Public communication by mayors through Twitter during elections

Introduction. This paper examines the use of Twitter as a channel of institutional communication by the mayors of provincial capitals and presidents of autonomous cities of Spain during the pre-election, election period and one week after the municipal elections of May 2015. Methodology. A content analysis of the profiles that municipal representatives acting under the banner of PP and PSOE are opened in this microblogging platform analyze the activity of mayors and followers of their accounts. Result and conclusions. Key findings include the Mayors' making electioneering and the partisan use of their institutional accounts. The interest in local environment messages between user which demonstrates through the spread of their accounts, choosing them as favorites, as well as the commentary fulfilment. Lastly, the headlines show respect towards the "reflection day".