Populism and its transformation in the digital age: the case of the 2023 Presidential Elections

Populism, which contains methodological differences and is open to debate in its conceptual aspect, includes diversity in time and context from a global perspective. In this study, which aims to analyze how and for what purposes populist discourses, which include different ideologies and are addressed in the context of the X platform in the digital age, are used by populists, the populist discourses of the presidential candidates of political parties and alliances in the 14 May and 28 May 2023 Presidential elections were examined using the critical discourse analysis method, based on the categories in the coding table created by Ruth Wodak against the discourses of right-wing populist parties. In the study, all X posts of the People's Alliance presidential candidate Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Nation Alliance presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu during the presidential transition process on May 14 and May 28 were examined, while the X posts of the Ata Alliance candidate Sinan Oğan and the Homeland Party candidate Muharrem İnce, who was removed from candidacy two days before the election, were analyzed until May 14 using the analysis method. As a result of the study, it was found that all candidates clearly implemented their populist strategies via the X platform, but the Ata Alliance candidate Sinan Oğan had more posts addressing the public, the People's Alliance candidate Recep Tayyip Erdoğan supported his populist-toned speeches more with the "we" strategy, and the Nation Alliance candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu used the "them" presentation more than the other candidates. Accordingly, it was realized that these populists in Turkish politics shaped their populist discourses via the X platform.