By Julian Dierkes
After a first full day of campaigning, here are some very quick, superficial impressions of the presidential election campaign.
These are based largely on Twitter and some emailing, as I am about to get on a plane headed for Ulaanbaatar, to see more of the campaign live in Mongolia.
Social Media
I was astonished especially in the 2016 parliamentary election, how little strategic use of social media candidates seemed to be making. Yes, there was some campaigning, but it was fairly unimaginative and basically used social media as a broadcast medium for official campaign messages, but less to engage voters directly.
Caveat: I myself mainly focus on Twitter and recognize that Facebook is in even greater use in Mongolia. Given algorithmic bubbles and all, I might simply be missing a lot of traffic and strategic campaigning.
So, will this change in this election? Will we see a more strategic use of social media?
Hashtags are generally not used much in Mongolia so far, but the MPP/Enkhbold campaign does seem to be rolling out hashtags that are also used by supporters.
Examples:
Дорнод аймгийн зон олонтойгоо халуун дотно уулзалт хийлээ.
“Монгол төр-Монгол гэр” мөрийн хөтөлбөрөө танилцууллаа. #ЭвтэйМонголЯлна pic.twitter.com/GQFQhIhcIk— Миеэгомбын Энхболд (@MEnkhbold) June 6, 2017
-Монгол Ардын Намаас Ерөнхийлөгчийн сонгуульд нэр дэвшигч Миеэгомбын Энхболд Сүхбаатар аймагт ажиллаа.#ЭвтэйМонгол#Ээлтэйтөр pic.twitter.com/QsuxqcVbpW
— Монгол Ардын Нам (@ArdiinNam) June 6, 2017
Over at the DP, have they set up a dedicated campaign account?
https://twitter.com/Battulga2k17
The 2k17 name seems a bit odd, but the links are to official campaign sites, so perhaps this has been created by the Battulga organization. Or, perhaps it is an account set up for dark campaigning?
Campaign Fashion
I don’t recall seeing quite so many deels on the candidates themselves or among their supporters. This seems to go along with the frequent use of Mongolian, Mongolia, etc. to give the campaign a bit of a nationalist flavour, perhaps?
Here, a snapshot of a campaign poster where Ganbaatar is posing with Enkhbayar:
Энэ 2-ын аль нь #Ганбаатар юм бэ? pic.twitter.com/XBOHOyfZx0
— Одсүрэн Болд-Эрдэнэ (@o_bold_erdene) June 7, 2017
How about Battulga in this handsome black-with-silver-dots deel:
Монгол түмний итгэл сэтгэл түшиж монгол ээжүүд есөн цацлаа өргөж ⁰Монгол ялахын билэгт ерөөлөөр aяны замыг тань мялаая.@BattulgaKh ???????????????????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/GC8le355NZ
— Odontuya Saldan (@OdontuyaS) June 6, 2017
Or, another version here:
Талын хүчит салхи мананг үлдэн хөөж
монгол сэрнэ,монгол ялна! pic.twitter.com/JWY8m8mkP9— BBaatar (@hero_bbaatar) June 6, 2017
Then, Enkhbold in a less flashy, more country burgundy deel:
-Монгол Ардын Намаас Ерөнхийлөгчийн сонгуульд нэр дэвшигч Миеэгомбын Энхболд Дорнод аймагт ажиллаж байна.#ЭвтэйМонгол#ЭэлтэйТөр pic.twitter.com/FEWk8S1S1H
— Монгол Ардын Нам (@ArdiinNam) June 6, 2017
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