Personal Branding of Political Candidates in Southeast Asian Elections

Political branding is an important concept in general elections and adaptation of political candidates in Southeast Asia. Social media is a tool disseminated in election campaigns used by candidates. This study aims to explain and compare the personal strategies of candidates in general elections in Southeast Asian countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The method used in this study is systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA), the process of which is through document identification, screening, and the results of the reviewed documents. Researchers collected documents from Scopus from 2015-2025, the last ten years. The results of the study show that the personal political brand owned by candidates in each region has different strategies where candidates adapt to the conditions of their country including reputation, image, characteristics, personality or identity and impressions as part of the personal branding concept framework. In various countries such as Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam, and Thailand, in carrying out their politics, candidates are still controlled by the king's control because they use a monarchy system. The similarities in the personal branding of candidates in Southeast Asia still use political narratives that are closely related to identity politics, local culture, money politics, political networks with celebrities, family politics, and patronage politics to persuade or gain votes in elections

General election · Narrative · Nation branding · Personality · Political communication · Politics · Southeast asia · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Media Studies and Communication