A variant of the strategy of candidates for deputies. Basic strategies of election campaigns. Campaign Resources
The strategy (strategic plan) of the election campaign is the most important and necessary document for any election campaign (regardless of its level, scale, type), which ensures the effective organization of the election campaign and the achievement of the set goals by the candidate or party. A strategy is a collection of the main ideas of an election campaign, its substantive part, which formulates what information needs to be conveyed to voters in order for them to vote for the respective candidate or political party. In contrast to the tactics of the election campaign, that is, the communicative part of the program, which regulates the following: in what form and sequence is it necessary to implement the strategic, substantive part of the company.
It should be especially emphasized that the strategy of the election campaign is its most comprehensive plan (meaning the main ideas, solutions, technologies), which cannot be completely changed due to the actions of competitors or other external circumstances, with the exception of those associated with the change " the rules of the game ”, ie, for example, the adoption of a new law at the elections.
The practice of organizing election campaigns in different countries of the world, including Ukraine, makes it possible to single out the following types of election campaign strategies. First of all, the "naive" approach is singled out in, so to speak, pure form. A candidate is guided by the opinions of his friends, acquaintances, his own opinion and thinks that what they like will be liked by all voters. Unfortunately, according to a well-known rule in marketing, not everything that is pleasant to a manufacturer of a product delights consumers.
The “programmatic” approach assumes the following. The candidate and his team believe that the main thing is to give the electorate a good program, to explain everything. And the electorate, reading this program in the metro or trolleybuses, will understand and support everything. To find more voters who read the programs of candidates in the subway! Yes, and these programs are not widely believed lately. Hence, the sufficient naivety of this approach is understandable.
The "hardware" approach to strategy development, as the name implies, is based on the candidate's belief that it is enough to win over the leadership of the region and everything will be all right. It is interesting that quite often in rural areas this approach works during elections to local authorities. However, more and more common sense and sense of humor inherent in Ukrainian voters demonstrate the naivety of this approach.
The “problematic” approach proceeds from the concentration in the campaign strategy of attention on one (or several interrelated) issues that are vital for the voters of a given district. And, indeed, if such a problem can be found (for example, the problem of terrible ecology or corruption in the authorities of a district or city, or the solution of the land problem, in particular, in a number of regions of Crimea, etc.), such an approach works. But the possibilities for the advancement of some global problems or original ways of solving them in modern Ukraine are increasingly limited.
The "advertising" approach is based on the fact that the main thing in organizing the election campaign, as in the case of the market for goods and services, is the most active advertising of a candidate or his program using a variety of media. There are even situations when the campaign strategy is replaced by a media plan that regulates how much information, when and through what channels should be conveyed to the electorate. This approach is also sometimes successful. Recall, for example, the campaign of 1998, which was led by the Green Party of Ukraine. After all, except for good commercials on television, she had nothing for her soul. This is probably why a similar move undertaken in 2002 left this party behind the parliament. In principle, this approach is often used by so-called “technological” parties.
The “socio-economic” approach to strategy development is based on the assumption that voters vote in elections based solely on their economic interests. Here, in the process of electoral research, the economic interests of the main groups of voters are revealed, which are then, if possible, taken into account in the strategy and in the organization of the election campaign. This is not always a simple matter, but it often brings success. Interesting in this regard are the elections carried out by large businessmen in majority districts or in regional, city, district councils.
The approach based on the “ideal model of a candidate” is based on the assumption that voters have a clear idea of \u200b\u200btheir future deputy or president, the combination of personal, business and other qualities that he should have. Therefore, in the process of conducting sociological research, the task of constructing such a "portrait" of an ideal deputy or other elected person is solved. Here, too, as you can see, the stake is placed on a certain type of electoral behavior. However, this approach rarely works. The thing is that it is possible to define the image of an ideal candidate, but it is very difficult to “pick up” a candidate for him. Therefore, more often the image of a successful candidate for an elective position has to be modeled.
The “targeted” approach to the development of an election campaign strategy is most often used today in organizing elections in Ukraine. First of all, in the majority districts, as well as in local authorities. Its essence is to carry out a wide range of electoral studies prior to developing a strategy and identify target (“targeted”) groups of the electorate on a variety of grounds: socio-demographic, regional, behavioral, psychographic and others. Then, in the strategy and tactics of the campaign, the specifics and methods of working with these groups are developed. A variant is an approach based on the identification of types of electoral behavior.
