Technology Applications in Czech Presidential Elections of 2013: A Story of Social Networks

This paper is concerned with the recent presidential elections in the Czech Republic and the use of social media in the presidential campaign. For the first time in the history of the independent Czech state the citizens were given the opportunity to elect the head of the state. Although the Czech political system allocates the president purely representative role, the struggle for power yielded nine qualified candidates and attracted wide mass media and public attention. What appeared to be of a special interest in the 2013 elections was the use of social networks (in particular Facebook) in presidential campaign of Karel Schwarzenberg, the current minister of Foreign Affairs. Although the social networks stood behind the unexpected victory of Schwarzenberg and secured him the place in the second round, they failed to gain enough support for the candidate in the second round of elections. We analyze the main distinguishable features of Karel Schwarzenberg’s presidential campaign and the use of social networks by his electoral team and show that the excessive use of social media might lead to the exaggerated optimism and electoral failure. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n21p41