Normalization versus Equalization Effects of the Internet for Political Parties: Singapore's General Election 2015 as a Case Study

According to the equalization theory, new media levels the electoral playing field for smaller political parties to compete equally. The normalization theory, however, suggests the opposite – the major party continues to dominate the online space, just as it does offline. The question we ask is this: Does the Internet help the opposition parties in Singapore overcome structural disadvantages offline, or does it replicate the dominance of the ruling party? We assessed five political parties according to how well they use their websites and Facebook during the 2015 general election (GE15). Our study found an overall normalization effect, where the main party emerged as the best user of new media in their campaign, and the opposition parties' use of new media reflected their strengths offline. As most papers have focused on democratic countries, this paper plugs a research gap by bringing to focus social media and elections studies in a semi-authoritarian country.