Political strategists in new territories will rely on billboards and Telegram

Political technologists begin preparations for the election campaign for the elections to the parliaments of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as to the legislative assemblies of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, annexed to Russia by the results of referendums on September 30, 2022. Now there are practically no campaign materials in the new territories and party symbols are present mainly at points of distribution of humanitarian aid to local residents and in the offices of newly opened regional branches, says a representative of one of the non-parliamentary parties that plans to take part in the upcoming elections.

Based on the experience of referendums on joining Russia, which took place in the new territories from September 23 to 27, 2022, the use of billboards was recognized as a successful form of campaigning, says a political strategist who participated in the campaign and plans to work in the upcoming elections. Despite the reports that appeared in Telegram channels last year about the shelling of outdoor advertising objects in new territories, billboards are planned to be used to the maximum. “They don’t shoot at banners in a targeted way. You can’t shoot everything,” the interlocutor notes.