The qualitative analysis of the topics covered by the parties, merging the quantitative outcomes with an in-depth analysis of the tweets, can help the researcher present a more exhaustive picture of the frames used. This section deals with the analysis of different tweets that include the most repeated terms analyzed in the previous section, as a way of exploring the topics underlying them.

Podemos makes use of different slogans during the campaign. In their hashtags, they include the slogan created for these specific elections (’Let the majority speak’), combined with the one that became famous after the creation of the party (’#YesWeCan’). The first one (see examples on Table 7) clearly represents a way to discriminate between ’the majority’ (low class) and ’the minority’ (upper class) [Pod1].

This polarization, constantly present in the party’s discourse, is based on the confrontation of two groups, quite common in populist discourses. In that discourse, Podemos identifies itself as the representative of the working class, as opposed to an upper class that rules only looking for its own benefit. This pillar of Podemos’ discourse is frequently reinforced; for example, by mentioning more times the ‘neighbourhood’ and by repeating the slogan with variations in combination with thin-populist frames like ‘social justice’ and ‘democracy’ versus the ‘ultra-right’ (equivalent to ‘far-right’, ‘extreme right’) [Pod2; Pod3]. Occasionally, this confrontation went to the personal level between ‘Vallecas’ and VOX’ national leader, Santiago Abascal [Pod4].

Regarding the concept of freedom, Podemos uses PP’s slogan but adding question marks. This strategy can be seen as a ‘mirror’ framing that fosters partisan adhesion because it introduces the same dichotomy exposed by PP but expressed as an interrogative sentence to, later on, deepen in the characterization of the opposition as ‘extreme’, ‘ultra’, or ‘terrorist’ [Pod5; Pod6]. This aggressiveness with the right-wing parties worked as a ‘catch-all’ strategy used mainly to attack PP [Pod7] and VOX [Pod8]. For example, relating ‘PP’, ‘ultras’, and religious child abuses to highlight a national law passed by the left block [Pod9], a semantics with clear reminiscences to the historical ‘two Spains’ (the breach between the republican and the fascist divisions) exploited by Podemos several timesFootnote 8. It shall be stated that Podemos implicitly makes a difference between PP and the far-right when speaking about the threats and violent episodes that took place during that time [Pod11]. With the usage of very similar semantics to VOX, the ‘us’ is the majority that, through Podemos, is going to be ‘freed’ and ‘protected’ from hate speech.

Finally, Podemos also applies this strategy to separate itself from the establishment and the hybrid-media system to highlight again that its real support comes from ‘people from the neighbourhood’ (identifying ‘neighbourhood’ with lower classes) [Pod10].

Más Madrid is the only party that does not publish among its most used terms any reference to its campaign slogan (‘For the things that really matter’); as has been stated, the slogan is only present as a frequent hashtag. Its messages (see examples on Table 8) tend to emphasize its candidate’s name (the two most frequent bigrams and the most frequent trigram) and focus on framings using the word ‘more’ in conjunction with its main programmatic identity lines (‘green’, ‘fair, ‘strong’). By doing this, Más Madrid builds its self-presentation around transverse values that are usually more related to the left side of the spectrum. Frequent mentions to mental health [MM3], green politics [MM4], and economy point to thin-populist frames [MM5], but clearly avoid the classic rhetoric of the class struggle that Podemos exploited towards confrontations.

Around the framing of ‘freedom’, several strategies are found. First, Más Madrid replicates Podemos’ approach by appealing to ‘hope’, neighbourhood’, and ‘town’ [MM1]. Second, instead of focusing on the concept of ‘working-class’ associated with Vallecas, Más Madrid used identity frames to show that VOX’ ‘intolerant’ discourse is an ‘insult’ to all Madrid citizens that are women, immigrants, or lgtbi+ [MM2]. This strategy avoids the separation between the two blocks found in Podemos, confronting VOX’s discourse with several identity frames that appeal to a more plural society. And third, one aspect where Más Madrid’s tone was especially hard appeared in the bigram (‘boys’ + ’girls’), regarding the ‘freedom’ that the right-wing parties defend for the parents to choose the topics to be taught in public schools [MM6]. However, this tone was also present repudiating the identification of ‘MENAs’Footnote 9 with insecurity and delinquency made by VOX [MM7]. Here the tone ranged from concrete propositions to clear populist confrontations and insults [MM8].

