Candidates have taken to social media prominently for campaigning for the 7th Central Municipal Council (CMC) elections due to be held on June 22.
The candidates are also campaigning on main streets in various cities and municipalities in the lead-up to the election day. A total of 110 candidates are competing for 29 seats in 29 constituencies comprising more than 240 regions.
Candidates began highlighting their electoral programmes on June 11, and will continue their campaigning until tomorrow.
The candidate's electoral programmes, as monitored by Qatar News Agency (QNA), include several axes. The main focus is serving the country and the citizen, including improving public facilities, facilitating access to services provided to citizens, increasing green spaces and parks, raising the level of hygiene and interest in recycling in support of sustainability, and following up on the concerned authorities to complete infrastructure projects as quickly as possible.
The programmes also include strengthening and organising commercial areas and streets, developing rainwater drainage networks, community communication to find out the needs of each constituency, and other aspects that fall within the competence of the CMC.
The candidates' posters are spread throughout the main streets and squares, some of which are accompanied by phrases that reflect their electoral programme. Social media, especially Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat are the favourite campaigning platforms to reach the Qatari voter.
Statistics show that Qatar is among the first countries in the world to use the social media thanks to its strong and developed communications infrastructure.
Professor of TV and Digital Journalism at the Department of Mass Communication at Qatar University (QU) Dr Abdulrahman al-Shami told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that choosing the appropriate media is one of the key factors of a successful communication message. Without a suitable medium that fits the audience, success will not be achieved in the desired manner.
The youth occupy a large percentage of Qatar's total population. Since they have a strong presence in social media, it is an important means of communication for candidates to reach their voters, he said.
Dr al-Shami listed some of the plus points of social media platforms compared to traditional media (newspapers, radio, television), such as the rapid access to the target audience, the accurate selection of the communication message, the power of influence and persuasion, and identifying the target audience's characteristics, pointing out that there is no other form of communication that can determine the characteristics of the target audience like social media platforms.
He explained that the algorithms on which these means and platforms are based, enable to build a database on the audience's characteristics and this information is made available to those wishing to reach a target audience, which is one of the strongest elements that social networks enjoy.
Regarding the impact and role of information and communication technology in the candidates' electoral campaigns, IT expert Khaled al-Amari said that these modern means provided many options for the candidates and facilitated access and interaction between candidates and voters.
He believed that traditional media may not attract the new generation of young people who prefer modern means of communication.
Al-Amari explained that social media allows the design and preparation of content directed to a specific segment or group of society, or in addressing an issue in a specific geographical area, which makes it widespread and covers various groups, especially if the candidate uses several platforms to display their electoral program.
He pointed out that these platforms provide instantaneous interaction with content, allowing the candidate to address the voters interactively and at any time. He said that social media allows flexibility in dealing with electoral campaigns and great dialogue and interaction, which makes the candidate closer to the voter as they can perceive the needs of the municipality and may modify some aspects of his electoral campaign based on the interaction, orientations, and demands of the voters.
