During the fourth day of the start of the local elections campaign:
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Expressiveness
Formations enter the race with single lists and no competitors in a number of municipalities
The political formations participating in the local elections scheduled for November 28 have not recorded any complaints about electoral violations since the start of the electoral campaign last Thursday, at a time when social networking sites are witnessing an increasing activity of candidates, who have begun publishing propaganda clips and invitations to attend rallies and neighborhood meetings, amid controversy sparked by their photos modified with artificial intelligence, not to mention the phenomenon of some parties entering with separate lists in a number of municipalities without any competition.
“Al-Shorouk” communicated with several party formations, confirming in statements that their leaders at the central level had not received, until Sunday, any complaints about violations or violations that accompanied the first days of the electoral campaign, indicating that the atmosphere is currently proceeding in calm conditions, awaiting the expansion of electoral activity and the intensification of competition during the coming days.
In this context, the leader of the Movement for Society of Peace, Ahmed Laissawi, confirmed in a statement to Al-Shorouk that Hamas has not received any complaints at the central level since the start of the electoral campaign four days ago, explaining that things are currently proceeding in a calm manner without any violations reported to the leadership, awaiting what the coming period will witness with the intensification of electoral activities and gatherings.
This is the same position expressed by the Vice President of the National Construction Movement, Al-Saeed Nafisi, in a statement to Al-Shorouk, stressing that his formation has not yet received complaints about electoral violations since the beginning of the campaign, at a time when the parties continue to follow the activity of their candidates across the various states and municipalities, in anticipation of any observations or notifications that may be presented as the scope of the competition expands.
Aside from field activity, social media platforms, especially “Facebook” and “Tik Tok,” have turned into an essential interface for the electoral campaign, as candidates rushed to launch promotional campaigns by publishing clippings that included their pictures and electoral slogans, in addition to announcements of planned gatherings and meetings, and invitations to voters to attend them and interact with their programs, in an attempt to gain a wider audience and introduce themselves outside the traditional frameworks of electoral propaganda.
However, this digital activity was not without controversy, especially after the circulation of propaganda images of a number of candidates that had been modified using artificial intelligence techniques, which sparked widespread criticism among social media pioneers, who were surprised by the adoption of digitally manipulated images that changed the features of their owners and did not reflect their true appearance, wondering about the feasibility of presenting the candidate to voters in a virtual image that differs from his real image, at a time when the campaign is supposed to be based on introducing the person, his program, and his qualifications.
On the other hand, the digital platforms recorded the candidates’ interaction with current issues and social concerns, as some of them decided to comment on the issues circulating in the street, especially those related to purchasing power, the availability of some consumer goods, and the movement of markets, in an attempt to link their electoral discourse to the daily concerns of citizens, and to exploit topics that attract the attention of public opinion in publicizing their positions and programs.
On another level, the phenomenon of some political formations entering single lists in a number of municipalities emerged as part of the peculiarities of these elections. This is a situation that raises questions about the nature of electoral competition in these regions, especially in cases where the list does not find itself facing competing party lists, leaving it facing a limited electoral choice. It brings back to the fore the issue of the extent to which some parties are able to embody their organizational presence locally and ensure their representation within the elected councils, in light of the varying spread of political formations from one municipality to another, while some formations pushed them back to the fore. The fall of lists themselves as a result of the application of some articles in the electoral law, such as the article related to the ethics of political life, which affected their presence in these councils.
These data come at a time when the election campaign is still in its early days, and the features of the competition will become clearer during the coming period, with the intensification of gatherings and field outings and the increasing activity of the candidates, before the scheduled polling date on November 28.