There are different points of view regarding the structure of the strategy. Most often (regardless of whether we are talking about party elections or elections of candidates to representative bodies of local government), the strategy has the following structure.
1. Prerequisites for strategic planning of the campaign:
- Determination of the goals and objectives of the campaign;
- Analysis of the specifics of the constituency;
- Analysis of candidate resources.
2. The most important elements of the campaign strategy:
2.1. Choosing the main strategic line of the campaign and type
strategies;
2.2. Identifying the key issue and themes of the campaign;
2.3. Modeling the image of a candidate or a party brand;
- Identification of target groups of the electorate, models of their electoral behavior and areas of work with them;
- Development of the message and main slogans of the campaign;
- Preparing an advocacy strategy.
3. Strategy and tactics of the campaign. In this section, the tasks related to the real implementation of the strategy are already being solved based on taking into account the information received about the situation that developed during the period when the campaign began. These can be problems of organizing the campaign strategy in relation to competitors; counter-propaganda strategies; presentation of the organizational plan of the election campaign, etc. The elements of this section of the strategy during its initial development are formulated only under certain conditions.
When developing an election campaign strategy, it is necessary to be guided by the following types of strategies:
- 1. Strategy for expanding electoral segments. It is applied in relation to already established political figures. Concludes:
- - in using the weaknesses of competitors;
- - in the direct attraction of new supporters and their enticement;
- - in expanding the political platform.
- 2. Development strategy. The policy is used in the modernization of the program in the already conquered segments and is based on research work to improve the internal and external components of the image, the platform. At this stage, the policy is repositioned.
- 3. Strategy for the conquest of new social groups. It consists in extending the existing image to new segments of the electorate. Based on sociological research, competition studies and summary analysis of specifics.
- 4. Diversification strategy. Typically used by stable parties and associations.
One of the famous political strategists A.V. Dakhin gives the following classification of the types of electoral strategies:
- · Aggressive virtual - mobilizing strategy. It is based on ignorance, on political ignorance and illiteracy of voters. Its purpose is rigidly to induce the voter to vote in a certain way by any means of information manipulation. This strategy is designed to mobilize voters at once. The aggressiveness and skill of such a strategy does for some time create a certain "trusting" attitude towards the candidate, which, however, can disappear after a few days. The fact that this particular strategy is dominant in Russia is eloquently indicated by the analysis of the ten-year practice of organizing the information component of elections.
- · The strategy of "imposing the image". It consists in the fact that for the viewer there is what he sees; but in that which exists, he believes; he will give his voice to what he believes in. Political advertising does not shun this practice - the creation of intrusive images.
There are many approaches to defining the types of electoral strategies. You can also distinguish such types of strategy as: planned, implemented and unplanned.
An intended strategy is one that is developed immediately before the election campaign (theoretical).
An implemented strategy is one that is implemented during an election campaign (practical).
An unplanned strategy is one that occurs when absolutely unforeseen circumstances arise.
In practice, it is rare to find flawlessly designed strategies, as well as exclusively new strategies. These models are rather ideal types, which are known to be extremely rare in reality, therefore, in real life, there are implemented strategies based on them.
technologies ”E. Malkin and E. Suchkov, two parts: strategy, which answers the question what it is necessary to convey to voters so that they vote for this candidate, and tactics, defining, in what form do it. Based on this distinction, practical activities are carried out on the organization and conduct of the election campaign. Accordingly, the electoral technologies used can be divided into technologies strategic and tactical character.
The terms "strategy" and "tactics" in relation to the election campaign are defined in the literature on electoral issues in different ways. In accordance with the widespread point of view, a strategy should be understood as a set of goals and objectives of any kind of activity, and tactics - a set of ways to achieve goals and solve problems. This interpretation of strategy and tactics is generally correlated with the election campaign. However, in our opinion, it is not instrumental enough. Suppose there are two candidates in the elections and the goal of each is to win. In this case, how will the strategies of their election campaigns be radically different? If we consider the strategy as the content of the campaign, then such differences will appear.
So, the campaign strategy is her meaningful the component on which the organization and conduct of the entire campaign are built.
