M.
Jalal Hashim
March
2010
Elections Campaigns
Elections is all about concentrating
the public will into relatively small number of people who are furthermore
concentrated into numbered individuals elected through polling which is assumed
to be fare and free. Election campaign
includes a number of processes, such as the nomination of potential candidates,
elimination of nominees, candidature or candidacy, the campaigning tactics, the
balloting regulations, the polling, results and assessment. Below I am going to give guidelines to some
of the tactics of election campaign.
The War Room
Election Campaign (EC) needs a
kitchen, hence called WR, where all the plans, implementation, follow-up and
assessment is done. The war room should have its own staff; it is advisable
that the WR staff to work parallel to the ordinary staff of the political
organization if there is one. The institutional mechanism of the political
party should keep functioning as usual and orderly; the WR staff works
according to contingent plan which will eventually be called off once the
mission is accomplished. To employ the ordinary membership of the PP in
election campaign may cause later disruption as it may prove hard to regain the
systematic mechanisms after elections. However, the coordination between the
two of them is deemed fundamental to the success of the EC. The WR consists of
the following:
1. Central Office:
not necessarily a single room office; it could be a complex premises with a
strong room where no one other than authorized is admitted.
2. Director of Campaign:
the DC can be honourary or resident. If the former, then their permanent
presence at the WR is not necessary, but if the DC is resident then their
permanent presence is deemed necessary as they will be running the WR. The
nomination of the honourary DC tactical; the nomination of the resident DC is,
however, pragmatic, i.e. due to qualification and efficiency. However, they are
preferable to be from within the group.
3. The Campaign Cashier:
The WR should have its own independent fiscal system so as to have the books of
the campaign audited independently. The CC should keep the books in order so as
to have the incoming cash easily correlated with expenditure. Any cashed money
should be authorized by the DC and signed by the recipient. Expenditure should
be invoice-supported; any invoice should be signed by the CD so as to be
accepted by the CC.
4. Secretariat of Campaign:
This is a team that should not be less than three, not including porters and
messengers. The SC team works directly under the CD and does the office work
(typing, scanning, receiving and sending phone calls, photocopying etc.).
5. Members of Campaign:
This is the core team of the EC; its number should not be less than 10 or more
than 20. Their choice, generally speaking is tactical and pragmatic. However,
there is a strategic point in the set-up of the MC team. This is to select
certain members of the Political Party (PP) to be trained and qualified so as
to take over ECs in the future.
6. Logistics & Documentation:
Logistics includes furniture, equipments, computers, scanners, printers,
vehicles etc. Documentation includes all multimedia devices such as tape
recorders, cameras, videos etc.
The Election Campaign
The objective of EC is not only about
making a candidate win an election; it is in principle about selling out a
pragmatic programme of policies based on an ideological orientation. EC in
practice is all about succeeding in managing variables of pros vs. contras in a
dynamic context. The Ps vs. Cs fall into two categories, namely the public
(whether the Election Registry or the public in large) and institutions
(whether governmental, political or socio-cultural). The EC is basically a season of harvest, not
a season of cultivation. Therefore, ECs should not be taken as a means for
promoting either the ideology or personalities of the PP. However, ECs are very
convenient for training PP members on the technicality of elections. Mass
rallies are one of the basic tactics of ECs. However, they don’t stand for an
EC. To rely on mass rallies is like the coach of a football team launching
rallies among the fans with the team instead of drilling and training in the
pitch. The EC summarily can be said to consist of the following:
1.
Ideology,
Programme & Slogan: a clearly perceived
ideology in respect of Pro vs. Contra will basically help building up a clear
programme a matter that will eventually end up in carving a resonant slogan.
The importance of the slogan is that it functions as a transformer of both
ideology and programme into a spell of positive sentiment. A successful slogan
alone may trigger off a wave of euphoria. however, slogans, whatever they may
be, are abstract; for them to do this, they need to be transformed into a
visual message, i.e. materialization. If we take Obama’s election the ideology
and programme were summed up in the slogan CHANGE, which, by turn, was
transformed into a visual message represented in the stark fact that Obama was
a black person. The ultimate change was to elect a black man as president.
1.1.
Comments
on the Campaign of Y. Arman & Edward Lino (SPLM)
1.1.2.
