Blessmore Nhikiti
ABSTRACT
The pattern of losing candidates alleging election results manipulation on social media significantly increased among old and new democracies. Such candidates seek to indoctrinate their sentiments in their supporters. This paper conducted longitudinal and sequentially mixed research to assess intraparty affairs, where leaders sought to influence their supporters' evaluation of the election outcome via social media. It questioned whether all supporters outrightly support their candidate despite overwhelming empirical evidence disapproving of their vote-rigging claims. To what extent do partisans conform to the narratives established by elites? To answer these questions, the research concentrated on the 2018 presidential election in Zimbabwe, focusing on Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change-Alliance (MDC-A). The data (primary) was derived from Facebook posts from 2018-2020 and a meta-analysis of surveys (secondary data) conducted by Afrobarometer round 8 (2019/2021). The paper concludes that partisans can be loyal to the party and critically assess elite-generated information when formulating opinions.
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Index Terms
- Social media, party narratives and supporters' opinions: Zimbabwe's post-2018 elections
Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.
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