The basis of the strategy constitutes the image, or image, of the candidate (party), which is the core of the informational impact on voters. The choice of the main parameters of this image will determine the essence of the election campaign strategy.
As part of the implementation of the strategy of the election campaign, a number of technologies are used, the main among which is the technology of image formation. But since electoral technologies belong to the group of marketing-type technologies, the formation of the image is preceded by the study of voters' preferences. However, one should even start not with the study of the electoral market, but with the goals of the campaign.
When developing an election campaign program, it is advisable to foresee what weaknesses competitors can take advantage of in order to create a negative image of the program and the candidate.
The main provisions of the strategic line of the election campaign are based on the results of the analysis of the political situation. If the first strategic step - choosing a district - has already been taken, preliminary conclusions should be drawn:
find out the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents and your own ones, conduct their comparative analysis, taking into account the political situation in a particular district and the country as a whole;
analyze the situation in the constituency (demographic, historical, geographic, economic, social, etc.);
to define a range of issues that are fundamentally important for voters of a particular district, and formulate answers to these questions in your program;
formulate the basic principles of the election campaign and the means of their implementation (that is, the strategy and tactics of organizing elections).
Having determined the main theses of your program on the basis of information on the constituency, it is advisable to take into account the following principles when writing the document itself:
the program should contain answers to the problems that are urgent for voters: socio-economic, political, environmental, ethnocultural, linguistic, etc .;
the program architecture can be arbitrary, but structured, with no more than nine content blocks;
the procedure for creating an election program should be as follows: first, "everything that is necessary" is included in it, and then "everything that is possible" is excluded;
the polygraphic reproduction of the program and the language of presentation should take into account the level of the general, political and psychological culture of voters and the time of assimilation of textual information by an ordinary voter.
When developing a program, it is advisable to foresee what weaknesses competitors can take advantage of in order to create a negative image for the program and the candidate.
The strategy of the election campaign, according to the evidence of world political science, can be based on the following elements:
Declaration of involvement in a certain political party, pre-election bloc, power structure, political leader, etc. This method is effective when used on the territory of the district (or even the entire country), in which a political party or socio-political organization that supports a candidate is very popular. Under such conditions, the main task is to inform as many voters as possible that this party or socio-political organization has nominated and supported this particular candidate. In this situation, the personal characteristics of the candidate remain in the background, and the magical influence of the image of the designated party or organization comes forward.
The method of declaring a candidate's involvement can be applied not only to a party, organization or movement. If there is a popular and influential person whose image can be used in the election campaign, this method will work just as well.
In American political practice, candidates often use posters, postcards, and video materials that highlight the support of a given candidate, say, by the US president.
Creation of interpersonal contrast of candidates. This method is purely psychological and is based on comparing candidates, their personal characteristics, socio-psychological and professional status, age, appearance, gender, education, etc.
When using the method of creating interpersonal contrast, the main task is to develop various ways of comparing candidates according to those parameters that are beneficial.
Such parameters can be personal character traits, external attractiveness, sociability, attitude to current problems of this constituency.
Creation of ideological contrast of candidates. This method is similar in principle to the previous one. It differs in that it is built exclusively on ideological factors (for example, conservative versus liberal philosophy, communism versus anti-communism, etc.).
In this case, the candidate who builds the strategy of the election campaign in a particular constituency on one problem must turn the elections into a kind of referendum on this problem. If a certain issue worries the majority of voters in a district, it should be done so that it “covers” all other issues, and the difference in the positions of candidates should be very clear: “yes” or “no”.
During the development of such an election strategy, it is necessary to observe all points of the election campaign plan. And although it is quite difficult to implement, experience shows that such actions can be effective where the positions of competitors are especially strong.
Formation of a positive image of the candidate. This element of the election campaign is extremely important for any politician, since the process of forming a political image is quite long.
In the process of forming a positive image of a candidate, it is said, first of all, about his personal qualities, which are probably mainly universal for countries that democratically choose their legislative and executive powers.
Creation of a negative image for competitors. This element of the strategy is built on the desire to add a fly in the ointment to the accumulated (positive) image of the opponent. And although this path is rather dubious from the point of view of morality, some consider it to be an effective means of preserving the "purity of the ranks" of the political elite of society.