Ideology
& Slogan: In the case of YA the slogan of HOPE
& CHANGE should be transformed into a visual message. Change can easily be
related to the dismantling of the National Congress Party rule which has been
going for the last 20 years. But this goal should be strongly and directly
related to what we mean by hope and the whole package to be transformed into
something tangible and visually perceivable.
In my opinion this can be achieved by connecting the slogan of HOPE
& CHANGE with the map of the Sudan with the south cut off. This is an
image, in my opinion, no Sudanese is prepared to reconcile with yet. The
avoidance of having the Sudan ending up with this particular map is what
HOPE stands for. Only electing Yasir Araman may make the Sudanese people avoid
this map; by turn this can only be achieved by changing the rule of the NCP.
2.
Politico-Demographic
Map: This map is not restricted to the voters
but includes all the people of the concerned constituency. The non-registered people influence the
voters. The map tries to show their ethnic background, the age groups, the area
demands. All these are guides to interpret the directions of the public opinion
with regard to the elections. Accordingly an attempt of seating the registry at
their respective geographical spots can be made. This does not apply to the
presidential scale elections; it applies to legislative constituency elections.
3.
The
Anti Campaign: The anti campaign is necessary to
discern the factors that can lead to the defeat of the candidate. The logic
behind it is that if the campaign team cannot make the candidate lose the
elections, then they are less able to make him win them. The anti campaign
should be critically probing and analytical.
4.
The
Pro Campaign: The pro campaign is designed in a
way to undo the anti campaign. Therefore it should cover all the loopholes
shown in the anti campaign. The pro campaign, therefore, is the strategic plan
of the elections from which a number of tactical plans will branch off.
5.
Crack
Down into Topical Jobs: The pro campaign
strategic plan should be cracked down into topical jobs to be assigned to the
members of the campaign so as to be implemented. The set up of the topical jobs
is determined functionally not conceptually. Each job should be headed by one
member of the campaign with at least one assistant from the EC members. Each
head of topical job should start laying out their plans to implement their respective
jobs and forming their teams. These are the sub teams of the campaign team.
6.
Budget:
Only then can a budget be drawn from the probing of the implementation of the
topical jobs. Each head of campaign sub team should present their plan
supported with its budget. The respective budgets will be pooled up in one
total budget. The total budget will be submitted to the PP so as to be okayed
and funded. If the funding is short than the budget, either a fund-raising
campaign is launched or the total budget is reshaped and adapted to fit into
the funding capacity. In the latter case the tactics should also be adapted
rather than to resign to low performance and results. An election campaign can
be set up either according to fund-advantaged tactics or fund-disadvantaged
tactics.
7.
Implementation
& Follow-up: The implementation is hierarchical,
i.e. at the top comes the CD with their assistant/s; below them come the head
of the sub teams, below whom come the respective members of each of the sub
teams of campaign and so on. This shows what we mean by saying that the
hierarchy is built up functionally, not conceptually. In other words, the team
members are recruited only when need comes, not upon the theoretical concept of
the hierarchy.
8.
Result
& Assessment: For the EC team to do
the job of running the elections in the best way, they need to be professional.
All they have to concern themselves about is how to run the EC perfectly
regardless of the result. A very good EC does not necessarily lead the
candidate to win the elections; vice versa, the bad EC does not necessarily
lead the candidate to fail. Winning elections is a dynamic process; an election
campaign is a mechanical process. The assumption is that a well run EC will
optimally lead the candidate to win the elections; a bad run EC will optimally
lead the candidate to lose the elections. A surgeon can only perform a surgery
professionally if they are not engaged with it emotionally.
The assessment is usually done after
the EC. However, it is based on the reports of performance. Writing up these
reports should not be left to the end of the EC. The end of the EC either
brings euphoria or despair. Both are not convenient for writing up reports.
Therefore, the reporting should go neck to neck with implementation. The
assessment should start immediately by the end of the result announcement. It
should include the auditing of the finances and fiscal performance.
The Correlation of the PP
Apparatus with the EC Apparatus: The efficient
model is the one that contains the least bureaucracy. Such a model goes as
follows:
PPA: Political Party Apparatus; ECA:
Election Campaign Apparatus
The two apparatuses go parallel to
each other. The ECA is not the one that wins the elections; it is rather the
PPA. The relationship that governs the two apparatuses is the same as that
between the driver and the vehicle; the former operates the latter. The ECA
operates the PPA as far as elections are concerned; it does not take over the
PP.
