Country report: GREECE
A focus in depth into Greek election campaign
The "Country report: GREECE" has been based upon data gathered from 28/04/2019 to 15/05/2019.
Alongside the visual representation of the data, a qualitative interpretation is offered.
Chart n°1 - Content typology
As evident from the Graph referring to the type of the content, the vast majority of the electoral material hitting the public on behalf of the major parties in Greece comes form their Facebook posts.
SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left) comes in the first place, mainly posting announcements for upcoming public events concerning the Euro-elections (that causes the big difference in numbers compared to the other parties). SYRIZA is followed - in descending order - by DiEM 25 - Greece (Metopo Realistikis Anypakois 25), the Union of Centrists (Enosi Kentroon), The River (To Potami), the Independent Greeks (Aneksartiti Ellines), the Movement for Change (Kinima Allagis), New Democracy (Nea Dimokratia) and the Greek Communist Party (Kommounisitko Komma Ellados).
In the same chart, one can observe the low presence of Nea Dimokratia (major opposition party) in the social media, since they have published a rather limited amount of posts (10), compared to most of the parties, and the lack of presence in Facebook of the Greek Communist Party, which has no social Facebook account. In terms of the commercials aired by the parties, Nea Dimokratia and Metopo Realistikis Anypakois 25 have already broadcasted seven (7) commercials each, whereas SYRIZA and To Potami follow with five (5) commercials each.
Chart n°2 - Focus
Out of the total of 274 electoral materials (Facebook posts and commercials), almost half of them (44.5%) focus on both Greece and Europe. In addition, there is a significant 22.3% of the electoral material focusing exclusively on Greece. According to these first two categories Greece is at the epicenter of the interest of the political parties rather than Europe. In addition, there is an 18.6% of the material that lacks a particular "geographical" focus (either Greek or European) and a less than 15% that focuses exclusively on European issues.
Chart n°3 - How is Europe represented?
In terms of the representation of Europe in the electoral materials, in almost 40% (39.1%) of the gathered posts and commercials Europe is not represented. In one third of the total pre-electoral material (until May 15th), Europe is represented in a positive way, followed by a 12.4% of neutral representations and a noticeable 10.2% of negative ones. Lastly, the percentage of strongly positive representations of the EU is below 5%, whereas the strongly negative approaches to the EU are limited to a 0.7%.
Chart n°4 - Rational, emotional or neutral?
The emotional factor is the one most evident in the pre-electoral materials for the European elections under scrutiny in Greece. Almost half (48.2%) of the posts and the commercials analyzed seek to engage the Greek electorate in a predominantly emotional way. Second, we encounter material that has neither emotional, nor rational focus (37.2%) and lastly there is an almost 15% of the materials prioritizing a rational discursive approach. The difference between emotional and rational focus in the posts and commercials underlines the importance of the sentimental approach that the political parties usually prefer in order to "construct" their pre-electoral messages.
To download the "Country report: GREECE" in pdf format:
Alongside the visual representation of the data, a qualitative interpretation is offered.
Chart n°1 - Content typology
As evident from the Graph referring to the type of the content, the vast majority of the electoral material hitting the public on behalf of the major parties in Greece comes form their Facebook posts.
SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left) comes in the first place, mainly posting announcements for upcoming public events concerning the Euro-elections (that causes the big difference in numbers compared to the other parties). SYRIZA is followed - in descending order - by DiEM 25 - Greece (Metopo Realistikis Anypakois 25), the Union of Centrists (Enosi Kentroon), The River (To Potami), the Independent Greeks (Aneksartiti Ellines), the Movement for Change (Kinima Allagis), New Democracy (Nea Dimokratia) and the Greek Communist Party (Kommounisitko Komma Ellados).
In the same chart, one can observe the low presence of Nea Dimokratia (major opposition party) in the social media, since they have published a rather limited amount of posts (10), compared to most of the parties, and the lack of presence in Facebook of the Greek Communist Party, which has no social Facebook account. In terms of the commercials aired by the parties, Nea Dimokratia and Metopo Realistikis Anypakois 25 have already broadcasted seven (7) commercials each, whereas SYRIZA and To Potami follow with five (5) commercials each.
Chart n°2 - Focus
Out of the total of 274 electoral materials (Facebook posts and commercials), almost half of them (44.5%) focus on both Greece and Europe. In addition, there is a significant 22.3% of the electoral material focusing exclusively on Greece. According to these first two categories Greece is at the epicenter of the interest of the political parties rather than Europe. In addition, there is an 18.6% of the material that lacks a particular "geographical" focus (either Greek or European) and a less than 15% that focuses exclusively on European issues.
Chart n°3 - How is Europe represented?
In terms of the representation of Europe in the electoral materials, in almost 40% (39.1%) of the gathered posts and commercials Europe is not represented. In one third of the total pre-electoral material (until May 15th), Europe is represented in a positive way, followed by a 12.4% of neutral representations and a noticeable 10.2% of negative ones. Lastly, the percentage of strongly positive representations of the EU is below 5%, whereas the strongly negative approaches to the EU are limited to a 0.7%.
Chart n°4 - Rational, emotional or neutral?
The emotional factor is the one most evident in the pre-electoral materials for the European elections under scrutiny in Greece. Almost half (48.2%) of the posts and the commercials analyzed seek to engage the Greek electorate in a predominantly emotional way. Second, we encounter material that has neither emotional, nor rational focus (37.2%) and lastly there is an almost 15% of the materials prioritizing a rational discursive approach. The difference between emotional and rational focus in the posts and commercials underlines the importance of the sentimental approach that the political parties usually prefer in order to "construct" their pre-electoral messages.
To download the "Country report: GREECE" in pdf format:
