during the rst campaign period –from 26/06 to 5/07–
3.2 Qualitative data analysis
By focusing attention on the predominant content of the messages published on the
official Twitter profiles of Casado and Sáenz de Santamaría, a series of similarities and
differences can be observed in the prevailing issues
of
their discursive approaches
(Gra
phs 3 and 4). This highlights the discrepancies in their priorities and campaign
strategy.
3.2.1. Qualitative results in the first round of voting
During the period from 26 June to 5 July, when they were running alongside four other
candidates, the predominant variable in the tweets published by Casado was the
presentation of proposals, while that of Sáenz de Santamaría was the promotion of
campaign events. Both variables reflect the candidates' interest in maintaining a close
relationship with party
members/v
oters, either by presenting them with
his
proposals (in
the case of Casado) or by referring to the campaign events in which these proposals would
be presented live (the case of Sáenz de Santamaría). The second variable that is most
frequently used by Casado is that which refers to campaign events, and the third most
often used by Sáenz de Santamaría is that which makes reference to
proposals.
Chart 3:
Thematic content of the tweets published on the candidates' profiles during the
first campaign period
–
from 26/06 to 5/07.
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from
www.twitter.com
Another variable that is important for both candidates is the one related to support, either
in reference to the backing received from third parties
,
or the candidate's own support for
the political agenda that he or she intends to lead after winning the primaries. As for the
support received from other users of the social network, it should be noted that this
variable is the second most frequently used by Sáenz de Santamaría and the third most
used by Casado.
ͷͲ
͵
Ͷ
ͳ͵
ʹͳ
ͶͶ
ʹͺ
ͳͺ
ͳʹ
ͳͲ͵
ͳ
ͳͳ
ͳ͵
ͳ͵͵
ͳʹ
ͷͻ
͵ʹ
ʹ͵
Ͳ
ʹͲ
ͶͲ
Ͳ
ͺͲ
ͳͲͲ
ͳʹͲ
ͳͶͲ
ȋ Ǥ
ǡ
ǡ
ǤȌ
ȋǡ
ǡ
ǤȌ
À
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from
www.twitter.com
Another variable that is important for both candidates is the one related to support, either in reference to the backing received from
third parties, or the candidate’s own support for the political agenda that he or she intends to lead after winning the primaries. As
for the support received from other users of the social network, it should be noted that this variable is the second most frequently
used by Sáenz de Santamaría and the third most used by Casado.
It is also important to note how the candidates make use of a feature provided by the microblogging network, which consists of
being able to retweet a message of other users by adding a comment of their own. Although it is true that in Casado’s case, it is
used much less frequently, both candidates use it in order to publicly show their gratitude to their followers and to achieve an
image of greater proximity between the candidates and potential voters.
With regard to the variable of support for the party, both give it considerable weight: it is the fourth most frequently used option
by Casado and the third most used by Sáenz de Santamaría. Regarding the variable relating to criticism, it holds fth place in
the two cases under study. As this is not a typical campaign in the sense that it pits two people from the same party against each
other, there is no proclivity for one candidate to criticize the other, but rather to denounce leaders of other political formations
and parties.
Finally, it is worth drawing attention to the scarce attention paid by both candidates in the rst round of the primaries to two
variables which,
a priori
, should be among the most used in the campaign period: the call for participation and the request for
people to vote.
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Internal democracy of political parties in the age of political communication 2.0: the case of the 2018 primary...
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3.2.2. Qualitative Results in the Second Round
During the period from 6 to 21 July, when only the two nal candidates in the sample under analysis were competing, a similar
pattern to that of the rst round was observed in the discourse of the candidates on the social network. e three most common
variables are those related to presenting proposals for the political project they are leading, the support they receive from other
users (especially those who will be delegates in the Congress on 21 July), and support for the political party they intend to lead.
