Party digitalization: a non-partisan matter? Media narratives on party digitalization in Bulgaria

The use of online tools for internal and external party communication is an established part of party politics in Central and Eastern Europe. This development became further catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic as parties heavily relied on such tools in their recent election campaigns at local and national levels. By far the most experience in this respect has been gathered in Bulgaria, which held four parliamentary elections between April 2021 and October 2022. This article explores the media narratives on party digitalisation from key media outlets in the period between 2020 and 2022. Has party digitalisation been perceived as a vehicle for narrowing the gap between political parties and society or does this gap seem to have grown by the extensive use of online tools? The findings of this work would help us understand the effects of party digitalisation on its relations with wider society.