SHAH ALAM - Political parties and leaders are aggressively campaigning on social media to increase popularity as Malaysians vote next month.
Prof Sivamurugan Pandian of Universiti Sains Malaysia said the move was to woo seven million youths and automatic registration voters voting for the first time in the 15th general elections (GE15).
"Leaders and political parties realise they need to approach all groups of voters and cyberspace is the easiest platform for them as information is transmitted quickly.
"Because of that, they have started aggressively campaigning using social media as especially when considering there is no rules stopping them from campaigning early." he said.
Sivamurugan explained the duration of the campaign set by the Election Commission (EC) was only a formality and it does not mean campaigns could not be done earlier.
"There are no parties or leaders that only wants to use formal campaign and are likely to use other means such as the social media," he said.
Sivamurugan said leaders or political parties campaigning in social media have not named themselves as candidates and due to that will not be breaking any rules.
He added digital campaign war was gaining traction in social media and with this comes assassination of characters among leaders.
"Politics is a game of perception and it would be interesting to see to what extent the leaders or political party will be successful in influencing emotions of voters," he said.
Sivamurugan said during campaigns, leaders and political parties would need to be wise to repel the barrage of attacks.
"Voters need to be rational, practical, non-emotional and smart in evaluating the information given to them," he said.