Chart 4. ematic content of the tweets published on the candidates’ proles during the second period of the campaign –6/07 to 21/07–
It is also important to note how the candidates make use of a
feature
provided by the
microblogging network, which consists of being able to retweet
a
message of other users
by adding a comment of their own. Although it is true that in Casado's case
,
it is
use
d
much less frequent
ly
, both candidates use it in order to publicly show their gratitude to
their followers and to achieve an image of greater proximity between the candidate
s
and
potential voters.
With regard to the variable of support for the party, both give it
considerable
weight: it is
the fourth most frequently used option by Casado and the third most used by Sáenz de
Santamaría. Regarding the variable relating to criticism, it
holds
fifth
place
in the two
cases under study. As this is not a typical campaign in the sense that it pits two people
from the same party against each other, there is no
proclivity
for one candidate to criticize
the other, but rather to denounce leaders of other political formations and parties.
Finally, it is worth drawing attention to the scarce attention paid by both candidates in the
first round of the primaries to two variables which,
a priori
, should be among the most
used in the campaign period: the call for
participation
and the request for people to
vote.
3.2.2. Qualitative Results in the Second Round
During the period from 6 to 21 July, when only the two final candidates in the sample
under analysis were competing, a similar pattern to that of the first round was observed
in the discourse of the candidates on the social network. The three most common variables
are those relat
ed
to present
ing
proposals for the political project they are leading, the
support they receive from other users
(
especially those who will be delegates
in
the
Congress on 21 July
)
, and support for the political party they intend to lead.
Chart
4:
Thematic content of the tweets published on the candidates' profiles during the
second period of the campaign
–
6/07 to 21/07.
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from
www.twitter.com
In Casado's profile, 59.6 % of the messages published during the second round are
devoted to the presentation of
his
political programme that he intends to implement if he
obtains the necessary support to lead the party. Due to the fact that victory in the primaries
ʹʹ
Ͷ
ͷ
͵ͷ
ͳ
ͳ
͵͵
ʹ͵
ͳͷ
Ͷ͵
Ͳ
͵
ͳͻ
ͳͷ
ʹ͵
ͳͲͺ
ͳͳ
ͳͶ
Ͳ
ʹͲ
ͶͲ
Ͳ
ͺͲ
ͳͲͲ
ͳʹͲ
ͳͶͲ
ͳͲ
ͳͺͲ
ȋ Ǥ
ǡ
ǡ
ǤȌ
ȋǡ
ǡ
ǤȌ
± À
Source: prepared by the authors based on data from
www.twitter.com
In Casado’s prole, 59.6 % of the messages published during the second round are devoted to the presentation of his political
programme that he intends to implement if he obtains the necessary support to lead the party. Due to the fact that victory in the
primaries would imply being the leader of the party, and therefore its candidate for the Presidency of the Spanish Government,
such proposals are in line with the presentation of an electoral programme. ese proposals outline the measures that he
intends to take in response to what are considered to be the main challenges and problems facing the country, including the
Catalonian secessionist process, economic growth, and measures to generate employment. ere are also messages aimed at the
type of political organisation he wants to lead and what changes he advocates. Among them, it is worth noting the increase in
participation by party members and the augmentation of internal transparency.
For her part, the most frequently used variable in Sáenz de Santamaría’s prole in the second round was support, which accounted
for 43.5 % of the messages. It should be recalled that this candidate was the one who obtained the most support from the party
members in the vote that closed the rst round.
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e second most frequently used variable in the case of Casado is support, while in the case of Sáenz de Santamaría it is the
presentation of proposals. Two observations can be drawn from this situation. On the one hand, Casado is trying to emphasise
the support shown by the delegates for his candidacy by making public their voting decision for 21 July. On the other hand, most
of Sáenz de Santamaría’s proposals in the second round are focused on projecting an image of party unity by publicising her
intention for both candidates to run on a single list.
e third most important variable for both is support for the political party. Both praise the work done by the party during its
years in power, as well as the leaders themselves who have served not only the party, but the public interest as well. Nevertheless,
the position they had previously held both in the party and at the institutional level inuenced their discourse. In Casado’s case,
among the messages of criticism, there are also posts in which the criticism is directed at the party itself, although it is quite subtle,
and there are calls for changes in the party as well (Image 1).
