Women candidates and Islamic personalization in social media campaigns for local parliament elections in Indonesia

Studies of women candidates and social media campaigns in many countries around the world identify an increasing trend towards personalization in elections. This article examines the pattern of personalization at the local level in the world's largest democratic Muslim country, Indonesia, where this important phenomenon has not yet been explored. The most interesting element of our findings is the characteristic of personalization in social media campaigns through the use of Islamic personalization. This article explains the motives and personalities of women candidates who used Islamic personalization on their social media campaigns in local parliamentary elections in Indonesia. For female candidates, Islamic personalization is a campaign strategy to get closer to voters and, at the same time, to create a pious image for them. The greater the development of Islamic personalization, the higher the level of positive responses. Islamic personalization and social media increase the number of alternative media campaigns for women candidates to fight in the election, and not merely to fulfil the quota requirements. This study explains the significantly increasing trend of Islamic personalization in social media, which has supported growing political participation for women in electoral campaigns, and their representation in local parliaments.