As Nigeria prepares for the 2023 elections, the electorates have many questions begging for answers. They want to know the programmes and policies of the various political parties contesting in the poll.
Even though a large number of candidates contesting in the 2023 elections are yet to unveil their manifestos, there is a wide gap between the information-poor and information-rich as regards what campaign manifestos entail.
In this article, Quest Times will take you through the fundamentals of parties’ campaign manifestos
1. A manifesto is a policy document containing the plans, aims, and cardinal principles of a candidate or political party’s campaign and how the plans would be implemented if voted into power.
2. The key feature of a political manifesto is that it will usually say what the party’s policies are, as well as give some kind of explanation as to what each policy is trying to achieve and why that would be a good thing, to persuade the voter to support it.
3. Manifestos usually cover a wide range of political issues, including the economy, health, education, welfare, jobs, housing, defence, the environment, and foreign policy.
4. Branding is an extremely important feature of modern political manifestos. This usually begins with a title, which tries to make the party sound appealing to voters, and often contains some kind of reference to the core theme of the party’s election campaign.
5. In addition, as manifestos are designed to try to persuade the reader to vote for a particular party, they tend to repeat certain key ideas and phrases which they want the voters to associate with their campaign.
6. Traditionally, printed copies of manifestos were distributed at campaign rallies, by mail, or in person. With the advent of technology however, several parties now tend to distribute digital versions of the manifesto through their website or social media.
7. A party manifesto can also be used as a tool to measure the success or failure of the party when it gets into power.