Image 1. Casado’s message with content that is critical of his party
Fuente:
www.twitter.com
En
este
mismo
sentido,
Casado
tiende
a
exponer
públicamente
una
actitud
crítica
hacia
Sáenz
de
Santamaría,
tal
y
como
recogía
a
lo
largo
de
la
campaña
la
prensa
tradicional
(Junquera, 2018)
.
De
hecho,
incluso
en
Twitter
el
candidato
que
finalmente
salió
victorioso
del
proceso
de
primarias
realizó
una
crítica
de
su
compañera
de
formación
y
candidata
(Imagen
2).
Imagen
2.
Mensaje
crítico
de
Casado
hacia
su
contrincante
en
las
primarias
Source:
www.twitter.com
In the same vein, Casado tends to publicly display a critical attitude toward Sáenz de Santamaría, as the traditional press reported
throughout the campaign (Junquera, 2018). In fact, even on Twitter, the candidate who nally emerged victorious in the primary
elections criticised his fellow party member and rival candidate (Image 2).
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ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
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Image 2. Casado’s message of criticism toward his opponent in the primaries
Fuente:
www.twitter.com
En
este
mismo
sentido,
Casado
tiende
a
exponer
públicamente
una
actitud
crítica
hacia
Sáenz
de
Santamaría,
tal
y
como
recogía
a
lo
largo
de
la
campaña
la
prensa
tradicional
(Junquera, 2018)
.
De
hecho,
incluso
en
Twitter
el
candidato
que
finalmente
salió
victorioso
del
proceso
de
primarias
realizó
una
crítica
de
su
compañera
de
formación
y
candidata
(Imagen
2).
Imagen
2.
Mensaje
crítico
de
Casado
hacia
su
contrincante
en
las
primarias
Source:
www.twitter.com
With regard to messages of criticism made by Sáenz de Santamaría, even though the total number is higher, their impact is lower,
and they always contain exogenous criticism. ey are negative messages directed at the management carried out by the Socialist
government, as well as criticism of the work of other leaders and political parties, yet they are never directed at the
Partido
Popular
or its members.
Finally, there are three variables that are of special interest in relation to the object of study, although their use is not signicant,
which are those related to campaign events, as well as those that refer to the call for participation and the request for people to
vote.
3.3. Analysis of citizen participation and response
In this section, attention is focused on the analysis of the candidates’ interaction with citizens/users, in order to identify the
response by citizens to the messages disseminated by the candidates. is is done by measuring the use of the three functions that
Twitter provides for interaction: replies, retweets, and likes.
In both periods analysed, the instrument most often employed by users in the two proles is likes, followed by retweets, and then
replies, which is in line with the results of previous studies (Machado and Capdevilla, 2016; Izquierdo, 2012). Furthermore, the
data show that Casado’s prole has a higher level of user interaction involving the three functions available on the 2.0 network.
From 26 June to 5 July, in terms of the average number of messages posted, Casado also outperformed Sáenz de Santamaría.
Casado accumulated an average of 437 likes compared to 379.4 for Sáenz de Santamaría; 225.5 retweets compared to 124 for
Sáenz de Santamaría; and 89.5 replies on average compared to 41.1 for S. Santamaría (Table 3).
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With regard to the second period, the data analysed show the same trend as in the rst phase. In terms of the average number of
replies per message published, Casado has a higher number, which is 82.8 compared to 32.7 for Sáenz de Santamaría; regarding
retweets, Casado has an average of 227.9 compared to 109.7 for his rival in the primaries; and in reference to likes, there are 455.2
for Casado compared to 302.5 for Sáenz de Santamaría.
