VARIOUS strategies have been used by political parties to convince voters to support and trust them enough so that they can gain a solid majority with which to form a government centred on the needs of the people.
Parties, therefore, must be aware of not just the political climate — because not all people are political — but also the social environment in which they operate. The people’s welfare and wellbeing must be at the top of their priorities list. This is because hunger, pain, and discomfort easily divert people’s attention from the broader socio-political matters, and can even make them angry.
So the people must come first for any politician who wants to serve them. Their claims should not be ignored because the oppositions can use them to their advantage.
So, to maintain political support, whatever is presented to the voters must fulfill their needs or a least be compatible with their lifestyles. Surely by now the political parties are aware of this. The key performance index by which they should be judged is their consistency of success in implementing their programmes. Service-oriented or service-based politics involves carrying out planned activities that have tangible impact on the livelihood of not just supporters but potential supporters as well as.
The attempt to restore the nation’s economy is currently the major factor that needs to be addressed and explained well during this election cycle to restore the people’s confidence that their economic wellbeing would not be harmed. A government that is attentive, open, and prioritises their needs, is what the people want. Among the pertinent issues affecting them directly are in the fields of education, business, health, safety and security, social cohesion, and social justice. These must be among the top considerations of any political party or coalition that wants to form the next government.
People frequently wish that their elected representatives could serve them in the most effective manner possible. And they want a government that carries out its duties with complete integrity. All of the competing political parties must pay attention to this and other relevant issues.
In any general election, getting the most votes is the overriding objective. After all, it’s all about winning. However, the road to victory depends on how well governmental services have been delivered to the majority of voters. Among them are the following: maintaining modern agriculture, caring for the rights of women and children, ensuring that young graduates always have access to employment opportunities, raising the quality of education, providing small and medium-sized business groups with appropriate financial assistance, and balancing the development of urban and rural areas.
Demands from the public must not be disregarded whether deliberately or otherwise because the people now have the mandate that they will give to those candidates who they believe will fulfill their expectations and hopes.
The 16th president of the United States of America (USA), Abraham Lincoln, once said, “Democracy is a rule of the people, for the people and by the people”. It means that democracy is a form of government in which the rulers are elected by the people. The citizens of the country elect the government to rule the country and the elected government work for the welfare of the people.
On our part as voters, we ought to do our best to ensure that our choices of candidates are fully satisfactory so that we won’t have regrets after the fact. We ought to weigh beforehand the individual party or candidate’s capacity and influence based on their abilities in implementing past initiatives, those that are currently in progress, and those that will be proposed in the future.
The people want their demands to be fulfilled, so the main question for them is, “Who or which party can do it?” On the part of the political parties, they must answer this question convincingly or, better still, demonstrate how capable they are. After all, effective service can persuade or convince people into believing that certain parties are better than others. It is also worth remembering that service delivery should be done comprehensively, consistently and well-organised, depending on varying levels of priorities.
