My Name Is Khan: The Use of Twitter in the Campaign for 2013 Pakistan General Election

The 2013 Pakistan General Election was as a democratic milestone in the nation´s troubled political history which also witnessed the rise of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI, under its leader Imran Khan), from its marginal status to a formidable political status. This study focuses on the first ever Twitter campaign by Pakistani political parties to mobilize, inform and engage voters during the elections. Through a content analysis of tweets (n =10140) from top four parties, our study reveals significant differences in their usage patterns. PTI´s twitter usage was the most distinctive as it involved greater interaction with the public, more campaign updates and greater mobilization of citizens to vote. Through triangulation of our findings with public ally available election data we also find that PTI´s success (at a provincial level) was largely driven by a unique combination of Twitter communication and face-to-face campaigning aimed at increasing voter turnout, especially among the youth population.