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Election candidates: Who are these people?
They are everywhere! We cannot go anywhere or even take a sneak peak out of the window without seeing one of the gazillion advertisements for political candidates seeking legislative seats in the upcoming elections
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They are everywhere!
We cannot go anywhere or even take a sneak peak out of the window without seeing one of the gazillion advertisements for political candidates seeking legislative seats in the upcoming elections.
They invade our cozy afternoon walk around our neighborhood. Few trees are safe from being a hanging place for a smiling face asking for my vote. No matter where we go, the situation is similar if not worse.
Don’t get me wrong, I am serious about my civic responsibility and never miss voting in elections, even when I was studying abroad. I have every interest in exercising my rights and ensuring the next government is competent and responsive to people’s needs.
But who are these people?
I usually know the person in the background, since they are either the current or former presidents of Indonesia. Parties with no presidential association put a picture of their chairman to shadow their own candidate. Some others even put Obama, David Beckham or even their famous child. But I don’t know the candidates.
None of them state who they are, what they have done and what they will do to deserve my vote. Most only put their name, academic degree and number on the ballot with their party affiliation. As if I only need to be reminded to vote for a candidate, and not why.
During the American presidential election, it was hard not to know the candidates. Media dug deep to get the candidates’ background details. We know of McCain’s heroic deeds in Vietnam and how he refused to get special treatment from the Vietcong because his father was an admiral. We know how Obama did not use his Harvard law degree to get a high-paying job but became a community organizer instead.
This get-to-know process, albeit on a smaller scale, also worked with individual legislative candidates. That is how Obama and McCain became senators in the first place.
They sold their life stories and invited voters to get acquainted with them. We even know how they met their wives. To remain aloof and distance was a sure recipe for defeat.
After the constitutional court decision, this is the first time candidates have to fight for their own share of vote instead of relying on big names. They could be forgiven for not adapting to the rules of political marketing yet, but the voter might not forgive them if they do not learn quickly enough.
John Quelch, a professor at Harvard Business School, pointed to similarities between commercial and political marketing. Both need to focus on current and emerging customer needs, developing products and service solutions, informing interested citizens about them and making them easily accessible. These messages need to be delivered consistently over time
Political candidates understandably need to be careful in taking positions on issues. While commercial marketing can focus on and profit from a single niche or group, candidates must win enough votes from their constituents to get seated in parliament. They cannot afford to antagonize any significant segment of potential voters.
Putting up a photograph of Obama or Beckham is not likely to offend anyone. But neither is showing concern and priority over the nation’s more pressing needs such as poverty, health or education.
They are either being too careful or simply don’t have a clue. If this situation continues, parliament will be filled with local leaders with deep social and religious roots. Which is not necessarily a bad idea.
Even the leader of each party is not doing well in the recognition department. Aside from the incumbent and former presidential candidates, none make us feel like we know them and how they have got this far. Instead they are trapped in a one-line stereotype (military, businessman, or worse…politician) that they need to expand upon.
Paul Waldman (2007) conducted a study that successful contenders construct their candidacies as a three-part narrative: Part one tells what is wrong with the country and its government, part two describes the place they want to take the country, and part three explains why they, and only they, can deliver us from the bleak present to the brighter tomorrow they promise.
Why do personal stories matter?
Because political candidates already have the stigma of being willing to say anything to get elected. By getting acquainted with their life journeys and arcs of experience, it is easier to identify with candidates and project how they will govern if elected.
Of course, many deviate from their previous life paths, but voters need to know and trust the person while not always agreeing with every position they are taking on issues.
According to AC Nielsen, the spending for political advertising was Rp 35 billion in 1999 and skyrocketed to Rp 3 trillion in 2004. Even with the global crisis and economic downturn looming, this cycle of elections is likely to break that limit.
Use the money well, introduce us to the candidates.
The writer is a lecturer at FEUI, a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Siena, Italy and a member of the NU professional circle.
