On the Social Media Analysis: Initial reactions to Sri Lanka General Election #GenEleSL, we will be analyzing credible sources for Election news and the Social media buzz created around the major political decisions and events relating to the General Election 2015.
Parliament was dissolved with effect from midnight on June 26th with the date set for the General Election on August 17th. This was officially announced through an official gazette notification issued by the Presidential Secretariat.
When rumours were spread about the Parliament dissolution people gathered on Social Media, specifically on Twitter to carve a new hashtag to promote the Social buzz around the General Election 2015.
Tweet 01
@BuduMalli I personally was thinking of #SLGE15 😊 just a choice 😊 @groundviews
— Mohamed Hisham (@mhmhisham) June 26, 2015
Tweet 02
.@mhmhisham Great! Yeah it’s an easy one. @groundviews plz add this to archive. #GenElecSL and #SLGE15 (Shorter version) — Budu™ (@BuduMalli) June 26, 2015
With confirmations on the Parliament dissolution, politicians took their opinions on to Social Media, to let their supporters know that they’re ready for the election.
Tweet from Ranjan Ramanayake
Finally we got the good news of Election, I think last 5 years I have done my duty as a MP , if not people can send me home this time
— Ranjan Ramanayake (@RamanayakeR) June 26, 2015
Tweet from Harsha De Silva
Fulfilled a promise! Handed over the last 52 housing loans of the 300 allocated for Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte… http://t.co/nGWLez2Y9G — Harsha de Silva (@HarshadeSilvaMP) June 28, 2015
However the biggest buzz that was around President Hon. Maithripala Sirisena agreeing to let former President Mahinda Rajapaksa contest from the UPFA. Many strong opinions aimed at the President was seen in social media but one statement stood up from the rest – that is Harin Fernando stating that he would quit politics if President Maithripala Sirisena were to give nominations to the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Daily Mirror reported.
Harin vows to give up politics if MS joins MR #SriLanka http://t.co/pngteBpEdy pic.twitter.com/nCAt4ueD91
— DailyMirror (@DMbreakingnews) June 30, 2015
On the same note, famous cartoonist and journalist Awantha Artigala posted a cartoon on his Facebook page that has gotten over 6,000 likes and a staggering 3,000+ Facebook shares. And Daily Mirror featured the same cartoon on their Social Networks stating it the ‘Cartoon of the Day’.
Over the past couple of days, Daily Mirror’s Social networks were highly active. But the credibility of their content is in question. The headlines they’ve used is misleading at times; Ex: 1.) “UPFA agrees to nominate MR”(June 30th)
UPFA agrees to nominate MR http://t.co/WugEOfG7fH #LKA #SriLanka — DailyMirror (@DMbreakingnews) June 30, 2015
2.) “MR not named Prime Ministerial candidate: President” (June 30th)
MR not named Prime Ministerial candidate: President http://t.co/n6lAZujqUj #LKA #SriLanka
— DailyMirror (@DMbreakingnews) June 30, 2015
The content of their articles and their headlines are highly controversial. Here is how the same news items were reported by the Sirasa News first’s Social Media Team;
1.) “Possible candidacy of former president Rajapaksa: Public officials express views” (June 30th)
Possible candidacy of former president Rajapaksa: Public officials express views : http://t.co/XvxpgI1UTo #News1st #srilanka #lka — Newsfirst (@newsfirst_en) June 30, 2015
2.) “BREAKING NEWS: SLFP has not named a PM candidate for the next Election, President Sirisena has not agreed to name such a candidate -PMD” (June 30th)
BREAKING NEWS: SLFP has not named a PM candidate for the next Election, President Sirisena has not agreed to name such a candidate -PMD #lka
— Newsfirst (@newsfirst_en) June 30, 2015
Despite the rumours, on July 3rd it was announced officially that President Maithripala Sirisena and the UPFA has agreed to give nominations to Mahinda Rajapaksa, reported by NewsFirst Twitter. The Daily Mirror reported it as “UPFA agrees to give nomination to MR”. However, in between DM has posted another update on the rising situation based on third-party sources again with a controversial headline “Maithri rejects MR”. Our conclusion is, for the most credible and well-written content follow Sirasa Newsfirst’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. After the official announcement, Harin Fernando tweeted;
I will stick to my decision coz it’s not worth being in politics if people can be this crazy. I belive MS has a plan, we will know it soon — Harin Fernando (@fernandoharin) July 3, 2015
On 4th of July at an event, Harin Fernando made a few comments which have been quite controversial on media and mainly on Social Media. The following video is a cut from the original speech he gave which has been rotating in Social Media recently.
The man behind all the Social Buzz- Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had two major meetings which received huge buzz in Social Media regardless the less publicity given to it through traditional media. The Facebook post for the meeting in Pasgama, has received over 11,900 likes and over 900 Facebook shares. In his 2nd meeting; which was in Teldeniya, he received a massive audience, the Facebook post got over 11,000 likes and over 1,000 Facebook shares. The events and the Social Media coverage was by the ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa Media Unit’.
You can join the General Election buzz through the following hashtags;
- The main hashtag is #GenEleSL
- If your remaining character limit is low, the shorter hashtag is #SLGE15
If you follow these hashtags on Twitter, you will come across some interesting tweets from ‘biased’ and ‘unbiased’ journalists stating their independent opinions. Following are more interesting tweets with the hashtags #GenEleSL #SLGE15;
Tweet 01:
#lka #socialmedia voices that cheered @MaithripalaS just months ago are now critical of him. #GenEleSL #අයියෝසිරිසේන pic.twitter.com/yGvV0pXSIP
— Nalaka Gunawardene (@NalakaG) July 5, 2015
Tweet 02:
හංස හිංසන?! pic.twitter.com/sNXjES9CMu #අයියෝසිරිසේන #SLGE15 #lka — Ajnabhii Al Srilanki (@AjnabhiiTweets) July 6, 2015
Tweet 03:
Dismayed with @MaithripalaS allowing #GenEleSL nominations for MR? Use hashtag #අයියෝසිරිසේන or #IOSirisena when u tweet protests #SLGE15
— Nalaka Gunawardene (@NalakaG) July 6, 2015
Tweet 04:
To Rajapaksas, the end always justifies the means… Cartoon by Namal Amarasinghe, @DMbreakingnews #GenEleSL #SLGE15 pic.twitter.com/4Pq7fV5Mea
— Nalaka Gunawardene (@NalakaG) July 6, 2015
For interesting tweets about the General election you can follow the Twitter accounts below;
- Nalaka Gunawardene– Science writer and a columnist
- Azzam Ameen– BBC Reporter/Producer
- Dinouck Colombage– Contributing journalist to Al-Jazeera. Contributing photographer to Getty Images.
- Ranga Sirilal– Contributing journalist to Reuters
- Shihar Aneez– Correspondent, Reuters Sri Lanka and Maldives.