Political campaigning calls for simplicity and clarity

In politics it pays to have a clear message and to keep repeating it. It pays further if the message clearly underlines the difference between you and your opponents and makes the point about how important it is to vote for you. David Cameron got it and won. He also understood that the electorate wants it simple and focussed. No need for too many agendas, tonnes of ideas. It confuses the voter and pushes them away. 

The leader provides the answers

When everyone has access to all types of sources of information and when opinions are shaped in seconds, through headlines, sound bites and quick-passing images, it becomes very difficult to be an accepted political leader. One has to be very clear about the kind of persona one wants to project, taking into account the support basis one aims to build. It is a never ending effort. The political leader is always in the public eye and cannot let his or her attention relax. It is also exhausting. That´s probably the reason why leaders come and go so fast. They are out of gasp before too long.

I thought about all this today again as I saw the latest figures about President François Hollande´s popularity. He is at a very low point. I think his case will be, sooner or later, the subject of a major academic thesis that will seek to understand how it was possible for a French head of State to sink so fast in the public opinion.

I also thought about leadership when I saw the reports about Ed Miliband, the boss of the Labour Party in the UK. He is confronted with serious criticism about his lack of leadership charisma. His detractors say basically that he cannot connect with the common person on the street. Connecting with people is essential. But what does it mean exactly? It is certainly about creating a relationship of trust. But confidence is not enough. One has to be perceived as the one that can provide the answers to the many interrogations people have today. And that´s particularly important at a time of uncertainties. And at present there are plenty of them in our part of the world. 

UK on the way out of the EU

I am getting the impression that in Brussels many think that the UK´s exit from the EU is just a matter of time. Prime Minister Cameron has opened a Pandora box. He and the rest of the existing political leadership seem too weak, too uncharismatic to be able to stop the slide in the public opinion. It will be an uphill struggle to change the trend. The genie will not jump back into the bottle.  

The demise of traditional parties is now a serious prospect

The French have decided to vote against the government candidates on today´s local elections. But above all, they have decided to abstain from voting. Over 16 million said no by keeping themselves far away from the polling stations. Basically, this shows that the traditional parties can no longer be seen as the political vehicles people´s aspirations. The citizens, all over the place, in France and elsewhere in Europe, are deeply dissatisfied with the way professional politicians behave.

That´s probably the reason why they have elected, in Slovakia, an outsider to be the country´s next president. The prime-minister, a long standing figure in national politics, was just defeat by a businessman.

On this same day, the British media has printed the results of the latest opinion survey. The Labour Party is just one percentage point ahead the governing Conservatives. This happens notwithstanding the very erratic policies the Conservative government – the Tories – have tried to implement, with less than convincing results, during the last three years. People in Britain are also running away from the old parties. Unfortunately they are moving their support to UKIP, the Independence Party of Nigel Farage, a good speaker who manages to hide some of his racist ideas behind some demagogic policies. UKIP is rapidly becoming the third force in British politics. This is a major feat because the system there is constructed in such a way that it gives very little chances to any alternative to Labour and Tory parties. If the British voter is going UKIP that shows how discontent she or he is with the current system.

And more examples could be found throughout the EU.