#Personal vs #Party: A comparative study of candidates’ new media campaigning in Japan and the United Kingdom

This paper examines how new media is affecting candidate personal vote seeking behaviour, at the constituency level by comparing data from general elections in two countries with different styles of campaigning – party-centred campaigning in the United Kingdom (2015 & 2017) and candidate-centred campaigning Japan (2014 & 2017). By utilising both content analysis of candidates’ use of new media platforms and in-person interviews with candidates, this study gives a deep description of how individual candidates are using online campaigning and to what degree they are pursuing a personal, rather than party vote. This study confirms that that Japanese candidates use new media to run more candidate centred campaigns, replicating traditional campaign styles, but also finds that other factors, namely candidates’ levels of experience and the strength of the national party, play a role in how candidates utilise new media. Now more so than ever, candidates are relying on personal image promotion as a major element of their campaigns.