However, the experience has shown
that most of the political parties, if not all of them, have more than one
apparatus working simultaneously on the EC. Below is a hypothetical example:
The above model will create confusion
at its best if not chaos. An example case of what may become of this
institutional misshape is the centralization of logistics and finance in the
PPA rather than assigning the campaign logistics to the EC apparatus. For the
case of logistics, an errand to Atbara or Port Sudan is determined by the ECA;
however authorization of the vehicle will come from the PPA. This means that
the owner of the job is not accountable for either doing it or not. If the car
is released, then the job can be done; if it is delayed or declined, then the
job cannot be done. This means that the ECA can be overruled by another apparatus
which is not accountable for the job at hand. In the case of finance, the ECA
may ask the PPA for a certain sum of money so as to do a specific topical job.
If the money is granted, then the job can hopefully be done. But of it is not
granted, the job cannot be done. The two cases show that the field of
accountability and auditing is beyond the managerial boundary of the owner of
the job. This creates an atmosphere convenient only for corruption and failure.
9.
The
Correlation of the PP Apparatus with the EC Apparatus:
The efficient model is the one that contains the least bureaucracy. Such a
model goes as follows:
PPA: Political Party Apparatus; ECA: Election
Campaign Apparatus
The two apparatuses go parallel to
each other. The ECA is not the one that wins the elections; it is rather the
PPA. The relationship that governs the two apparatuses is the same as that
between the driver and the vehicle; the former operates the latter. The ECA
operates the PPA as far as elections are concerned; it does not take over the
PP.
However, the experience has shown
that most of the political parties, if not all of them, have more than one
apparatus working simultaneously on the EC. Below is a hypothetical example:
The
above model will create confusion at its best if not chaos. An example case of
what may become of this institutional misshape is the centralization of
logistics and finance in the PPA rather than assigning the campaign logistics
to the EC apparatus. For the case of logistics, an errand to Atbara or Port
Sudan is determined by the ECA; however authorization of the vehicle will come
from the PPA. This means that the owner of the job is not accountable for
either doing it or not. If the car is released, then the job can be done; if it
is delayed or declined, then the job cannot be done. This means that the ECA
can be overruled by another apparatus which is not accountable for the job at
hand. In the case of finance, the ECA may ask the PPA for a certain sum of
money so as to do a specific topical job. If the money is granted, then the job
can hopefully be done. But of it is not granted, the job cannot be done. The
two cases show that the field of accountability and auditing is beyond the
managerial boundary of the owner of the job. This creates an atmosphere
convenient only for corruption and failure.
10.
The
Provisional EC Apparatus
Above
is a provisional model for the Election campaign apparatus which is designed
according to functionality:
11. The Car Crew (N Presidential Campaigns,
e.g. YA): Along with his chauffeur and bodyguards,
YA is advised to have 2 Personal Assistants (male & female) along with a
photographer at his side all the time. The function of the PAs is both to keep
his diary in order so as to make him meet his timetable obligations punctually
and to keep him company. Both PAs are preferable to be Southerners (nominations
available). The function of the cameraman is to document the moves of YA and
his activities. The Car Crew will be the source of authorized media news of YA.
12. The Presidential Election Coordination:
Within the PP, coordination between the presidential election and other
constituency elections is not only a necessity but a proactive tactic. What
makes the difference between an independent presidential candidate and a
partisan presidential candidate is not only confined to the big number of campaign
people available for the latter but further the fact that the other
constituency elections serve as carriers to it. This is why the constituency
and other elections are preferably run along the presidential elections. The PP
constituency candidates are likely to cover all the constituencies, i.e. all
the parts of the country. As the presidential candidate is usually the
strongest among the PP candidates, promoting him/her will enhance the
opportunities of the constituency candidates. This is why the thematic connection
between the two elections is strongly advisable. A model of this connection can
be shown in the related potentiality between YA and Edward Lino (Khartoum
Governorship candidate) elections. Below is the pro argument:
5.1.
