While sponsored statuses on social networks had been widespread before the last general election, most parties are now trying to reach voters through pre-election videos by precisely targeting their ads. The daily SME, in its analysis published on Wednesday, writes that in the 2016 election, political parties spent on average two to three thousand euros per month on Facebook advertising. Today, tens of thousands of euro are spent monthly on social network advertising.
According to an analysis carried out by Transparency International Slovakia, the Slovak National Party spent 28,000 euro on its Facebook campaign in December, Smer-SD spent 67,000 euro on its Facebook and Instagram campaign in the same month, while the coalition Progressive Slovakia-Together has spent 95,000 euro on ads in Facebook, Google, Youtube and Instagram in two months.
The main feature of the Internet-based campaign of governing party Smer-SD in pre-election videos is its direct addressing of political opponents from the opposition. A viral election video was produced also by the opposition OĽaNO party, who visited the former finance minister in his French Riviera house. Moreover, extremists from the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia have resorted to hate speech on the Roma minority by calling them homesteaders in their videos. Public campaign rallies are still popular.
Meanwhile around 2,000 people including anti-fascism activists interrupted a rally held by People's Party Our Slovakia in Levoča (Prešov region) on Tuesday, holding banners, shouting and whistling to express their disapproval with the politics promoted by the party. The crowd chanted "stop fascism", "we don't want you here" and "violence doesn't resolve anything". The far-right party subsequently called off the rally and declared that the protesters were actually agents on a payroll, which was denied by the protesters themselves. Levoča has thus become the second Slovak town after Košice with protesters interrupting the far-right party's rally in this year electoral campaign.
