The messaging of the parties and believability

Fri, Mar 16th 2012, 08:58 AM

The political parties are in full campaign mode as we near the general election. The television channels are filled with ads, there are multiple constituency office openings per week and people across the country are talking about politics.
The messages of the Free National Movement (FNM), the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) are quite distinct at this stage of the campaign.
The FNM says it is the party that delivers. The PLP is pushing the message that it believes in Bahamians and the DNA says it is change.
Each message is profound. We want leaders who deliver; we want leaders who believe in Bahamians; and we want change away from some of the dysfunction of the modern Bahamas.
The tests for the parties will be how the voters match up their records with the messages they (the parties) are pushing.
The key for the FNM - and it has been doing this - is to prove that it has delivered good things for The Bahamas over the past five years. It will also need to convince the electorate that what it has delivered was needed, that it will improve the lives of Bahamians and that it is worth the cost.
For the PLP, it will need to further explain what it means by believing in Bahamians. The statement truly is comparative. What the party is attempting to do is to argue that it believes in Bahamians more than its primary rival the FNM. However, the PLP and FNM have similar policies when it comes to foreign direct investment and budgetary allocations to invest in The Bahamas.
The PLP was the 'independence party' of the country and many of our institutions of state were created under its 25 years in power from majority rule. Some older Bahamians still focus on those days and achievements, but many younger voters do not. They know Perry Christie's PLP, which in its five-year term from 2002 to 2007 was more defined by its enemies through its gaffes and scandals than through nation building. Hence, the nationalist theme of believing in Bahamians being advanced by the official opposition may not evoke the reaction the party thinks it will.
The DNA has to convince people that it can deliver on the change it promises. More specifically, it needs to convince enough people that it has a real chance of having an impact on the election. Bahamians do not like to think that they are throwing away their votes. The party has done a good job using broadcast advertising to evoke emotion, but the question in the minds of many is still, "Are they for real?"
For each of the parties, as they continue to refine their messages it is critical that they ensure that what they say is true. Voters are not stupid, and a party cannot force its impression of its record on people who know this impression to be untrue.
The party that conveys a message most accurate to its record and capacity will have an advantage. And every advantage is crucial in what will likely be a close election.

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