No 47 (2022): The changes the pandemic has brought to campaign communication.

The coronavirus pandemic, which began in China in late 2019 and spread globally throughout 2020, paralyzed many aspects of people's daily lives but did not halt the democratic life of countries, with elections and electoral campaigns being their ultimate expression. Throughout 2020, and more intensely in 2021, we witnessed the celebration, amid the health crisis, of various voting processes worldwide: the United States, Croatia (legislative), Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, and several regional elections in Spain (Galicia and the Basque Country initially, followed by Catalonia and Madrid) are some examples of votes that took place in a moment of unprecedented exceptionality. Faced with this new social and political reality, governments had a singular challenge—the management of the health crisis—and, in some cases, the complicated handling of an electoral call, a logistical, legal, and organizational challenge of the first order.

The development of political communication, particularly election campaigns, in this time of uncertainty and instability raises some questions: Did the pandemic change the way parties and candidates communicate? Did the pandemic introduce new spaces for message dissemination, alter messages, or enhance certain discourses? Did the pandemic accelerate pre-existing processes, or perhaps create new ones? What legal or logistical challenges did governments face in organizing elections during a pandemic? Were new strategies created, or were existing ones merely maintained but adapted to the health situation? Encouraged by these questions, we dedicate our issue 47 to the changes that the pandemic has produced in campaign communication, aware that this ongoing process will leave a profound imprint on our forms of social organization.