However, the use of this element of strategic behavior does not always pay off during the election campaign. First, it is necessary to take into account the socio-psychological and moral-ethical norms that dominate in a given society. For example, adultery, for example, in countries with officially recognized polygamy, will hardly affect the political reputation of a person competing with you in the elections. Secondly, if a candidate, criticizing competitors, overdoes it, then this can cause the opposite of the desired effect - to increase the rating of those opponents against whom this criticism is directed.
Experience shows that it is not worth "attacking" the strengths of the programs and the image of opponents. Election campaign managers believe that it is more effective to search for "dark" spots in the biography, emphasize the blurred political views, insufficient level of education, lack of necessary experience, etc. You should not "attack" the politician's personality "head-on". It is better to pay attention to the leader's "track record": biography, information hidden from the public, unfulfilled promises, etc.
One of the means of implementing the method of creating a negative image for a competitor is the dissemination of information by all kinds of research centers, public organizations, public opinion polling services, etc., which criticize the biography, political program, public or political activities of a competitor. It is possible that these appeals or messages will not contain a direct call to vote against this candidate, but at the subconscious level, this information will contribute to the formation of a negative image among voters.
Formation of pre-election coalitions. This element of the election campaign is extremely important and involves the establishment of contacts with influential leaders, political structures and groups of influence who shape public opinion in a particular constituency. It is especially important to negotiate support (or at least not counteraction) with people who have traditionally been on the side of competitors and are ready for it again.
Pre-election coalitions can be formed with individuals, political parties, trade unions, social organizations and movements, labor collectives, commercial structures, etc.
It is possible and purposeful to address certain groups of voters without concluding legal agreements. These can be appeals for support, appeals to the fundamental interests of racial and ethnic groups, entrepreneurs and trade unions, teachers and engineers, Orthodox and Greek Catholics, rabbit breeders and car enthusiasts.
This approach can be very effective where voters consistently voted for an opponent's party or public organization. It allows you to separate the potentially oppositional socio-territorial community of voters by "playing" on various social and professional interests and social statuses of voters.
The stake is on the power structures. This path is used when local executive power structures control the political situation and can really influence the process of the election campaign, starting from the selection of candidates (long before the nomination) and ending with the stage of direct campaigning. In such cases, one cannot do without manipulating ballots at polling stations. The last way is criminal and it is not worth using it, since such actions are punishable by law and can forever destroy a politician's career.
The stake is on social and political structures. Methodologically, this path is justified if a powerful party machine, an extensive network of primary organizations and a large number of members of the party, public organization, etc. operate in the constituency. This element of the strategy is used in combination with the element of declaring the candidate's involvement in this particular socio-political structure. which has such a significant influence in the region.
The stake is on the mass media. It is being done under the conditions of the undeniable predominance of one of the candidates in influencing the mass media. However, it should be remembered that it is not worth exaggerating their influence, because, firstly, voters still prefer direct contacts with candidates, and secondly, active support of only one of the participants in the pre-election marathon can only irritate and act for the benefit of a single elected member of the SMK.
Demoralizing competitors. This element of strategy is used when a candidate has an undeniable advantage in material and financial resources, relies on a powerful party machine and owns a controlling stake in the influential media in the region, combined with high personal authority.
The strategy of a political campaign should be set out in writing, no more than one page in length. After that, you need to begin to draw up a voluminous and detailed campaign plan, which should cover all the main tactical actions for the entire duration of the election.
In addition, it must be borne in mind that the tactics of political struggle must necessarily be coordinated with the strategy of certain actions. Even if it was possible to find some new tactical move, quite effective and interesting, but it does not agree with the line worked out, it is better to refuse it.
Having analyzed the main elements of the strategy of the election campaign in domestic and foreign political practice, it should be noted that not every campaign contains all the mentioned elements of the strategy. And this is understandable, since not in all conditions the use of certain means of political struggle is expedient and effective. In each case it is necessary to carefully analyze the pre-election situation before choosing the only correct strategy leading to victory.
for instance, Martin Shakkum, despite his fame as a candidate for the post of President of the Russian Federation, could not get into the State Duma in the 1997-98 by-elections. It is thanks to the defeat in the presidential campaign that happened to him in 1996 ..
As you know, the presidential elections only helped Alexander Lebed to become the governor of one of the key regions.