PSOE’s slogan, ‘Do it for Madrid’, appears relatively neutral compared to the ones from other parties. Instead of following other parties’ strategies based on confrontation, PSOE tried to appear as a secure, institutional option (see examples on Table 9), highlighting also its politics during its long life (‘142’, ‘years’) [PSOE1] and its candidate’s seriousness (the candidate, Ángel Gabilondo, was the oldest one with 72 years and a well-known academic career as the Rector of Autonomous University of Madrid) by publishing the slogan ‘#RuleSeriously’. This frame was used to attack Ayuso when she tried to buy the SputnikV vaccine for the population in Madrid, by asking if that unilateral decision is ‘democracy’ or ‘national populist authoritarianism’ [PSOE2], and also to make a veiled criticism of Ciudadanos, by stressing that ‘there is no possible equidistance’ between ‘democracy’ and ‘fascism’ [PSOE3]. Finally, the institutional focus was stressed by re-tweeting a message calling the left block to be united against any threat of violence [PSOE4].

In this line, the hashtag ‘#WeDemocratsAreMore’ was extensively used to encourage people to vote (‘freedom’, ‘go’, ‘vote’) against the ‘far’, ‘extreme’ right that ‘hate’ and are ‘violent’ [PSOE5]. Interestingly, in this call to the ‘massive’ ‘democratic’ ‘vote’, there is no mention to ‘neighbourhood’, or ‘the people from below’. Here, the call to civil mobilization is framed around classic social-democratic narratives relating ‘freedom’ with ‘equality’, and looking to ‘avoid going back to the past’, where the ‘past’ clearly refers to the Francoist dictatorship, a ‘racist, classist, sexist and homophobic’ era represented by the right block [PSOE6]. Another way to frame PP was regarding Ayuso’s statements in which she called those who went to the ‘hunger queues’ ‘dependent’ people, pointing to the ‘insensitivity towards inequality’ that Ayuso expressed [PSOE7].

Finally, another topic used as a frame to attack the right parties and to outline differences from the other left-wing alternatives is the lgtbi+ violence that happened during that time lapse. PSOE is the political option where references to these two aspects are more frequent and explicitly used to associate ‘lgtbiphobia’ with the ‘freedom and beers’ politics of Ayuso [PSOE8].

Ciudadanos uses ‘ChooseCentre’ as the slogan, trying to appear as a moderate group compared to the rest, a formula that gave them good results in previous elections, especially concerning the ‘extremist’ positions maintained by the other parties on different topics. Thus, its bigrams and trigrams about common liberal democratic values (‘respect’, ‘tolerance’, ‘coexistence’, ‘equality’, ‘moderation’) with a focus on its management efficiency and ‘decency’ (‘great’, ‘job’) that seeks to differentiate this option as a moderate political option (see examples on Table 10), different from PSOE’s social-democratic frames [CS1]. In this case, this strategy was used to attack the national government parties on one side, and PP on the other side. In this way, Ciudadanos presents a strategy that frames them as the efficient management option that worked as a counterbalance between PP and other extremist positions [CS2].

Regarding the concept of ‘freedom’, Ciudadanos presents a harder tone, especially when emphasizing PP’s strategy behind the call to elections: to obtain a higher majority that would allow PP to govern alone or with the only support of VOX and thus leaving the centred option outside the government [CS3].

Ciudadanos’ most frequent negative bigrams and trigrams are divided into three clear frames. First, the most frequent bigram, ‘Pablo’ + ’Iglesias’, acts as a frame to criticize Podemos’ candidate work in the central government, indirectly criticizing PSOE as well [CS4]. Second, the bigrams and trigrams mentioning ‘mud’, ‘machinery’, ‘fake news’ are exclusively aimed at describing stories disseminated by various media associated with the left and right of the political spectrum as ‘fake’ content. This strategy can be seen as a two-way game, showing its centred moderation through its good disposition to speak with everybody on all occasions but, parallelly, through its attacks on several mass media from both sides of the political spectrum [CS5; CS6]. Finally, a third frame is built around the call to elections itself through the words ‘Ayuso’, ‘irresponsible’, ‘liar’, ‘madrileños’, or ‘deserve’. They focus on the region’s situation and on its consequences, using them to attack the decision by PP’s candidate about anticipating the elections [CS7]. Again, this is a way to stress its role as a relevant option to ‘prevent the extremes from directing their [Madrid’s citizenship] future’ [CS8].

