Politička propaganda, kao strateški planirano upravljanje informativnim sadržajem koje provodi politička elita s ciljem preoblikovanja percepcije i utjecaja na ponašanje, integrirani je dio političke komunikacije. Iako su predizborne kampanje prilika političkim strankama za argumentiranu prezentaciju svojih programa, u njima je nerijetko dominantan utjecaj propagandnoga sadržaja, pri čemu politički diskurs podliježe propagandnim principima razmjene emocionalnih i racionalnih apela. Cilj rada bio je utvrditi prisutnost propagandnoga sadržaja u komunikaciji političkih stranaka tijekom predizborne kampanje, kao i učinke do kojih dovode. Korištene su metode kvalitativne i kvantitativne analize sadržaja izbornih programa, vizualnih materijala i komunikacijskih rješenja u virtualnom javnom prostoru, na primjerima Hrvatske demokratske zajednice (HDZ) i Socijaldemokratske partije Hrvatske (SDP) uoči parlamentarnih izbora 2016.

Political propaganda, the strategically planned control of informative content by political elites with the goal of re-shaping perception and influencing behaviour, is an integral part of political communication. Although election campaigns are an opportunity for political parties to give well-argued presentations of their programmes, they are often dominated by propaganda-laden content, which subjects the political discourse to the principles of the exchange of emotional and rational appeals. The goal of this thesis is to determine the presence of propaganda-laden content in the communication of political parties during an election campaign, as well as the effects that they lead to. This study relies upon both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the content of election campaign programmes, visual materials, and communication solutions in virtual public space, using materials circulated by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP) in the weeks leading up to the 2016 parliamentary elections in Croatia.