For a candidate claiming victory, fake colleagues are sometimes even more dangerous than real rivals. It is from the most often used for frontal and "partisan" attacks on the favorites of the campaign (see the corresponding sections of the book).
Each role requires its own image, but if you think that the main thing is not to win, but to participate - immediately work for your real goal, do not waste time and money on building the image of a winner for these elections.
If you, as a candidate, invited consultants - tell the truth right away. Since their task is to solve customer problems in the most efficient way.
Once, while working with a large entrepreneur, we were guided by a false goal. And we constantly could not understand his cautious attitude to our recommendations, which could lead him to success. Only a month before voting day, he finally found it necessary to inform us that winning the elections was not the goal of his election campaign. As a result, all the preparatory work went down the drain, since we were doing it to achieve completely different goals. And we were forced to terminate the contract.
The main strategic directions of the campaign are formed after analyzing all the information collected about the district and started collecting signatures by the rivals.
A strategy is a collection of the main ideas of a campaign. It is within the framework of the strategy that the image of the candidate, tactics and plan of the election campaign are implemented. The strategy determines the content of the main campaign materials.
We must form in the minds of voters the most advantageous image of our candidate, highlight the strongest and most consistent with the real qualities of our candidate facets of this image.
Conventionally, from the point of view of comparing the parameters of the images of your candidate and rivals, the strategy is formulated as follows: “We will win if the voters seem to be stronger than this rival, more fair than this rival, smarter than this rival, more honest than this rival more competent than this rival ... "
From the point of view of the program, the strategy is formulated as follows: "We will win, because we are going to and can do ... And this is exactly what people in the district expect from their chosen one." It is necessary to approve only 2-3 of your recipes for solving the problems of the district and society. In principle, one was enough for S. Fedorov in the presidential elections.
From the point of view of mythology, we must grope for the myth shared by the majority of voters in a region or country about the main contradiction of society and take the side of good. Against crime. Against NATO. Against non-payment of salaries and pensions. Against privatization according to Chubais. Against the collapse of Russia. Against the Moscow colonialists. Against the IMF. Against the restoration of communism. Against Russophobes. Against Russian nationalists. Against the corruption of officials. Against American hegemonism. Against separatism. Against Islamic fundamentalism. Against the expansion of China. Against the enrichment of the minority. For tax cuts. For the creation of new jobs. For domestic investment. For government assistance in the migration of Russians to the central regions of Russia. For the unity of Russia. For self-reliance. For attracting foreign investment. During the campaign, we must strive to "straddle" the 3-5 most serious (from the point of view of voters according to preliminary opinion polls) contradictions in society.
Based on the specifics of the biography and the needs of the electorate, we must create the most effective and at the same time laconic "legend" of our candidate. There is no Hero without a Legend.
At the preliminary stage, it is necessary to assess the general political and socio-psychological situation in your district and country. Does the overall situation and the resulting desires and intentions of the voters correspond to the increase in your chances of winning?
At the preliminary stage, we must formulate the problems of our candidate as openly as possible in the form of theses, which may hinder our victory, and work out options and ways to neutralize these problems in the public consciousness.
Practical experience makes it possible to confidently rely on victory in the majoritarian elections, if two months before the elections, about 40% of voters know the candidate's surname, and 10% of voters are ready to vote for him.
Naturally, the candidate's growth resources should not be exhausted. Sometimes a candidate with 90% recognition is categorically unacceptable for the majority of voters (that is, has an anti-rating). In a two-round vote, this can lead to defeat or to an extremely high percentage of votes "against all". The high mobilization of one's own electorate at the stage of preparation sometimes even hinders, since it reduces the possibilities for modifying the image and program. In addition, the "overheated" electorate sometimes behaves in a completely unpredictable manner.
As a rule, in the current conditions of Russia, five or more candidates are running in the district. This means that with a one-round voting, your views, image and program after promotion should interest more than a fifth of voters. This is the direction and reserves of our growth.
Formulate questions clearly and order surveys from 2-3 different sociological centers. Because, unfortunately, interviewers, and the interviewers themselves, are often inclined to pass off wishful thinking. It is advisable to conduct the first survey 6-9 months before the elections. Naturally, each group of sociologists does not have to know that they have competitors.
