2007 Elections: Campaign Financing and Communication Strategies

By

Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u

Department of Journalism Studies

University of Sheffield

United Kingdom

Now that a permanent epitaph has been written on the third term agenda, it is time to focus on the next election and try to address the mistakes of the past by presenting political leaders who have the nation at heart to drive the political process for the next four years beginning from May 29, 2007.

 

It is too early to relax and be carried away by the demise of the third term agenda when there is the possibility of a negative resurrection agenda that might hold the nation in another political stagnation whose effect might be similar or even worst than the 1999-2007 scenario.

 

Apart from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that has the sole responsibility to midwife a successful election, the political parties should be the platform of providing a healthy environment for political contest if the country is to test the fruit of successful election devoid of imposing candidates, which would in turn result in political lassitude. This piece is therefore a contribution to any Nigerian political party wishing to sanitise its campaign machinery and provide a choice to the electorates.

 

The method of electing candidates who will represent a party in the general election would likely have an impact on the life of the party when it comes to power, as such the parties and candidates should think and strategise carefully on the following issues; campaign financing and communication strategies.  

 

Certainly any political party or individual canvassing for public office requires money for campaign logistics, but that shouldn’t make money the principal determinant on who should get the party nomination. According to Herbert E. Alexander in his book Financing Politics, Money, Elections and Political Reform, “the main problem of wealth in elections may not be in the outcome of financially imbalanced contests but rather in depriving the voters of potential leaders who do not have the money to consider running for office”. And if there is any disservice to the electorates, it is denying them the opportunity to have the best candidates worthy of manning the affairs of their Local Governments, Legislative Constituencies, States and the Nation at Large.

 

From what can be observed at the moment, those who have the highest resources are the ones that will likely dominate the political scene. If there is a second role for the Nigerian media at the moment after helping to defeat the third term agenda, that role is nothing but scrutinising the candidates presenting themselves for elective offices and judging their competence in taking over the country. Nigeria is not suffering from the poverty of qualified people, but what it is suffering from, is denying the voters a choice. We have seen situations in Nigeria where some parties even interfere in the activities of other parties in order to block the emergence of credible candidates.

 

Recent happenings in the United States about the role of corporate organisations giving campaign donations to candidates, but in turn resulting in corporate colonisation, and the not so distant past’s allegations in the United Kingdom about the Loan-for-Peerages Scandal that rocks the Labour Party should serve as a caution for a country like Nigeria that is still crawling, politically and economically. But hold on! Even in Nigeria the campaign donations given to the President and State Governors during their re-lection bid in 2003 might have contributed in sewing the seed of the third term agenda that nearly crippled the country. It wouldn’t therefore be out of context to limit the amount of donation by both individuals and organisations.  

 

Experts in the field of political campaign have discussed a number of regulatory measures that will help in curtailing campaign spending. Writing in the book Comparing Democracies: Elections and Voting in Global Perspective, in a chapter on “Party Organisations and Finance”, Professor Richard S. Katz discussed two important regulations that should be taken into consideration in order to avoid the buying of candidates and unnecessary influence on political parties. These regulations according to Katz are “Expenditure Controls” and “Control of Contributions”. The former refers to the amount a candidate or a party can spend in the election campaign, and the latter refers to the limits of the contribution individuals or organisations can make either to the candidate or to the political party.

 

Limiting the amount to be spent by a political party would help in sanitizing the political process, and give other parties the opportunity to compete in the election. It would also help in stopping the milking of the treasury by the States and the Federal Government in order to finance the campaign of the party in power. Mega organisations that use campaign donations as a way of hooking the neck of the elected representatives for undeserved economic favours would have to reverse their decision and follow the normal procedure. So also individuals who use campaign contribution as a political capital to be exploited when the party comes to power, and influence government decisions in coming up with policies that will hurt the well-being of the citizenry, but bring smiles to the faces of few privileged individuals.

 

It is heartening that the National Assembly 2006 electoral act has limited the amount of money individuals and parties can spend, as well as the contribution to be given by individuals. But the reality remains that credible candidates might still end up being censored from contesting elections looking at the amount proposed in the act. If the legislators will reflect a little, it wouldn’t have been possible for many of them to be in the National Assembly in 1999 had the political platform provided to them by their parties was solely based on cash-for-office consideration, ditto to those of them who were genuinely elected in 2003.

 

Once the issue of campaign financing is settled, and political parties started shopping for candidates, individuals with unquestionable record and integrity might be convinced to join politics in order to translate their vision into fruitful success. This is where effective communication is required. The problem a number of candidates face during election is how to communicate to the people. In modern day politics, winning election goes beyond integrity and previous record in office, but it entails strategic communication that will involve the voters, make them understand the choice that is available to them, so that once they compare the candidates competing for various offices, they can easily differentiate Mr Vision from Mr Hopeless. Strategic and effective communication is also the weapon that can help in disarming the power of incumbency and motivate the electorates to ensure that the winner gets endorsed by the electoral commission. Judith S Trent and Robert V Friedenberg in their book Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices identified four communication stages in political campaign. These stages according to them are; “Surfacing”, “Primaries”, “Nominating Conventions” and “The General Election”. Though Trent and Friedenberg were writing within an American context, we can still modify their proposition and explain them according to the Nigerian perspective.

