Defending the city, defending votes: campaign strategies in urban Ghana

Repetitive elections are important benchmarks for assessing the maturity of Africa's electoral democracies. Yet the processes through which elections entrench a democratic culture remain understudied. We introduce an important mechanism called a democratic rupture: an infraction in the democratisation process during competitive elections that has the potential to cause a constitutional crisis. It provides a new avenue of citizen participation outside of voting, and political space for opposition party realignment and to strengthen its support. Drawing from the case of Ghana, we show how the 2012 presidential election petition challenge served as a democratic rupture by contributing to the opposition's victory in 2016, enabling its political development. First, it exposed flaws in the electoral system and led to demands for electoral reforms. Second, it led to citizens being better educated on the electoral process. Third, it taught political parties that vigilance at the polling stations can help win elections. The article provides a critical analysis of the factors that shape democratic development, especially in cases where opposition parties defeat incumbent politicians.

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“…This is similar to the exclusive campaign strategies documented inKlaus and Paller (2017) in Greater Accra.…”

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confidence: 82%

Democratic Ruptures and Electoral Outcomes in Africa: Ghana's 2016 Election

Bob-Milliar

Paller

2018

Africa Spectrum

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“…Regional head election campaign, with the door to door canvassing operation carried out by the Partai Kesejahteraan Sosial. The strategies that parties use to maintain and build electoral support in increasingly diverse contexts [6].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Campaign Strategy for the Election of Regional Heads in the Political Communication Perspectives

Yulianita¹,

Zakiah²

2019

Proceedings of the Social and Humaniora Research Symposium (SoRes 2018)

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The campaign strategy was carried out to win the Regional Head Election simultaneously in 171 regions (17 Provinces, 39 Cities and 115 Regencies). this research is entitled Campaign Strategy for the Election of Regional Heads in the Political Communication Perspectives. Political campaign strategies for regional head elections are needed to maintain their existence. The success of the political campaign strategy that is compiled and implemented needs to be done, so that candidates, political parties, successful teams, and supporters try to develop and implement well-designed strategies. The specific purpose of this study is to find out, analyze, and discuss the Election Strategy of the Election Commission in the Political Communication Perspective. This study uses qualitative methods through a case study approach The results showed that the campaign strategy carried out by the leader of the winning team Rudi-Helmi used four stages, namely: First stage, popularity. Incumbent compared to other prospective contestants is more popular with the strength that has been known by the people of Garut for at least the past five years. The second stage is acceptability. Incumbents as state officials are more accepted by the people formally or informally by the people of Garut. The third stage, probability. Incumbents can estimate voters by sorting out old voters, tendency to vote, and attract sympathy for millennial voters. The fourth stage, vote gate. Vote is mainly directed at non-formal segments that are not directly related to the formal duties of incumbents as leaders of the Garut area.

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“…Bleck and Van de Walle (2013, 2019) argue that uncertainty regarding voting allegiances leads politicians to prioritize valence issues in national elections and Brierley et al (2019) add that parties can offer different policy solutions to common valence concerns. Klaus and Paller (2017) show that parties vary in the extent, to which they make inclusive versus exclusive appeals in urban Ghana. In LeBas’s (2013) account, cross-ethnic coalitions are more successful when parties can draw on pre-existing organizational structures, such as trade unions or other national associations and mobilize these cross-cutting identities.…”

Section: Existing Approaches To Cross-ethnic Campaigning In Africamentioning

confidence: 93%

Status-quo or Grievance Coalitions: The Logic of Cross-ethnic Campaign Appeals in Africa’s Highly Diverse States

Gadjanova

2020

Comparative Political Studies

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This paper explains how presidential candidates in Africa’s highly diverse states appeal across ethnic lines when ethnic identities are salient, but broader support is needed to win elections. I argue that election campaigns are much more bottom-up and salience-oriented than current theories allow and draw on the analysis of custom data of campaign appeals in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda, as well as interviews with party strategists and campaign operatives in Ghana and Kenya to demonstrate clear patterns in presidential candidates’ cross-ethnic outreach. Where ethnic salience is high, incumbents offer material incentives and targeted transfers to placate supporters, challengers fan grievances to split incumbents’ coalitions, and also-rans stress unity and valence issues in the hope of joining the winner. The research contributes to our understanding of parties’ mobilization strategies in Africa and further clarifies where and how ethnic divisions are politicized in elections in plural societies.

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Defending the city, defending votes: campaign strategies in urban Ghana

Cited by 49 publications

References 49 publications

Democratic Ruptures and Electoral Outcomes in Africa: Ghana's 2016 Election

Democratic Ruptures and Electoral Outcomes in Africa: Ghana's 2016 Election

Campaign Strategy for the Election of Regional Heads in the Political Communication Perspectives

Status-quo or Grievance Coalitions: The Logic of Cross-ethnic Campaign Appeals in Africa’s Highly Diverse States

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