Sometimes, at major elections, it is more profitable to bring a nonresident but proven sociological group to the region, including interviewers. It should be noted that the purpose of the survey is not to get ratings (which candidates love so much), but to reveal the attitude, intentions and desires of the population.
The usual basic survey includes about 60 questions, mostly closed ones, sometimes including up to 30 alternatives. Working in the region with local sociologists, we usually undertake not only the preparation of the questionnaires, but also all the data processing. Modern computer methods make it possible to construct mathematical models of the electorate that allow predicting its behavior and, during the campaign, to control this behavior. First of all, mathematical models of "our" electorate, an electorate that is absolutely hostile to our candidate, and so on are built. The models allow predicting the behavior of voters depending on various actions and statements of our candidate and his rivals. We find the basic strategic ideas of the campaign, which in the course of polishing tactics are worked out in targeted focus groups.
Example. In one Siberian city, we were invited to pull out the situation just over a month before voting day. Our candidate is the main rival of the incumbent mayor, lagging behind him by about fifteen percent. Computer modeling showed that the rivals had a significant segment of the general electorate; it was only necessary to create conditions for its overflow to our candidate. Our strategy and tactics have been geared towards exactly that. At the same time, sociologists and psychologists working for the incumbent mayor made a number of technological mistakes that led to errors in their campaign at the finish stage. As a result of their erroneous strategic recommendations, the mayor and the governor supporting him began a frontal confrontation with our candidate. ... We chose the path of avoiding confrontation and, as a result, won by 20 percent of the vote. However, the short time frame for successful implementation of this campaign is rather an exception. In this case, we can only talk about the correct strategic decisions of our side multiplied by the strategic mistakes of the opponent's political technologists.
When preparing a campaign strategy, it is useful to analyze both previous opinion polls and election results in the district. It is best if you can get the results of surveys from local sociologists "in numbers." In this case, due to the computer processing of additional data, additional useful information can be obtained.
It should be borne in mind that at best half of your potential supporters will visit polling stations. Therefore, the prospect of support for less than a fifth of voters makes the election campaign a rather risky undertaking if it does not pursue the goal of simply promoting the personality, firm and views of the candidate. In this case, only weaker opponents can win.
You cannot change the political and socio-psychological situation; at best, you will be able to somewhat correct its subjective understanding by the voters. Therefore, determine how much you can change yourself so as not to lose yourself, but at the same time bring the number of your potential supporters to at least 20 percent of the constituency voters. Ride on to their problems and expectations.
If you have objectively little chances and no obligations to any structures, it is better to save money, nerves and not be nominated.
Unfortunately, our politicians still do not know how to objectively assess their chances, therefore, candidates multiply before the elections, to the horror of each other and the amusement of the public.
When developing a strategy, it is necessary to take into account the resources of your election campaign and the campaigns of your opponents according to the following parameters:
Time resources (If you start your election campaign a year, and not three months before the election, your chances will increase many times with skillful preliminary promotion, and victory will not require excessive funds).
Intellectual, creative resources (Ability to attract highly qualified specialists to develop and implement a campaign, create and implement a candidate program).
Financial resources (The main problem is to have money in the right amount at each stage of the campaign, and not all at once two weeks before the elections).
Organizational resources (First of all, this means the effective mobilization and organization of "arms and legs" necessary for the implementation of the campaign, as well as the ability to mobilize a sufficient number of "allies" structures during the campaign).
Administrative resources - manifest themselves not only directly, in the form of influencing the voting process and counting of votes, but also indirectly - in the form of facilitating access to finance, material and information resources for the activities of headquarters (premises, transport, databases, etc.), mail services for mailing, organizational resources of regional elites. We are also talking about "special" relationships with the media, election commissions, courts. Thus, in the presidential elections in a number of subjects of the federation, opposition candidates did not even manage to register. In the 1999 parliamentary elections. A number of movements and blocs were completely blocked access to TV channels, despite the availability of funds, at the same time V. Zhirinovsky, who distinguished himself in the May "torpedo attack" to impeach the President of the Russian Federation, received a complete carte blanche on the propaganda of the Liberal Democratic Party on federal TV channels.
