Female candidate word. The limited gender impact on the electoral discourse in Twitter

This article presents a descriptive analysis of the Twitter discourse of candidates for lehendakari during the 2016 Basque regional elections. Drawing on a corpus of 411 tweets and applying a framework of four framing categories and three discursive strategies, the study investigates how gender-related issues were integrated into the candidates’ communication strategies. Despite the unprecedented presence of female candidates, findings reveal a limited incorporation of gender perspectives. Most candidates prioritised policy issues, with little differentiation based on gender, and largely ignored feminist demands or equality-related content. Notably, only one candidate, Pili Zabala (Elkarrekin Podemos), made consistent references to gender issues, often framed from a personal rather than ideological stance. The research highlights the contradiction between party-level commitments to gender equality and the individual-level discursive practices of candidates. These results suggest that social media platforms, despite their potential for inclusivity and agenda-setting, may still replicate traditional political communication patterns. This study contributes to the fields of political communication, gender studies, and digital campaigning, offering insight into the intersection of cyberpolitics and feminist discourse in regional electoral contexts.