At the eve of elections 2011

A panel on pre-election campaigns held at VERN'

At the height of pre-election campaign, four days before the parliamentary elections, a panel was held at VERN', entitled "Elections – campaign to win". An uninteresting, pre-defined, but also very specific, - these were the main attributes illustrating the campaign and pre-campaign by the discussion protagonists - Damir Jugo from Millenium promotion, Krešimir Macan from the PR agency Manjgura, Mirando Mrsić, parliamentary representative of SDP and Ivan Tanta, head of the VERN's graduation study at Managing Business Communications.

Executive director at Millenium promotion, Damir Jugo, pointed out that the ruling set, faced with its not so promising situation for the first time until now, has attacked the opposition, which is not common. The messages and public appearance used in this were rather contrary to the basic principles of a well-behaved political dialogue. Evenmoreso, prof. Tanta deems that a lot of time will pass in Croatia before the idea of well-behaved political dialogue can be brought to life. "There are only political monologues here. Have a look at the parties' political debates broadcast on public television and you will understand what I am saying“,Tanta explained.

Although this pre-election campaign has been relatively short this time, a political PR expert, Krešimir Macan, pointed out that the political parties have not articulated their messages very well. "Kukuriku Coalition did not gain its supremacy in the polls because of the way in which it communicated, but at the moment when they decided to form a coalition. After they have researched the market, they realized that this was the only logical strategic move. After that, the campaign could have not been interesting, like the one in 2007.", Macan pointed out. He added that the parties in the campaign did not create their recognizability, so they are mostly perceived within the alliances that they have leaned on, which may cause confusion in the electorate.

The SDP’s parliamentary representative and director of campaign of the current president of Croatia, Ivo Josipović, believes that many political points, thus also the elections, have been lost in inappropriate communication with potential voters. "The parties may best examine their ratings in direct contact with citizens, i.e. regular people. Political messages must be transferred in communication with the voters on the markets and squares, because the politicians get the best feedback in that relationship. We have also used this concept in the Ivo Josipović’s campaign, which turned out to be the winning combination" Mrsić put out arguments. To be precise, it is a fact that if a huge political celebrity visits and talks to inhabitants of a small town, it will add to some additional positive PR, even among the voters who do not favor that celebrity.

The panelists have estimated the messages which the parties have referred to the voters as easily understandable and (too) simple, which is on one had surely conditioned by numerous anti-corruptive investigations and announcements, while, on the other side, this is rather unexpected, and even partly irresponsible, at the times when the state needs courageous reforms, which are crucial for the stability of financial and social system. However, such campaigns show expected results at this moment, the public understands them and basically agrees with them, so it is only natural that the parties have embraced them.