Material and technical resources. We are talking about the technological armament of the headquarters - access to modern communication systems, powerful computers and software, transport. The quality of the strategy, tactics and media of political advertising often directly depends on the computer and software of the strategic planning, image building and creativity groups. Campaign management both during campaigning and during voting is the more effective, the higher the mobility of operational groups and their provision with modern communication systems.
Legal resources (sometimes good work of lawyers allows you to remove the main rivals or even disrupt the election if our candidate did not manage to get promoted). In any case, you can make your opponents nervous. Suffice it to recall the "shock therapy" of "Yabloko" (which did not want to join the bloc of the united "right") during the bloc's registration in the 1995 parliamentary elections. At the elections in one of the regions, our lawyers managed to remove several chairmen of precinct election commissions, who did not want to fulfill all the requirements of the election law, on election day.
Information resources (Access to information flows of rivals allows their campaigns to be "transparent", hidden or direct control over the media ensures dominance in the information space. At the same time, in regions with a European mentality, the more subtly we can manage information flows, the higher the campaign efficiency will be. In predominantly Asian regions, the opposite is true.)
Special operational resources (Information, organizational, intellectual and other impact on the campaigns of rivals and allies).
As American electoral methodologies put it, "the strategy depends on WHO the voters you want to win over; WHY they will vote for you, WHAT these voters have in common; HOW and WHEN you can implement your strategy."
Unfortunately, American methodology is based on the fact that there are usually only two candidates in a district. Therefore, your strategy in modern Russian conditions also depends on WHO are your rivals, WHAT forces and means they have, HOW they will act in order to attract voters to their side.
Formulating the strategy of your election campaign, you have to find answers to all these questions.
The political focus on the constituency is discussed in sufficient detail in the chapter "Choosing a constituency". It is already clear to you who your voters are.
But now you must formulate a convincing argument WHY they should vote for you. Who you are or who you must become in order to claim victory. WHAT do you have in common with your voters, what do they have in common with each other? What do they believe in and what do they want to achieve? How can you help them to fulfill their desires, beliefs and intentions?
Having found the answers to these questions, it is necessary to move on to analyzing the images and programs of your rivals. The new version of the "Law on guarantees of citizens' electoral rights" states that more votes must be cast for the winner than "against all candidates." This forces any candidate's team to engage in comparative analysis of programs and images very seriously.
In addition, one of the strategic goals is counter-propaganda against the most powerful rivals, convincing voters that they are worse than your candidate. It should be borne in mind that, as a rule, the number of fanatical adherents of any candidate does not exceed 20% of those who are ready to vote for him. This is the so-called "tough electorate". The rest of the voters - the "soft electorate" - are ready to vote for another candidate under certain conditions.
Your strengths multiplied by your competitors' weaknesses become one of the keys to the right strategy.
Most rivals will act in a similar way, so you should be prepared to be drowned in mud and / or strangled in an embrace. The campaign strategy includes forecasting the goals and actions of our competitors during the campaign, our actions in relation to each of them.
It is better for you to formulate your strategic goals and objectives in the form of abstracts. Thus, you can determine the intermediate goals of your election campaign, what you must achieve at each stage in order to ultimately win. Actions to expand one's "hard electorate" should alternate with actions to split and attract the "soft electorate" of rivals.
The correct choice of strategy explains why the winner in the district is often not the one who spent the most money on the campaign, most often appeared on TV screens, happily looked at voters from all fences and filled all mailboxes with his appeals. And the one who rationally spent limited funds on the gradual achievement of predetermined campaign goals, becoming more and more interesting and attractive to both his voters and the voters of his rivals.
Often, especially in the gubernatorial and presidential elections, even during the preparation of the election campaign, we create or imitate the creation of the so-called "minus group". This is the average headquarters of our rivals, whose task is to show where and how our opponents can hit us at every stage of the campaign. Weaknesses of the image, team, programs, compromising evidence - all this needs preliminary study and preparation of reflection. Fixing our weaknesses is also part of the strategy. Naturally, to predict strikes, an atmosphere of special trust with the candidate is required. "Group-minus" works in full contact with the information and analytical department of the candidate's headquarters, setting its tasks to obtain information about rivals in order to predict their actions.
Naturally, after completing work with this candidate, the invited specialists must make a moral obligation not to use the information received against their former client in future campaigns. As a rule, even if invited for further work with other candidates, our specialists are not involved in the development and implementation of counter-propaganda and special actions against former clients. By the way, the vast majority of customers understand this.
