Elections are complex operations given the various moving parts that work together for an election to happen and adjudged effective. The Electoral Management Body, the political parties, the voters, the security agencies, the media operatives and the contestants are all key actors on one hand and on the other hand are election observation, electoral framework, primaries, campaign, accreditation, voter’s register appraisal, scheduling, logistics etc. together make the complex mix of an electioneering process. Running for political office is therefore an operation that must be schemed through all these different constituents to bring about success at the poll. This is effectively done through a well planned and properly implemented electioneering campaign.
In an ever competing political space, an electioneering campaign must be prosecuted deliberately, tactically and purposefully if the candidate is to be sold and bought by the electorates. As with every mission, having a campaign plan that clearly set out the objective and the processes is critical to a successful campaign organization and winning the election. I will share relevant resources as I work you through the integrals of an effective electioneering campaign.
RUNNING ELECTIONEERING CAMPAIGN;
Assemblage of a complete team
It all begins with the quality and character of the campaign team a candidate has in place. In most elections, besides the personality of the candidate themselves, it is the conduct of the campaign team that could very easily tank an election. on the other hand, if the team sucks, it can rob off the image of the candidate which is most likely to cost him victory at the poll.
In assembling a campaign team therefore, the candidate must pay very particular attention to the following aspects and expertise
- MediaA good media team can make even a bad candidate soar in popularity in the polls. One must be deliberate, strategic and particular in putting together the media team for a vibrant electioneering campaign to be possible. Media has become diverse in platforms and must be all harnessed in the team. Traditional media, social and online media platforms can effectively combine to make all the difference a candidate needs to be popular with the electorates. Aside getting the right mix of media experts, it is essential to develop a media strategy that is robust and all encompassing. The plan can keep modifying depending on the emerging challenges in the course of the campaign. For the huge role of social media in marketing and demarketing, an efficient media team must include social media savvy that is squarely responsible for planning and implementing social media campaign for the team. Report by Jennifer Sheahan on how social media has changed the political campaign in 2015 would also be helpful to shape your social media campaign efforts.
- Policy and research: This is one unit of the campaign organization that makes for completeness of a candidate on all spheres of leadership. Generally, no candidate has it all but with policy and research experts’ inputs, a candidate is able to relate to all spheres with a tone of conviction. They chat the policy framework and direction for the candidate, undertake basic research on grey policy issues, review policies of previous leadership to establish common grounds. They also constantly review policy direction of opponent candidates to expose weakness in it. This team is very critical in a campaign as it supplies content for campaign messaging. Seek to hire dogged and versatile professionals in this group to deliver on a wide range of fronts.
- Finance Team: As with most democracies, electioneering campaigns are increasingly becoming expensive and having to source for funding almost in the entire lifespan of the campaign. It is therefore very critical to have finance experts to guide fundraising, management of the funds, and effective accountability; the lack of which can very quickly become the undoing of a campaign and its candidate. A lot of fraud can very easily be ascribed to a campaign organization at the slightest show of financial impropriety. This team has a responsibility for not just sourcing for funds, transparency and integrity is at its core as well. Joe Garecht gave more insight on effective fundraising for political campaigns.
- Logistics/itinerary: Campaigns are about outreach, outreach and outreach. Message about the candidate’s credence and worthiness must reach the voters; be it through campaign rallies, house-to-house visits, town hall meetings or via social media hangouts. Movements have to be planned in order to maximize space and resources. This unit has the sole responsibility for coordinating all campaign activities relating to rallies, travels, accommodation, debates, town hall meetings as well as fundraising events. The roles played by this unit is so critical hence must be handled by experts. If the itinerary for a campaign is agreed upon right from the beginning, it can very drastically control the cost of the process compared to the spontaneous movements and outreaches.
- Public Relations-PR: Image management during the campaign periods is very important. Tensions get high, opponents become desperate and a lot of stuff that could easily be pardoned gets hyped. It is the PR team that can very well manage some of those hypes and even try to spin some of the narratives that will work to the advantage of the candidate. Without a good PR team, the candidate must be a saint to avoid being easily dragged to the mud without defences. Appearances, attires, choice of words, messaging, political correctness and even the tone of delivery are things that become deliberate in an electioneering campaign, you cannot leave those to chance. A Good PR firm with experience can very well handle this aspects of a campaign. PR lesson reviews of the previous electioneering campaign activities also helps
- Expert consultants: Closely linked to policy and research is the use of expert consultants to strengthen the weakest links of the candidate by the campaign organization. No candidate has it all, one could be good in many areas but have no understanding of foreign policy, such weak areas can be improved by a vibrant campaign through the use of expert consultants. They are experts on economy, foreign policy, security, financial analysis, education and agriculture. A candidate that lacks sound background in some of these areas relies on the coaching of expert consultants in order to deliver policy statements in these fields.
