Absent from the start of the election campaign period last February 8 were the road congestion leading to rally venues and the noise from loudspeakers spewing candidates’ names and jingles.
What marked the start of the three-month campaign period leading to the May 9, 2022 general elections was a list of pandemic-related restrictions on candidates and their campaign imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
In the 2016 elections, the last political exercise we had, the start of campaigning was seen, heard and felt by the electorate because it was impossible to avoid the streamers and vehicles roaming city streets blaring campaign slogans and music for sound branding. Roads got congested starting noon as supporters and campaigners gathered in rally sites for proclamations that usually happened at night. The conversation then was about vote buying and troll farms on social media.
The start of campaigning this year was “noisy” but in a different way. The promotion of candidacies and campaign activities happened largely on social media, Facebook in particular. It was also a battle of colors as people changed profile photos to identify with their chosen candidate. It is understandable that the election battleground is online as the Philippines continues to have the world’s most active internet and social media users, with most of them on Facebook.
What was markedly different in this campaign was that the Comelec imposed several restrictions on candidates. Prohibited are in-person campaigning such as crowding or gathering a large group of people, entering houses, kissing, handshaking, hugging the public, and taking selfies with supporters. These are among the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic-related restrictions; while buying votes, giving favors, carrying guns, and other prohibitions still apply.
Campaigning in the coming elections will have to replace those personal encounters with virtual contacts where communication whether in text, voice, video or games is crucial. Candidates’ online persona and activities will have to be able to help people decide who to elect to be their leaders.
While candidates do what they can to reach most of the voters virtually or in digital ways, voters themselves have to take that extra effort to access candidates’ information and platforms of government.
It is not enough that internet and social media users wait for what will show up on their feeds about candidates because the information can be limited to what the algorithms provide. The algorithm will select for you only what you have been reading or viewing on your page.
With election discourse mainly online, voters have to get as much information as they may want or need in order to make informed choices, not decisions set for them by echo chambers or those with whom they already share sentiments.
Voters have to be brave enough to seek candidates’ information even from those they may not be inclined to vote for because surprises may happen when they open their minds to other people’s ideas.