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Election manifesto model outdated u2013 analysts
Election manifesto model outdated u2013 analysts

Election manifesto model outdated – analysts

Political analysts believe that people no longer go to the trouble of reading political parties' manifestos.
Jemima Beukes
Political parties and commentators are questioning the relevance of political party manifestos ahead of next month's parliamentary and presidential elections.

Barely a month before the elections, there is very little political activity.

The official opposition Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) and All People's Party (APP) are the only formations to have launched their manifestos yet.

The ruling party Swapo is scheduled to launch its manifesto this weekend according to its mobilisation and information secretary, Hilma Nicanor.

Political commentator Ndumba Kamwanyah believes manifestos are useless in the current political set-up. He also thinks it is time for political parties to find a different way to speak to voters instead of relying on manifestos.

According to Kamwanyah, people no longer spend time on reading manifestos to see whether a political party has changed its stance.

“I am sure there are many people who did not read the PDM manifesto, which is 45 pages long. It does not make sense and we know that parties have presented us with manifestos that do not speak to the real issues on the ground,” he says.

Political analyst Graham Hopwood agrees that detailed manifestos are not appealing to voters and feels that political parties should find other means to spread their message. He says it remains important for political parties to state their basic priorities, though.

“I think parties still need to have programmes based on policies which can only be expressed in manifestos, but I think the parties are failing to communicate their key points via social media or make them key messages in their speeches,” he said.

Constitutional expert Dr Nico Horn says the idea of a manifesto came from an era when people were ideologically divided.

“I think manifestos can help, especially when you want to emphasise why you want people to vote for you. But I think it is very unlike the manifestos you get in the rest of the world. It is not ideological; it deals with the past, [the party's] historical contribution or non-contribution to the liberation struggle. It deals with your centre of support, those kinds of things. Those are not very nice things to put in a manifesto,” he says.

He adds that there are no real ideological differences between political parties in Namibia with the exception of Swanu, which is a socialist party.

“If you look at the leaders when they speak, they sort of say the same thing. It is much more a historical thing – for PDM people still associate them with the DTA whereas Swapo may have a lot of flaws in the party and still primarily go on the liberation ticket,” he says.

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JEMIMA BEUKES

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-29

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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53% Sport results: European Championships Qualifying: Bristol City 1 vs 0 Leicester City English Championship: Bristol City 1 vs 0 Leicester City Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 36° Rundu: 19° | 29° Eenhana: 19° | 29° Oshakati: 21° | 30° Ruacana: 20° | 33° Tsumeb: 19° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 29° Omaruru: 19° | 32° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Gobabis: 17° | 30° Henties Bay: 16° | 20° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 11:22, High tide: 05:24, Low Tide: 23:26, High tide: 17:46 Swakopmund: 16° | 17° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:22, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:44 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 27km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:21, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:43 Rehoboth: 19° | 30° Mariental: 23° | 34° Keetmanshoop: 24° | 35° Aranos: 22° | 33° Lüderitz: 15° | 28° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 35° Oranjemund: 14° | 25° Luanda: 27° | 28° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 26° Mbabane: 16° | 21° Maseru: 11° | 29° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 27° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Cape Town: 17° | 28° Durban: 20° | 24° Johannesburg: 16° | 24° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 20° | 30° Harare: 16° | 29° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.82 | EUR to NAD 20.37 | CNY to NAD 2.61 | USD to NAD 18.88 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.77 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.66 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1303.34 | USD to ZAR 18.88 | USD to ZMW 25.01 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 74536 Up +0.85% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1528.69 Up +0.84% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12986.94 Up +0.04% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 27559.35 Down -2.36% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - 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