•Political advisor: Party politics is unique and delicate given the diversity of membership that still has to agree on ideology and major policy hubs. A campaign cannot therefore focus on winning the general public votes without keeping an eye on internal party politics. Beyond election, it is the party’s support in cabinet composition that keeps a united front. It is therefore critical to have a seasoned political advisor who is well connected and experienced in mobilizing endorsements and support within the party for the candidate.- Volunteers: It is very impracticable to run a national campaign without proper use of volunteers. These are persons who take holiday from work to go and volunteer for campaign organizations to assist with telephone calls, sending of emails, reading feedbacks and making reports,house-to-house and one-on-one campaign, sending text messages, sharing handbills, setting up meeting venues and assisting with logistics as directed. Unfortunately, many developing democracies like Nigeria’s are yet to explore the use of volunteers in campaign. As an upside to volunteer use, they also count as votes for you on election day. They potentially have their friends and family likely to support their candidate. And most importantly, they work for free, no salaries needed, they are basically provided meals and in some instances transportation to and fro.
Other crucial matters closely linked to campaign organization for realization of the ultimate goal are;
Be strategic about when and what race to Contest:
The other critical thing to consider carefully is when to run for office, and what office to run for. At a time of economic down town. one who feels strong about their ability to handle economic problems of a state or country due to their practical experiences, will make a fine campaign running for governorship or presidential position.
• Timing: Deciding when to run for office is yet another move that could have significant impact on how effective a campaign can be. In a time of national prosperity, running against an incumbent can be efforts in futility as the electorates will be hard to sway from a tested leader who is doing them well. It is therefore very important to pick a time that has less odds in order to run a better campaign.
• Slogan: And depending on the office you are running for, couch a key message for the candidate in the election. A campaign must decide on a message that defines what the candidate offers if elected. APC/Buhari came up with “Change”, Trump says “make America great again” Barack Obama had “Yes, we can” Atiku had “Make good things happen”, my personal favourite Goodluck Jonathan’s in 2011 “Breathe of fresh air”. A message that resonates; make for easy sale of the candidate by the campaign organization.
Pick the right political platform.
This speaks directly to political parties and ideological lining. A smart candidate must do a thorough analysis of the mood of the people in the context of the current period they want to run for office. In democracies that political parties exist and operate by hard core ideologies, it is often the one that will best serve the gap in the society at the material time that is favoured. Therefore, anyone considering to run for office must first make the smart choice of what platform to run on. This choice is only needed for new entrants into the political space as political veterans already made the choice long ago and can only stand on their existing platforms. Unfortunately, in younger democracies, cross carpeting and defections from one political platform to another is possible. Meaning even political veterans can choose to defect and run for office on different platforms. In established democracies, defections will make politicians to lose their credibility. The bottom-line here however is that one must decide on what platform to run carefully and deliberately as it could make or mar ones’ chances of being elected.
Adopt a script:
predicated on the campaign slogan, adopt a narrative that is adaptable. If security is the general issue that is affecting every other aspect of the state or country, hinge your narrative around security. For example, a candidate running for governorship of a state that is ravaged by insurgency and crisis, a catchy campaign slogan could be – “Make us Safe again”. The entire election script can then be based on how insecurity has held back the state. Link that up with some of the plans to reverse the situation and make the state safe again.
• Content: The content of the script must be fact based and not just vaguely poetic. This is another area that policy and research can come handy in supporting the overall campaign script. Voters will believe more when their problems are discussed in greater details and the ideas on fixing such problems are practical.
• Messaging strategy: How the campaign content is disseminated is very critical. Some messages have to be targeted and delivered almost as though specific to one potential voter. The length of the message and the medium is yet another strategy that should be professionally handled. Specific mention by name of actual potential voters to demonstrate how a policy can positively affect them is a great way of inspiring believability in policy. There is also the consideration for messaging platforms that have feedback mechanism. This too must be target specific in order for the feedback to not be taken generally. Adverts have also become great messaging strategies such that a viable campaign cannot ignore.
Lookout for opportunities that swell your support base:
Electioneering campaign periods are slippery political times that throw up a lot of issues which must be dealt with very rapidly or they lose their value. The support trends also get to fluctuate intermittently; a good campaign organization should be able to follow the trends and take advantage of opponents’ support down time in order to grow its own base. As simple as a policy stance of a candidate can cause a drop in their followership. Such supporters can be won over to the other camp with the right message.
Campaigns sometimes come under serious controversies causing other candidates to even abandon the race or lose support base. A vibrant campaign organization that is on course must have a strategy for harvesting such political capital off controversies. There are also the special populations that have specific requests they make to all candidates. A savvy campaign organization should be more pro-active in reaching out to such special interest groups.
As a golden rule, electioneering campaign should be issue based and devoid of hate speech, intimidation and violence. Often, campaigns start off well but once attacked, they quickly abandon their focus and degenerate into a bully industry. In electioneering politics, taking jabs and swipes at opponents when they slip up is common place, but to make that the core of a campaign is inappropriate and could diminish one’s political clout in serious democracies. Serious campaigns from all parties in a race has potential for improving citizens’ political participation which in turn reduces the potential for rigging. This is why vibrant campaigns on all sides are encouraged.
Author: Laz Apir - Politics And Electioneering
• Source: Street Fight
More resources for a successful and winning electioneering campaign;
http://www.tenumia.com/run-vibrant-electioneering-campaign/#
