Political Language on Twitter during the Runoff Voting in the 2018 Presidential Election

Abstract

The second round of elections for the presidency of Colombia, May 28th-June 16th, 2018, was characterized by the absence of a debate between Humane Colombia and the Democratic Center candidates. The electoral contest focused on social networks and the two candidates used, through the Twitter social network, language strategies of opposition, resistance, cover-up, legitimization, and delegitimization that sharpenedthe polarization between the call to nationalism, the safeguarding of the institutions, and a new country project. This article aims to demonstrate these strategies used by presidential candidates during the second round of elections that circulated on Twitter to capture potential voters. The research uses a mixed methodology composed of two approaches. The descriptive analysis of quantitative type to recover the 391 trills issued from the Twitter accounts of Humane Colombia and the Democratic Center during the three weeks of the campaign. Subsequently, a critical analysis of the political discourse was carried out to establish the articulation of the relations between politics, social networks, and language. The findings indicate continuity in political practices concerning the two previous electoralperiods characterized by confrontation and hostility between two ideologically opposed blocs: right and left.