Table 3. Total number of replies, retweets, and likes to messages posted by candidates during the two campaign periods
Replies
RTsLikes
26/06/2018-05/07/2018
CASADO
13,425
(average 89.5)
33,829
(average 225.5)
65,550
(average 437)
SÁENZ SANTAMARÍA
6,168
(average 41.12)
18,607
(average 124)
51,229
(average 379.47)
RepliesRTsLikes
06/07/2018-21/07/2018
CASADO
13,500
(average 82.8)
37,151
(average 227.9)
74,213
(average 455.2)
SÁENZ DE SANTAMARÍA
5,345
(average 32.7)
17,897
(average 109.7)
38,727
(average 302.5)
Source: prepared by the authors based on data obtained on
www.twitter.com
It is striking that while in the rst period there is no correlation between a higher degree of interaction and a higher level of user
support, in the second period there is in fact a correlation between greater interaction and more support. Finally, it is worth
highlighting that Sáenz de Santamaría has a preference for using the feature “retweet with comment” provided by Twitter. In this
way, two-way feedback is established, or in other words, she receives a message of support and responds to it as well. As a result,
from a qualitative perspective, this type of content increases the quality of interaction with the user. is last option is the only one
that is not used as a “digital noticeboard” (Castells, 2010, p.12).
In short, the results mainly show the one-way use of Twitter by transferring its oine communication strategy to the online
medium, without exploiting the opportunities for interacting with the user.
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4. Discussion and conclusions
e empirical study herein reects the use of Twitter by the two main candidates who competed for the Presidency of the
Partido
Popular
during the primary elections held in 2018. e reason for using this social network is to broaden the communication
channels through which candidates can disseminate their political messages, thereby attempting to convey an image of closeness
and proximity to users.
At the quantitative level, the results have produced two ndings. On the one hand, they show more intense use during the rst
period of analysis. is may be due to the concurrence of two factors: greater competition, and the need to convince the party
members that each candidate’s own project is best for the future of the Party.
Meanwhile, in the second phase, the competition included only the two candidates analysed, so they had to focus their eorts
on winning the hearts and minds of the delegates, who are a much more specic, reduced group of party members. Moreover,
they are familiar with both candidates’ projects and have previous, long-term aliations with one of the political branches of the
party, all of which has an inuence on the position they take.
On the other hand, the results show a clear tendency for candidates to generate their own content, which directly reaches the
proles of users, party members, and supporters. One can observe the willingness of candidates to give importance to the use
of social networks, especially Twitter, as part of their political communication strategy in the campaign, which is in line with
previous studies (Martínez and Marqués, 2020).
At the qualitative level, the main content of the messages disseminated by the candidates during the primary elections has been
framed mostly around three issues.
e rst is the presentation of proposals that comprise the political project headed by each candidate. is occurs in two ways:
one is related to the internal organisation of the party; the other is connected to the measures they intend to carry out if they
reach the level of the National Government, thus conrming H1 of this study. Consequently, use of the social network as a “digital
noticeboard” (Castells, 2010, p. 12) can be observed. In other words, the way Twitter is used by the candidates is to limit him or
herself to their proposals in order to disseminate them as widely as possible, without generating feedback or the possibility of
interaction with their followers. For this reason, the potential of the social network has not been fully exploited in this case, and
is limited to one-way communication.
e second issue relates to the publication of messages of support from party members, supporters, and other party aliates. In
this case, it is clear that greater use is made of the options oered by Twitter. A signicant percentage of the messages classied
in this variable are retweets of messages sent to them by party members/users, which the candidates not only disseminate, but
also share by adding a message of their own. As a result, we can see greater involvement by the candidate, as well as a desire to
show that she or he has broad social support. A search for the
bandwagon
eect can also be seen, which consists of candidates
making their social support visible in order to inuence the political behaviour of users, even more so in the absence of surveys
that display a rigid, immobile snapshot of electoral support.
e third issue has to do with the limited use of the variable
criticism
in the proles studied. is may be due to the desire to
alleviate one of the main drawbacks posed by this doctrine in relation to the celebration of primary elections as a dynamic
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element of internal party democracy. In other words, such criticism introduces the possibility of revealing publicly and visibly the
dierences, breaches, and internal divisions within the political contingent, which could damage the party’s electoral position
(Garrido López, 2017; Blanco Valdés, 1998; Boix, 1998). In fact, most of the criticism is directed at other political groupings or
leaders of other parties. Nevertheless, Casado does in fact deliver some messages that are critical of his opponent in the primaries,
although the tone is non-aggressive. is makes it possible to partially conrm the veracity of H2.
