While politicians from Lebanon’s two main political camps bicker over an electoral law they can’t wait to disagree upon, the campaigns to kick off the 2013 election season have begun with “Khlosna Ba2a” – Enough is enough.
The main party behind the campaign is the National Dialogue Party (NDP), spear-headed by engineer and businessman Fouad Makhzoumi who’s a known philanthropist.
The campaign aims to show what I think the majority of Lebanese believe and it’s our utter disgust at the current situation of the country: corruption, immigration, violence, dismal economical prospects, lack of proper dialogue, entrenched sectarianism. And the list goes on.
While I believe that such campaigns, similarly to Take Back Parliament, should have been started a long time ago and not only a few months before the elections in order to rally people and have a functional grass-root movement to get their votes, it’s still nice to see that there’s at least potential for alternative candidates spread around the country who would run based on qualifications not based on how big their family is or how faithful to a corresponding party they are.
Either way, I believe that the coming few weeks will start seeing more electoral campaigns kicking off as the electoral law should – theoretically – be known by then. And I believe the least we can expect is interesting slogans. The least we can hope for is less “Sois Belle et Vote” this time around and more intelligent messages such as “Khlosna Ba2a.”
Here are the other ads in the campaign so far:
We’re sick of corruption and sectarianism. Enough is enough.
Our only option is dialogue. Enough is enough.
We want to stay in Lebanon. Enough is enough.
A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares 
I like the idea but not a fan of the ads themselves. I think they are too plain but good luck to them.
I hope the message resonates.
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I disagree, I think the aesthetic is appropriate as political ads should be able to rely on their message alone. I remember seeing those sexy orange ads (on either newsweek or time magazine website), plus others; they were very stylish, but more appropriate for cologne or sunglasses. I, frankly, would be insulted to see such promotion for political campaign where I live.
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We live in a place where very few people are swayed by a political ad so political groups veer towards eye-catching stuff w/ empty content in order to get people talking. The “Sois Belle et Vote” ad which was championed by the pro-Hezbollah Christians aimed was a “sensation” everywhere. Some loved it. Others found it way too sexist and demeaning. Everyone discussed it.
Did it bring them more votes? I don’t think so. I don’t know.
I wasn’t insulted by any of the ads that were put up during our past elections because it was the first time that medium was actually used. But, as you said, I am hoping for more substance this time around because that is better for me as a voter. But substance doesn’t always catch people’s eye.
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Insult comment withdrawn, I didn´t know it was the first time ads like that have been done in Lebanon, and I admit I was impressed with the creativity I saw. I know Detroit…USA….Americas…new world, I´ll keep that in mind next time commenting.
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I think the important aspect of a political ad is the message it conveys, not the colors or its flashiness. So these work for that. The message should, theoretically, resonate. But will it resonate enough to get people to vote?
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Pingback: Lebanon’s 2013 Elections Campaigns: Khlosna Ba2a | mohamadhsaker
Reblogged this on mohamadhsaker.
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Thanks for the translations for your international readers. Wish the best for all you n your country this election season.
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You’re welcome Joey.
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Any campaign manager or even the smallest salesperson or marketing oriented individual knows that the only way to capture people now is to play on the strings of “We have had enough”, “we are fed up”, “we need change”.
This is what Obama based his campaign on after 8 years of way led by the Republicans.
This is what even March 14 and March 8 will base their campaigns on. One will say “we are fed up with the illegal weapons” and the other will say ” we are fed up with corruption”.
the majority of the population will still vote based on the same inclination they have always had, Only a minority will be unbiased, undecided and vote against their typical vote.
If you listen the Lebanon’s leading statistician Al Haber, you can tell that the electoral law’s result are pretty much known in advance, with a deviation of about 10% to 15 %, which is what gives the majority to one group vs the other.
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The message definitely resonates but, as I mentioned to another comment, will it resonate enough to change a person’s ballot or at least part of it?
Honestly, it’s enough for me to at least vote for one alternative candidate out of the two that I get. But that’s precisely it – you can’t base studies when you don’t really know who’s running and on what law they are running and when the “third alternative” is even more divided than the other 2.
I haven’t looked at Al Haber’s studies because they’re not made public as far as I know but I have looked at other studies and they are all interesting. At least in the Christian field, 28% aren’t with any of the two main Christian parties: the LF and FPM. If the third alternative can actually deliver an interesting enough message and candidates, I don’t see why they can’t shake things up.
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what study are you referring to?
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Done by IPSOS.
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Thanks. This is an interview with Al Habre. He does not announce results of course, but you can tell from his description that political parties can already predict how many seats they will get in advance based on each law proposed.
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Actually what he says is that there are some laws with unknown outcomes at the time being. Sadly enough, I don’t see those laws passing.
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Reblogged this on reinenehme.
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They have as much chances of actually doing something as I have of winning the lottery.
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