Elections and Digital Media in Multilevel Party Systems. The case of Ecuador Yanina Welp, Pedro Capra and Flavia Freidenberg Abstract Parallel to the challenges the transformation of political party system posits for representation, there is a growing body of literature on the role of digital social media to improve the quality of democracy. This could be a result of an increasing access to information and the promotion of a ‘political dialogue’ connecting citizen's and representatives, what is expected to have a positive effect on accountability and responsiveness. However, results are not crystal clear. Meanwhile, the relation between political parties and political uses of digital media in multilevel party systems (e.g with different level of competition at national and subnational levels) remains undercover. Combining both research agendas, this chapter seeks to understand to what extent politician's activity in digital media contribute to amplify and connect territorial agendas and accordingly reinforce or erode parties strengthens and linkages. The study focuses on the uses of twitter during the subnational election campaign of 2014 in Ecuador. With an exploratory aim the study focuses on a selection of intermediate and local levels (provinces – ‘prefecturas’ – of Guayas and Pichincha, municipalities of Guayaquil and Quito). Key words: ICTs, electoral campaign, agenda setting, Twitter, digital networks, Ecuador, subnational politics, political parties. 1