Beyond the most frequently addressed issues, the scarce attention paid to the call for participation and the request for people
to vote is signicant. is is a common trend in all campaigns, as observed in other research on the use of Twitter in primary
elections (Pérez and Nicasio, 2015). As such, it could be inferred that the lack of a direct call for votes is compensated by the
indirect request through the presentation of a political project, as this second way could be seen as less aggressive in the eyes of
the party members/voters, and it also avoids displaying an image of competition between individuals who belong to the same
party. Lastly, regarding interaction with citizens, the results show consistent use by citizens of the tools oered by social networks.
is allows them to express their agreement or disagreement with the messages posted by the candidates, which conrms what
was stated in H3. In this regard, two observations can be made.
On the one hand, the results show that users prefer interactive instruments that involve less eort (Sabate et al., 2014; Mariani et
al., 2013). is is due to the fact that sending retweets and likes are options that only require a click, while commenting requires
the user to develop their own discourse in response to the candidate’s message. As such, the present study is in line with those
that conrm the tendency of users to employ techniques that involve less eort (Arce, et al., 2021; Zamora and Zurutuza, 2015;
López et al., 2015), and less interaction as well. However, other studies have shown that both retweets and likes are methods that
demonstrate high user involvement (Merino et al., 2013).
Nevertheless, the use of retweets allows the dissemination of messages to be extended beyond the followers of the candidate’s
ocial prole. is gives the messages more visibility by multiplying the number of proles on which they are published. Even
when the campaign is directed at a more targeted audience, especially in the second round, the presence and dissemination of
the content generated by the candidate is a way of demonstrating that he or she has strong social support. erefore, this indicates
a strong candidacy with a chance for success.
On the other hand, it can be conrmed that the features of this social network have not been fully utilised as a way of approaching
supporters, party members, and/or delegates, nor as a means of displaying an image of greater transparency of the process,
proximity and trust with supporters (Martínez and Marqués, 2020; Gamir, 2020, among others). Furthermore, it is not exploited
suciently as a way of making the internal processes of true democratisation visible through greater participation. All of this
allows us to verify H4. is conrms that parties and their representatives still have not discovered and capitalised on much of the
potential of this network in their strategies for political action and communication, and for reaching out to citizens.
In conclusion, improvement of political communication in the internal democracy of parties would help strengthen the
relationship that citizens have with the political system and its institutions, due to the preeminent role that these political
formations possess, as recognised by the constitution. is process needs to bring the party closer to citizens not only through
conventional media, but also through digital channels, as this is where a large part of social conversation takes place. ese
new media can help increase the perception of citizens regarding greater transparency and internal democracy, and they can
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Internal democracy of political parties in the age of political communication 2.0: the case of the 2018 primary...
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also assist in expanding the opportunity for users to interact with leaders and their parties. is challenge may prove to be an
important step forward in the perception of progress in the quality of our democracy.
5. Acknowledgements
is article has been translated by Charles Edmond Arthur.
Our thanks to the UCH-CEU- INDI/2101 Research Indicators Consolidation Programme (
Programa de Consolidación de
Indicadores de Investigación UCH-CEU
- INDI/2101)
6. Specic contributions from each author
Name and Surname
Conception and design of the workMarta Pérez-Gabaldón and Blanca Nicasio-Varea
Methodology
Marta Pérez-Gabaldón and Blanca Nicasio-Varea
Data gathering and analysisBlanca Nicasio-Varea and Marta Pérez-Gabaldón
Discussion and conclusionsBlanca Nicasio-Varea and Marta Pérez-Gabaldón
Writing, formatting, review, and version approvalMarta Pérez-Gabaldón and Blanca Nicasio-Varea
7. Bibliographic references
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