ELECTIONS MEDIA STRATEGY Summary
Multi-Media Strategy supporting Free and Fair Elections. With the support of the UNDP Elections Assistance Programme and development partners MFA conducted a ‘harmonised and issue-based’ media campaign with specific focus on the 2007 General Election in Kenya between September 19th and December 22nd of 2007.
The aim of this media campaign was to convey objective, unbiased and impartial information via the media on selected and thoroughly researched electoral topics, thus supporting the realisation of increased voter turnout and ‘free and fair elections’.
The campaign promoted the election agenda and gave the public an opportunity to express their views on topical issues that were relevant during this election year such as: equitable allocation of resources; unemployment; ethnicity; security and human rights. Target groups: the population in both urban and rural areas with special focus on the youth, woman and people with disabilities.
Objectives:
- Develop an issues-based approach to encourage discussion and reflection;
- Reaching target audiences nationwide utilising national/local media platforms;
- Supporting free and fair elections as well as increased voter turnout;
- Unbiased and equitable access of all political parties/candidates to the media.
APPROACH
The media strategy complimented the efforts of several media houses coverage of the elections and civil society organizations that conducted civic education through formal and informal meetings countrywide by providing a forum for discourse in a manner that reinforces these efforts. The strategy was firmly issue based and therefore – implicitly – worked as a civic education program promoting responsible citizen participation in the electoral process.
Thematic issues included: The role of the youth in politics; Women in electoral politics; Enacting a new constitution; Political parties and their respective manifestos; Poverty and inequality and Unemployment; Ethnicity, incitement and hate speeches by the political aspirants; Public service delivery; Resource allocation and the issues around devolved funds; Political accountability; Election Act and Election malpractices; Political campaign financing; Performance of the ECK; Role of the Executive (Provincial administration/Office of the president and Insecurity.
