Event Report: 15th E-lection Bridge Africa: Enhancing Political Party Organization and Campaign Strategy

Over the past few years, the conference has provided an indispensable platform to support centre-right political parties across Africa and encourage strong networking among campaign managers, political parties and experts from Africa and beyond to engage on best electoral practices, modern political communication and innovative ways of campaigning in an increasingly digital world. Welcome remarks were given by Mrs. Anna Hoffmann-Kwanga, KAS Resident Representative of the Namibia and Angola office with Dr. Holger Dix setting the scene by highlighting the positive and negative trends in recent African elections. His message emphasized that political parties must engage the youth, renew citizens' trust in public institutions and deliver credible value-based policy reforms to enhance and secure Africa’s democratic future.

Over the course of three days, the conference discussions unpacked the experiences of opposition political parties under authoritarian rule in Africa focusing on working conditions, challenges and opportunities, which was presented by Senator David Coltart, Mayor of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. The main presentation was on the importance of political party organisation and strategy in modern elections presented by Dr. Klaus Schueler who emphasized the significance of political parties and elections as central pillars in a functioning democracy. Effective political parties must have a well organised structure, clear ideology based on values to inform their strategy and clear message informed by the people they represent. Dr. Heather Thuynsma’s presentation on strengthening the data analysis capacity of political parties with AI and Mr. Glen Mpani’s presentation on the challenge of the missing voter in African political campaigns offered rich insights into enhancing political party campaign strategies in this digital age. Having data about the electorate and how political parties use it has a great influence on the success of their election campaigns.

Focusing on opportunities available to political parties in Africa, Ms. Angel Mbuthia the National Youth Chairperson of Jubilee Party in Kenya outlined main strategies for political parties to attract the youth and Mr. Ray Hartley presented the playbook for African democrats, a publication that outlines methods for countering authoritarianism, the strategies for winning elections and suggestions for what to do when political parties come into power. The publication is available on this link. Other themes explored included recent and upcoming election in Africa, strengthening political party internal democracy and exchange of campaign ideas, lessons and strategies.

The E-lection Bridge Africa produced candid, rich and robust dialogue among political parties from several African countries. From the start of the conference to the end, there was strong participation from all delegates showing that the themes being discussed were very relevant and valued. Participants of note included Mr. Peter Mac Manu, former Democracy Union of Africa (DUA) Chairperson and Mr. Joy Reuben, the current DUA Secretary General. Election bridge also saw the participation of new political parties including the National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique (ANAMOLA) from Mozambique and Jubilee Party from Kenya.

The following are some of the key takeaways from the 15th E-lection Bridge Africa Conference,

• Political parties are an important pillar of a democratic system and an indispensable tool for the electoral process.
• To enhance the electoral process, political parties must be well organised, have an effective strategy and clear communication.
• Opposition political parties operate in difficult and often repressive conditions however, one of the greatest challenges comes from their weak internal democracy.
• One of the greatest opportunities for political parties is the large and rising youth population on the continent. Political parties must come up with strategies to attract these young people into political party structures and encourage them to participate in the electoral process to secure Africa’s future.
• Voter turnout in recent elections indicates that most of the population across different countries are not voting leading to a situation where most governments are formed by a minority of voters.