Facebook Campaigning in Iraq's 2025 Parliamentary Election: Perspectives of Candidates and Media Experts
Abstract
This study examines the strategic utilization of Facebook by candidates during the 2025 Iraqi parliamentary election campaigns and evaluates candidate and media expert perceptions regarding its role in political persuasion and public opinion formation. Grounded in a political marketing and digital persuasion framework, the research addresses three specific objectives: evaluating candidate communication strategies, analyzing perceptions of Facebook’s role in electoral participation and information quality, and assessing perspectives on its influence on local public opinion. A qualitative research approach was used and involved in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 candidates in parliament and six media experts, where data were analyzed using thematic analysis with ATLAS.ti. According to the results of the research, it becomes evident that the candidates make use of Facebook as a means for political marketing, candidate branding, direct message dissemination, and interactive engagement. It is worth saying that participants found Facebook useful in increasing the political awareness of citizens and encouraging them to participate, especially among the younger generation, stressing that the message validity and accuracy are crucial in order to maintain influence. Yet, strategic campaigns face numerous obstacles like misinformation, cyberattacks, and the digital divide, which prompts candidates to use a combination of approaches, including both digital and conventional campaigning.
Keywords: Facebook, voter persuasion, election campaigns, political communication, Iraq.
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