Before and after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lifted the lid on political campaigns last week, groups, organizations and individuals have been organizing parades and rallies to popularize and support their favorite candidates. Especially the presidential candidates.
Over the last few days, Nigerians in several parts of the country have taken to the streets to sing high praises of their favored presidential candidates including Mr Peter Obi of Labour Party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of All Progressive Congress and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
To understand the reason behind this political strategy, Brief analyses the potential angles political parties would work to swing voters’ decisions.
A political campaign or rally is an organized effort by a political party to influence the decision of a voting populace. In a democratic country like Nigeria, political campaigns popularize the candidate vying for a political position. And present a unified front of party stakeholders.
In previous elections, two political parties, APC and PDP, have dominated the race to elect Nigeria’s president and other electable offices, including governorships and members of the National Assembly. But in the 2023 race, Labour Party has emerged as the third force.
Let’s break down the potential angles of political campaigns party by party.
APC
Nigeria’s ruling party has not lost a presidential election since the merger that gave birth to the party in 2013. The party has also recorded successes in gubernatorial elections with 22 sitting governors out of the 36 state governments.
However, the almost eight years tenure of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has faced criticism from the public for increased security crisis, economic downturn, collapse of the education system, and much more.
APC, through political campaigns, would look to regain the trust and belief of the Nigerian public.
PDP
The major opposition party to the APC through political campaigns would look to capitalize on the failures of the Buhari led administration. They will hope to convince most voters on the agenda that Nigeria saw better days in all sectors under their regime.
Labour Party
Peter Obi’s Labour Party, which is now gaining popularity, especially amongst the youths, is looking to break the cycle of a two-way presidential election involving APC and PDP. The party has barely dominated Nigeria’s political space at the federal level in the past.
As a result, political analysts, stakeholders, and opposition party members due to the party’s youthful base criticized the Labour Party for not having a structure on which the party’s presidential flag bearer and other candidates can build a political pursuit.
Therefore, through the political campaigns, Labour Party would look to popularize its candidates amongst voters in remote areas.