In high-level elections (mayor, State Duma and above), where, as a rule, already promoted images participate, it is of great importance to build associative rows on the basis of polls that accompany the mention of the names of the main candidates in the minds of voters. This provides positive and negative directions for work in the media based on the formation and maintenance of verbal and non-verbal associations, stereotypes, guidelines for the development of outdoor and TV advertising, handouts, targeted mailing.
In addition, on the basis of expert polls, comparisons are made of the actual and planned images of candidates according to 20-60 parameters that determine the personal and professional qualities necessary for a person to work in an elected position. (More on this in the chapter "Image of the candidate").
The work on the strategy is being completed by the preparation of the so-called "campaign plot" ("tree"). This is a kind of "master plan", which in the most general outline shows the main plot twists and turns of our campaign, the largest "informational reasons", the time and place of the "voice acting" of any conceptual ideas to our candidates, the main slogans, the scheme of their launch, changes, time creation and planned partners in alliances, etc. The key points and dates of the campaign are determined, when its further development can go along one path or another, depending on the changing situation. These points are subsequently linked to the work schedules of the candidate and the press service, media plans, plans for the preparation and launch of advertising media. Large-block planning is underway, since a campaign where there is no internal interconnection between separate areas of work is doomed to senseless overspending.
A well-written and implemented scenario can keep opponents and voters in suspense throughout the campaign. It is necessary to attract the attention of voters, to keep this attention, as in a well-directed film. Let the opponents try to react to your past moves, at this moment you have to form a new informational reason or strike a new blow. Surprise is a campaign resource. Holding the initiative is half the battle. But even such a "blitzkrieg" as the victory in the elections to the State Duma during the entire two-week election campaign requires completely confidential preparation for four to five months.
Sometimes the specifics of different regions of the district are so complex that one strategy is not enough to achieve success. Thus, one of the secrets of the success of A. Lebed's election campaign in the 1996 presidential election was the implementation of three strategies in parallel and in parallel. In different regions, completely different facets of the general's image were promoted. Even in the federal media of different political orientations, the image was presented in relation to the specifics of the readership.
Questions WHEN and HOW you will be able to implement your campaign are already related to the tactics of the campaign.
Under normal conditions, campaign tactics are formed and coordinated within about two weeks, even before the collection of signatures begins. At one of the gubernatorial elections, we formed our tactics according to the following parameters:
AN EXAMPLE SCHEDULE OF PREPARATORY WORK
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Name of works |
Responsible for conducting and preparing the final documents |
Terms of submission of documents, plans for |
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1. Coordination of the campaign, work with the Leader (working out possible informational reasons) | ||
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2. Organization of nominations, support and collection of signatures (creation of a database of signers) | ||
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3. Organization of cooperation with public and other associations, rivals (coordination of support campaigns) | ||
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4. Preparation of an economic program and socio-economic targeting | ||
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5. Economics (analytical and journalistic support) | ||
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6. Conducting opinion polls | ||
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7. Conducting psychological aiming (preliminary sketch of the Leader's image, the main strengths and weaknesses of the images and personalities of the opponents) | ||
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8. Analytical socio-psychological support | ||
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9. Monitoring the actions of the main rivals and appearances in the media (the work of the dossier service) | ||
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10. Coordination of media campaigns (elaboration of pulsations) | ||
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11. Development of newsworthy (including the direction of implementation) | ||
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12. Practice and coordination of counter-propaganda | ||
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13. Working with newspapers, including district ones (preparation and placement of publications, the "single press folder" program, including a photo archive) | ||
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14. Work with TV channels, including district, city and village studios (preparation and placement of performances and videos) | ||
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15. Work with radio, including regional and city studios (preparation and placement of performances and videos) | ||
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16. Preparation of advertising media (posters, booklets and leaflets) | ||
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17. Preparation and implementation of a campaign on the streets, coordination of actions of headquarters and task forces | ||
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18. Preparing databases for the mailing program | ||
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19. Implementation of the address distribution program | ||
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20. Coordination of the support program from cultural workers | ||
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21. Coordination of the support program from sports figures | ||
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22. Coordination of the program of support from federal structures and newsmakers | ||
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23. Fundraising program (formation of an electoral fund) |