DIGITAL DUEL by NewsVibe. TOP 5 parties in the Romanian online space, in the last week

According to the data extracted and analyzed with the help of NewsVibe, an AI media and social media monitoring platform, the last seven days have brought an increase in online visibility for PSD, PNL, and USR, while UDMR and AUR have recorded declines.

The week was marked by the intensification of disputes within the coalition, on topics such as the project regarding the retirement of judges – signals were sent from PSD indicating that a new negative decision from the CCR should lead to the resignation or dismissal of the Government, appointments to positions (the case of Oana Gheorghiu's proposal for the position of Deputy Prime Minister), official nominations of candidates for the Bucharest City Hall elections, or announcements regarding candidacy intentions, as well as attempts by the political area to associate with high-impact events, such as the consecration of the painting in the National Cathedral.

The increases recorded by the top three parties are, however, far from being uniform. PSD recorded a significant increase of almost 50% compared to the previous period, a net pace superior to that recorded by PNL and USR.

NEWSVIBE GRAPH. Top 5 parties by the volume of mentions in relevant online and social media sources (sources validated by the NewsVibe platform), in the last week.

VISIBILITY AND COMPARATIVE IMPACT. The competitive analysis engine created by NewsVibe evaluates the ability of political actors to penetrate the online space, directly compared to their competitors.

50% of the total mentions about parties this week are dedicated to PSD. In other words, PSD generated more mentions than all the other parties in the coalition combined.

The estimated impact of these mentions is, however, below 40% of the total, indicating a less effective coverage relative to volume. In contrast, the estimated impact of mentions regarding the other parties is, in each case, higher than their actual share in the total mentions.

The performer of the week is UDMR – although mentions about the Union represent only 5% of the total, they record an estimated impact almost double.

NewsVibe Charts. The share of the number of mentions (left), respectively the impact of mentions (right) about each of the parties from the total cumulative mentions about all five

NETWORK ANALYSIS. The tool created by NewsVibe – semantic network analysis – uses advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to build interaction maps that highlight: the central actors of a conversation, the connections between them, the groups (clusters) of themes, concepts, and influencers (personalities and organizations) that have formed around an event, subject, or idea.

NewsVibe Chart. The semantic network associated with the online conversation about the main 5 parliamentary parties, in the last week 

What the analysis shows:

• A distinct area of online conversation about coalition disputes is maintained, at the center of which is PSD, the main actor of this week, around which terms such as Romania, Sorin Grindeanu, Ilie Bolojan, or Nicușor Dan gravitate. In this area, the majority of discussions about topics such as the retirement of judges, the resignation/dismissal of the Prime Minister, measures to reduce the budget deficit, including the reform of the administration, are concentrated.
• There is also a distinct segment of online conversation about parties, dedicated to Bucharest City Hall elections, where PNL is the dominant actor of the week, associated with terms such as Ciprian Ciucu (designated by PNL Bucharest as the liberal candidate for the position of mayor), Capital City Hall, or Bucharest.
• Finally, an area of online conversation is emerging that centers on AUR and USR, heavily influenced by exchanges of replies on social networks between members or supporters of the two parties, alongside the media positions of established figures from both formations. These disputes have targeted both political themes – such as the activity of certain ministers, as well as momentary impact subjects, such as the consecration of the painting in the Cathedral of the Salvation of the Nation, which has brought back to the forefront the polarization between conservatives and progressives, in the sense that these concepts are used in the public space in Romania.

SENTIMENT. The NewsVibe platform has created an advanced automated sentiment analysis system, which uses specially trained AI algorithms and LLM tools to detect tonal nuances – favorable, unfavorable, or neutral – in the context of references to entities relevant to an online conversation.

NewsVibe Chart. Automatic evaluation of the tone of the online conversation about the main 5 parliamentary parties, in the week

What the analysis shows:

• PSD, Ilie Bolojan, Sorin Grindeanu, and the Government are the most frequently publicized by online sources in negative or polarizing contexts, a phenomenon influenced by recent disputes on sensitive topics for governance. In a secondary plan, both AUR and USR have been visible online in similar contexts.
• However, there are also positive contexts in which political names have been present – either through association with large-scale events, such as the consecration of the painting in the National Cathedral, or through decisions related to candidacies for the Capital City Hall (Băluță, Ciucu).
• A name reflected ambivalently (both favorably and critically): Oana Gheorghiu.
• The polarization of the online conversation about parties is becoming increasingly evident, a trend strongly accentuated by the persistence of tensions within the coalition and the approach of a new electoral moment, that of the Bucharest elections, which will contribute to maintaining this conflictual dynamic.

*****Summary created with the help of a data monitoring flow provided by the media monitoring platform NewsVibe Romania. The analysis, data, and images presented have been enhanced with the help of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools.