Poll results: BN, PH not ready for social media warfare - Azalina

SHAH ALAM - Umno Information Chief Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said admitted that Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) were unprepared for the social media battle during the recent state elections.

She said BN-PH still employed a conservative approach to campaigning, such as going door-to-door and conducting physical talks in public places.

"PH and BN have conducted clean campaigns, following the rules. However, if you look at the opposing parties, they didn't put up large banners, and their vehicles were nowhere to be seen.

"If we were to count one by one, this is not the actual tradition of elections, and BN has never changed such traditions," she said during the discussion programme "Analysing State Elections 2023: Where Did We Go Wrong?" which was broadcasted on Umno Online's social platform on Wednesday.

Azalina, also a Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), stated that the rules of the Election Commission (EC) should be revised before the upcoming 16th General Elections (GE16) so that the definition of campaigning can be adapted to the usage of social media platforms.

Unregulated political advertising may prevent campaigns from achieving their objectives, she explained.

"We must differentiate between the government and political parties. Paid advertisements on TikTok, for example, can reach 10 million to 100 million users. I want to ask, Is that fair play in the true sense of elections? "We've turned elections into a business platform, and both sides are using advertising platforms as part of the election campaign.

"When we offer a candidate, we want them to serve for five years, not for branding or selling a brand. We are selling services; that's why perhaps PH and BN are traditional political parties, sticking to traditional campaigning methods," she stated.