HOPE & CHANGE is the slogan of YA. Hope goes for having the united Sudan
prevailing; change goes for having the rule of the NCP dismantled. SPLM, as a
southern-dominated party, has nominated YA, a northerner, as its presidential
candidate. This is a direct message that the southerners as represented in SPLM
are unionists. In doing this SPLM has shown enough wisdom and deep
understanding of the national situation. For the northerners to prove that they
are committed to the unity of the Sudan, they have to accept a southerner as
governor of Khartoum, the Capital. Electing YA & EL is the only message
that can go through and convince the southerners that there is still hope for a
united Sudan where all Sudanese people will be accommodated on an equal footing
regardless of race, religion, or ideology. The winning of elections by both YA
& EL will hopefully make the southerners opt for the unity of the Sudan in
the upcoming referendum in 2011. The election of YA & EL will surely make
us avoid the horrible map of the Sudan when it is no more the land of one
million square miles.
13. Managing
the Candidate: managing the EC candidate always
proves to be one of the very difficult jobs of the campaign. The candidate,
specially the presidential one, may be the most unprepared person to the run the
campaign as the subjective and objective may get blurred in his vision. The
process of presidential EC is all about making the candidate the supreme boss.
The candidate him/herself is usually a boss in a way or another in their own
right well before the EC. However, in the direct process of the EC the bossing
should go to the CD without compromising the partisan leadership status of the
candidate. One of the most complex aspects of managing the candidate is the
speech writing and how the candidate expresses themselves without falling into
any pitfalls or damaging tongue slips. The basic rule is that the candidate is
not advised to improvise; they should rely on well worded speeches written up
by experts. The delivering of the speeches has its own rules which can be
summed up into (1) self-command and confidence, (2) clarity and of utterance
and argument and good command of the language, (3) radiant look and
encompassing the audience, (4) they should not read the speech unless it is
official address. Presidential candidates should always address the people on a
podium, not seated, unless it is a meeting, which is not the concern of this
part. They are usually advised to be trained into this. However, a
well-practiced and smart politician may not be in need for such training as it
depends on talents.
The
speech is advisable to consist of not more than 5-6 points with each not
exceeding 3 minutes along with introductory point of etiquette (1.5 minutes)
and a final summing up point and farewell (1.5 minutes). The whole speech is
advisable to last for 20 minutes at best. It can go up to half an hour as a
maximum. The candidate should avoid causing fatigue among the audience, a
matter that can be observed when they start sneaking outside the addressing
arena. The candidate must leave the audience wanting more of his speech rather
than feeding them up. The candidate does not need to discuss all the issues in
one public address. The addressing of the issues should be planned so as to
start slowly but sure and then take momentum with the progress of the campaign
to reach the zenith just before the balloting starts. The basic rule for one
single point goes as follows:
(1) Key sentence containing the basic
idea of the point (half a minute) → (2) discussing and raising argument on the
key point in well cut words clearly and assuredly uttered, preferable to dot it
with a casual joke for entertainment (two minutes) → (3) summing up the point
with a spell of rhetoric (half a minute)
→ (4) applause.
The introductory should be delivered
in a self-contained and calm bearing as it includes saluting the audience and
protocol. The summing up point should be very strong and rhetoric so as to
bring about euphoria and frantic applause.
For
an EC a candidate may not need more than 10 prepared pieces of speech which
cover all the pending issues of the election. The candidate is advised to try
to keep them by heart. They usually fail to do this. In this case they keep
notes under their noses which contain only the key sentences of the points. It
is expected that they will remember the rest the moment they had a glance at
them.
14. The Poster: It is advised that there
to be one master poster of the candidate. As the whole game of the election is
about concentrating the public will, a master poster is deemed convenient to
help concentrate the public opinion with regard to the candidate as the image
of them will reflect in the public mind according to how the poster reflects
it. If there are more than one poster, i.e. there is no master poster, the
reflection of the candidate’s image will get dispersed and scattered so as to
retrieve the numerous image posters. The shot to mount the poster should be
professionally done and edited with the highest resolution possible. It is
preferable that the poster of the candidate to show a bearing of an amiably
solemn, semi profile look with a far horizon gaze of wisdom. A background
should be cautiously dealt with. A big smile with all teeth out may raise a lot
of questions, such as the reason behind them etc. This is why it is advised
that they be avoided. The master poster could be introduced by a host of
carefully-chosen posters that will be shown according to a well-laid plan upon
which the process is designed to make the systematic show of them culminate in
the appearance of the master poster. If this plan is adopted, all the secondary
posters should be collected back so as to give room for the master poster to
concentrate the public opinion.
