Abstract

In the context of the digitalization of political communication, public authorities increasingly use social media to inform citizens about electoral processes and to shape public interpretations of institutional reforms. This trend is particularly visible during periods of constitutional and electoral change, when state institutions seek not only to communicate procedural information but also to legitimize reforms in the public sphere.

This paper examines the communication strategies of electoral authorities on social media during constitutional reform processes, focusing on the cases of 2020 Russian constitutional referendum and 2022 Kazakh constitutional referendum. The study analyzes how official accounts of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation and the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan construct narratives aimed at explaining and legitimizing institutional reforms.

The research addresses the following question: how do electoral authorities use social media to frame and legitimize electoral and constitutional reforms during periods of institutional change? The paper hypothesizes that electoral authorities primarily rely on informational and procedural frames that present reforms as technical and administrative processes rather than political decisions. It also assumes that communication strategies shift closer to the voting period, placing greater emphasis on citizen participation and the legitimacy of the electoral process.

Methodologically, the study combines qualitative and quantitative content analysis of posts published on official social media accounts of the electoral authorities. The empirical dataset includes posts published in the period preceding and during the reform campaigns, allowing the analysis of dominant themes, legitimation frames, and communication formats used in digital political communication.

By comparing the Russian and Kazakhstani cases, the paper seeks to identify similarities and differences in how electoral institutions frame institutional reforms in digital environments. The findings contribute to the broader discussion on the role of social media in the communication strategies of state institutions and in the public legitimation of political reforms.