The frame regarding its ‘centred political position’ is also present in its messages regarding the different violent incidents that happened during that time [CS9]. Besides the fact that almost all parties explicitly rejected the incidents, Ciudadanos carefully used its centred narrative by stressing its condemnation of ‘all kinds of violences’, including the ‘harassment’ suffered since its political beginnings [CS10].

From the beginning of the campaign and in clear contrast with the other parties, PP used its slogan ‘Freedom’ extensively and in different ways; for example, linked in a condensed way with its candidate (‘freedom’, ‘#ImWithAyuso’, ‘#VoteFreedom’) or to object to its opponent’s values (‘Communism’ vs. ‘Freedom’; ‘Socialism’ vs.‘Freedom’). In this way, PP presented itself positively by using its slogan to confront the left-wing parties and the national government’s decisions, putting the semantic emphasis on a dichotomized election: on ‘freedom’ they defend against the ‘communism/socialism’, represented by PSOE, Podemos, and Más Madrid.

Concerning the general vocabulary used in the discourse, three sets of terms can be differentiated (see examples on Table 11). First, the most frequent bigrams and trigrams are related to the concept of ‘threats’. The most liked and re-tweeted message is a simple statement condemning the violence [PP1, PP2]. The difference with other groups is PP’s explicit support to VOX concerning the incidents during a rally in Vallecas, questioning the appropriation by Podemos of the neighbourhoods [PP2, PP3].

The second set involves the confrontation with other political parties. For example, regarding the issue of children’s education, the inclusive language or the educational law [PP4, PP5].

Finally, the third set concerns the main confrontation that PP wants to highlight: the political conflict between them and the Spanish government. This confrontation, developed during the COVID crisis, increased after the strategy of Madrid’s region of facing several restrictions ordered by the central government for as long as possible. This conflict, which started as a public health issue, was extended to other topics, such as economy, education, or employment[PP6, PP7, PP8, PP9].

The main particularity of VOX’s discourses is its use of a war-discursive narrative (see examples on Table 12). This is present in several points, such as its slogan ‘Protect Madrid’, explained as the protection of Madrid against ‘all the enemies of Spain’Footnote 10[VOX1]. This war-like narrative also works on how they deal with the issue of ‘violence’, ‘death’, and ‘threats’ [VOX2, VOX3]. VOX uses the mirror discourse claiming for the condemnation of ‘all kinds of violences’, suggesting this way that the left block should also condemn the violence that VOX suffers, including the one caused by the ‘establishment’ and some mass media using a straightforward and partisan vocabulary [VOX4, VOX5].

Concerning the frequent bigrams and trigrams from its discourse, almost all of the thin-populist topics can be found around the notion that traditions, family (according to its classic catholic notion) and jobs are being jeopardized and need to be protected. The unigram ‘death’ is repeatedly mentioned by VOX, as a reference to the policies implemented by the central government concerning the COVID crisis. In this line, this organization also uses the words ‘treason’, ‘illegal immigration’ and ‘delinquency’, or ‘communist assault’. This is highly related to its slogan and its bellicose position during the campaign, criticized by other parties for its explicit mentions of the relationship between immigration and crime [VOX10]. More than any other political option, VOX uses the negative content to express and frame its political proposals, going against the political establishment. Its messages are especially frequent and aggressive with Pablo Iglesias [VOX5], Pedro Sánchez, and the national government [VOX6]. However, they also use this strategy to attack the national PP and the mediatic machinery.

VOX also uses extensively its slogan ‘protectmadrid’ to speak about classic issues in working-class neighbours like violence, drug addiction, and giving political promises to working-class people and small business owners [VOX7, VOX8, VOX9]. In doing so, VOX interpellates the same target population avoiding the classic ‘class-struggle’ conflict and aligning the interest of several groups affected by the political decisions during the pandemic.

This partisan anti-establishment narrative that aligns VOX with the working classes is used as a bridge to justify another classic populist proposal that produces confrontation: illegal immigration. VOX is especially aggressive regarding insecurity, shootings between bands, drugs, and almost any other problem they associate with illegal immigration [VOX10]. But at the same time, there are several references to ‘our Hispanic American brothers’ that suffered the totalitarian communist regimes [VOX11].