 

The surfacing stage also called ‘winnowing’ period is the most critical stage in the communication process. Here the candidate begins to establish himself by identifying the office he intends to contest. He establishes an organisation that will establish campaign structures in various localities. At this stage he tries to show his fitness for the office he is campaigning for, and most importantly begin to study his visibility in the media. This is very crucial as the candidate needs the media to make him visible, as much as the media needs information from the candidate to satisfy the daily routine of news dissemination. At this stage the candidate assesses how the media presents his image to the public, and the responses received from the public. The candidate tries to set the rhetoric of the campaign agenda and makes his manifesto available. The manifesto is very important because it makes people to be aware of the stand of the candidate on policy issues. The manifesto unveils the alternative available to the voter especially if the candidate is the one in opposition. The manifesto should be made clear and incorporated in the campaign communication carried in the media. The case of Ghana’s John Kufor defeating the incumbent party was a clear example of how effective communication can work for serious candidates; but whether John Kufor has delivered or not is another question.

 

However candidates should avoid unnecessary criticism and using negative language against their opponents.. Though the third  term agenda has dealt a serious blow to an early campaign start in Nigeria, it is recommended that candidates should prepare early depending on the office they are contesting for, and one might suggest at least eighteen months for presidential candidates, fifteen for gubernatorial and twelve for local government. An early start gives the candidate the opportunity to study the political climate and strategise according to the demand of the time in order to position himself for the challenges that might confront him, in some countries some candidates start preparing immediately after the previous election.

 

The primary election stage is one of the most difficult in political campaigns, because it is an in-house battle, immediately after the primaries, the candidates have to work together to ensure the success of the party. An effective structure at the surfacing stage would help in making the task easier. Here, the communication is targeted at the intra-party king makers, the party leaders, elders of the party and delegates. Various communication strategies are employed here, verbal, non verbal and mediated. The candidate makes extensive consultation by reaching out to the party jeggernuts and explains his position to them and develops their confidence in him.

 

At this stage the media would try to determine who would be the winner during the party convention, news stories and articles would be written on the strength and weakness of each candidate, and their chances during the party convention. The influence of the media here is relative, because in reality it is the delegates who determine the winner; the media could opt for one candidate, but as the saying goes, twenty four hours is a long time in politics, the table can be turned around to favour another candidate during the primaries. Therefore a serious candidate will not give up the struggle simply because media reports did not favour him, rather he would see that as an opportunity to address his shortcomings before the convention. In a situation where the candidate is the bride                                                                                                                                                                                                               of the media, all he needs to do is to multiply his effort until he gets the ticket of the party.  

 

This brings us to the third stage, nominating convention. The party convention is the peak of the primaries. It strengthens the resolve of the nominated candidate and give him the legitimacy required to seek for an elective office, but most importantly it is a test for the political party on whether its house is in order or not. If the party remains united after the convention, and amend the ills of the primaries, it would indicate to the voters that the party is serious and the electorates can trust it with political power.

 

The most important communicative function at this stage is first, the nomination speech, and secondly, the acceptance speech. The nomination speech is the speech presented by all the aspirants to the delegates. This is the time to show the rhetorical prowess of the candidate and his communication style. With television now playing a crucial role in politics, the candidate should remember that he is not only communicating to the delegates but to the viewers at home as well, and many can remember how Nigerians remained glued to their television sets during the PDP, ANPP, NDP and UNPP conventions during the 2003 election campaigns.  Unless the party primaries have been rigged before the actual convention as alleged during 2003 conventions, in which the ballot papers were arranged in such a way that the organisers can detect which candidate the delegate has voted for, the nomination speech may play a vital role in swinging the mind of the delegates from the side of one candidate to another. The acceptance speech helps in setting the campaign agenda for the general election and indicates the seriousness of the candidate.

 

The final communication stage is the general election. At this stage the campaign becomes more intense, communication is characterised by debates, interviews, and what is called ‘pseudo-events’ where media presentations are arranged as if they are naturally organised by the media organisations, but in reality, it is the campaign team of the candidate that arranges the presentations in order to remain in the news. If there is anything in the political communication process that Nigerians have been denied, it is the campaign debate, especially the presidential debates. In 1999 there was no debate as one of the candidates shunned the other, and during the 2003 elections the debate was between candidates whose seriousness in the contest was doubtful. But the main contenders avoided each other.

 

We hope the 2007 campaign would be different. The parties should consider the interest of the country and present to the electorates principled, qualified, patriotic and disciplined candidates who can turn around the economy and improve the image of Nigeria. The position of the Anglican Church calling on Nigerians not to elect corrupt leaders is a welcome development, we hope the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs would follow suit. With the religious leaders calling for credible elections, the country might succeed in distancing itself from the dirty politics that characterised the 2003 elections in which some candidates were levelled as fundamentalists and others as messiahs, and the main substance, what they can offer, was downplayed by sheer sentiment. 

                                                                                    Sheffield, 00:21, 30/06/06