The nature of election campaigning has changed significantly over time. Political parties and candidates are now placing strong emphasis on digital outreach.
An analysis shows that in the run-up to the 13th Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) election, candidates and supporters of various parties spent more than USD 52,000 on political advertising on Facebook in just one month. In Bangladeshi currency, the amount is roughly Tk 6.4 million.
An analysis of data from Meta’s Ad Library under the category “Social Issues, Elections and Politics” shows that this expenditure was made over a 30-day period, from 25 December last year, following the announcement of the election schedule, to 23 January this year.
This report analyses spending by 112 Facebook pages that spent at least USD 100 on advertisements over the past month. Advertising expenditures below USD 100 are not directly disclosed in Meta’s Ad Library.
As a result, it is clear that the actual advertising expenditure by political parties and candidates is likely significantly higher than the figures presented here.
Who spent how much
According to Meta Ad Library data, a total of USD 52,411 was spent over the past month on political content by political parties, candidate-named pages, and pages carrying various slogans.
In terms of advertising expenditure, the BNP is ahead among political parties. The party also has the highest number of candidates contesting the election scheduled for 12 February. Of the 112 pages analysed, at least 50 spent money promoting BNP-aligned content.
Jamaat-e-Islami ranks second, with at least 33 pages spending money on the party’s promotion. Other parties involved in such campaigns include the National Citizen Party (NCP), Islami Andolon Bangladesh, AB Party, as well as independent candidates.
In total expenditure as a party, BNP again leads. The 50 pages promoting BNP content spent a combined USD 30,916, equivalent to approximately Tk 3.771 million.
Among individuals, BNP candidate for Chattogram-7 constituency Humam Qader Chowdhury spent the most. Over the past month, his page spent USD 4,200 (more than Tk 500,000).
Pages promoting Jamaat-e-Islami spent a total of USD 11,222, equivalent to Tk 1.369 million. The highest spending among Jamaat-aligned pages came from the page “Jamaat Dhaka-15, Mirpur-Kafrul,” which spent USD 1,447 (Tk 176,000).
Jamaat ameer Shafiqur Rahman is contesting from this constituency. Another Jamaat candidate, Md Abdul Baten from Dhaka-16, spent USD 926 (Tk 112,000) from his page.
The highest expenditure for the National Citizen Party (NCP) came from the page of its Dhaka-20 candidate, Nabila Tasnim, which spent USD 707 (Tk 86,000).
Independent candidates were not far behind in spending either. Some independents made substantial investments in digital campaigning. One such candidate is MAH Selim, contesting from three constituencies in Bagerhat. His page spent USD 1,900 (Tk 231,000). Over the past month, the former Member of Parliament ranked fourth in terms of highest digital campaign spending.
Number of advertisements by party
BNP also leads in the number of advertisements. Pages promoting BNP content ran a total of 2,224 advertisements. Jamaat-e-Islami-aligned pages ran 739 ads. Islami Andolon Bangladesh follows with 80 ads, while NCP pages ran 77 ads.
However, at the individual level, Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Md Abdul Baten ran the highest number of advertisements—233 in total over the past month. BNP candidate Md Abul Kalam ranked second with 232 ads.
While the election commission has set expenditure limits for candidates’ election campaigns, questions are being raised about how closely digital advertising expenses are being monitored.
According to election commission sources, a monitoring cell exists to oversee candidate expenditures for the 13th parliamentary election, but it has not yet become fully operational.
When contacted on the matter, an EC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Prothom Alo that monitoring of candidates’ campaign spending needs to be intensified and that the Commission will take a tough stance on the issue.