BY MENGESHA AMARE
Unquestionably, holding an election is a milestone, but it is not the key to a democratic lawfulness. In Ethiopia, many polls, five to enumerate, have failed to meet the internationally accepted standards for free and fair elections for the entire process was under the monopoly of a single party.
At present, most Ethiopians have embraced elections as indispensable mechanisms for determining their future course although country’s record on free and fair elections is moving in a sluggish pace.
Near recently, an astounding political transformation has taken place in the nation. Besides, the ever-changing state-Ethiopia-seems to be in the midst of momentous change. Yes, there is much more to democracy than elections-but elections are among the most visible elements.
Elections hold tremendous promise to deepen the quality of democratic governance but their benefits are by no means assured. That is why they should command attention as well as priority and parties are expected to bring together key documents and reports which have been involved within and around elections, with regular updates on important electoral themes.
Electoral campaigns can vividly portray a range of activities apart from making missions and visions public. How and where can campaigns be held?
The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has well pinpointed that election campaign can never be conducted in religious institutions such as churches, mosques, assembly centers, schools and market center environs so as not to disturb the smooth flow of activities via luring attentions of respective participants.
Obviously, the road to the National Palace is long, expensive, tiresome and exhausting. Becoming a candidate is only the beginning of the election process, and campaign is a channel to flow through though the decision is left to the electorate.
This writer talked to Yohannes Dereje about the significance of election campaigns and he said, “Undeniably, persuading voters is the essence of a political campaign. Campaigning for election is really exciting, but it can also seem a bit overwhelming. It must be noted that a brief synopsis of what functions well and what to avoid should be well taken into account. Focusing on respective own campaigns is the most important thing.”
As to Yohannes, it would be illegitimate and unacceptable to talk about others apart from solely propagating their own manifestations, programs and options to offer the general electorate if given chance to power. Contending political parties have to introduce their manifesto and be able to talk about it and stick with it.
Though candidate’s every word, every action, and even their perceived thoughts are paraded before the public, many of the methods for persuading voters remain essentially the same, he said. He further said that political parties have to curious enough about what they are going to transmit so as to make sure that the campaign they run is appropriate to the context in which they are competing as campaign plans are not simply calendars of activities rather frameworks required to be elected or to be re-elected putting in place a clear and strategic goal in mind.
“Manifestoes need to be well campaigned as they are the choices put before voters. But if those ideas are not communicated effectively, to the right voters, using appropriate language and through a medium in which they can be heard and acted upon, those parties’ ideas will not be in a position to win public confidence,” said Emebet Beyene.
She further elucidated that a campaign is about thinking through the component steps of an operation to touch voters in such a way that they choose a party over the other parties and candidates on offer. Many techniques are the same regardless of party, electoral system or even country. But it is in the planning – and subsequent implementation – which Ethiopian candidates will prove to voters that choosing them is the best option to keep the country on a bright and positive path in future of push forward leveling gaps observed.
Emebet also underscored that campaigners or political party representatives have to vividly hammer the idea that can help them hit the set target-catch up with the electorate. However, in some circumstances campaigns neither have a persuasive message to deliver to voters and nor a clear idea of which to persuade voters.
In principle, campaigns are not expected to lack direction from the beginning, have a concise, persuasive message and a clear idea of which voters it can persuade, and have a reasonable plan of what to do between now and Election Day to convince voters.
“A winning political campaign is most often the one that takes the time to target voters, develops an influential message and follows through on a reasonable plan to contact those voters directly,” Emebet added.
She also said that political parties have to refrain from conducting campaigns in and around embargoed places such as mosques and churches or market centers since these places should solely serve for the intended purpose.
Another person who this writer approached for comment along this line is Mengesha Miruts. He said, “In our country’s context, election campaigns do merely belong to the ruling party as it has accustomed to monopolizing state media.
This fashion must be radically altered and equal chance in public media has to be given to all political parties legitimately run activities. Yes, all campaigns must repeatedly communicate a persuasive message to people who will vote.
This has to be taken as a golden rule of politics for a political campaign is a communication process, find the right message, target that message to the right group of voters, and repeatedly utter it.”
He further stated that all campaigns shall be flexible to changing circumstances, but these changes should be carefully considered and weighed against the essence they carry. A campaign has to be an intense experience towards garnering votes with no tricks or shortcuts to captivating the confidence of the voters. It can also be an exhilarating, rewarding and fun experience.
“In Ethiopia, as an emerging democracy, political parties are either too weak or too constrained by oppressive governments, or too corrupt and out of touch to earn the respect and support of the public. Such a daunting character has to be dramatically done away with,” he added.
As to Mengesha, every campaign is exclusive. While certain basic principles can be applied to each campaign, it is important to have a complete understanding of the particular situation and the conditions in which the campaign will be waged.
An election campaign has to be conducted towards developing a winning strategy based on a realistic calculation of the political landscape in which the parties will be running. It is true that parties can never win public confidence to assume power unless they know the pitfalls the incumbent has recorded against the interests of the entire society, the issues of which the public has been deprived and the gaps antagonists are unable to bridge and provide the voters with.
According to Mengesha, most importantly, parties must begin looking at the campaign as a whole and then break it down into easy to accomplish parts and they must develop a realistic strategy for winning and work hard to contact voters and persuade them well. Following these steps will make their campaign much more efficient at using their resources of time, money and people and complying with them will help parties start on the road to victory.
“In a modern society, democracy cannot function without political parties as they have formed the cornerstone of democratic society. In the context of our country there is no culture of being organized and become powerful instead many run diminutive activities in a scattered manner. However, the truth is organized political parties define and express a societal needs in a way that the public and political system can understand and respond to and are seen to be agents of power, or vehicles through which the most demands of citizenry are driven,” Mengesha opined.
I would like to exhort my case urging all contending parties to live up to public interest and national agenda though it is often an ideal of people to be able to have a political system that can seemingly rise above politics. Be that as it may, all campaigns have to be conducted keeping the code of conduct cascaded from the NEBE.
Yes, it is crystal clear that electoral campaigns have to communicate with all types of voter, but they cannot communicate with all in the same way and with the same intensity.
Most importantly, competent electoral campaigns are made up of an ideal synthesis of the entire political product and its message through all definitive and contemporary networks for communication.
The Ethiopian Herald March 30/2021
