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Asian Journal of Business Management 3(1): 8-17, 2011ISSN: 2041-8752 Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2011Received: December 11, 2010 Accepted: January 03, 2010 Published: February 15, 2011

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Political Marketing Strategies and Democracy in Nigeria

R.A. GbadeyanDepartment of Business Administration, Institute of Public Administration and Management

(IPAM), University of Sierra Leone, Tower Hill, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Abstract: Political organizations often want to win election contests. This consequently makes them to workout means through which this can be done. In the process they are faced with the problem of choosing thecorrect and best means to achieve this result. This paper aims at examining if there is best political marketingstrategy political organizations can rely on in winning elections. The study also wishes to examine whetherdifferences exist in the methods through which political organizations maximize voters support. 1531respondents were selected from three Local Government Areas which formed Ilorin city and its environs. TheSample units were reached through 15 Research Assistants specifically trained for the research work (5Research Assistants each for a Local Government), who randomly distributed questionnaire to the selected

respondents. Stepwise regression and Chi-square were the statistical techniques used to test the hypothesesraised in the study. Result indicates that Voters support is the best political marketing strategy used by Politicalorganizations, followed by Positive Publicity to win elections. It was also revealed that the methods used bypolitical organizations to maximize voters support are in different proportion and variance, for instance, in thestudy presenting credible and acceptable candidate for election was the method through which politicalorganization maximizes its voters support. The study recommends that the use of money to influenceelectorates voting behaviour should be discouraged and campaign information needs to be reliable anddependable amongst others.

Key words: Election, media strategies, Nigeria, politics, political marketing

INTRODUCTION

The idea of Political marketing originated with thebroadening debate of Marketing in the 1970s byScholars such as Kotler and Levy (1969), Kotler andLevy (1969), Kotler and Zaltman (1971), Kotler (1972),Hunt (1976) and Levy (2002).This made marketingresearch possible in non-profit entity. The concept ofmarketing therefore is no longer restricted to the domainof exchange of goods and services alone but thedistribution of ideas. The literature on political marketingfurther experienced increase growth in the 1990s by thework of scholars such as Newman (1994, 1999a, b),Maarek (1995), Lees-Marshment (2001), OShaughnessyand Henneberg (2002), Wring (2005) and Ormrod (2004).

These scholars offer different definitions of political

marketing but resolved that, it is the application ofmarketing principle to politics (Strombacket al., 2010). Inother word political marketing is the marriage betweenmarketing and political science. The literature on politicalmarketing has made possible study of political parties andits relationship to their target groups and otherStakeholders (Stromback et al., 2010). This lead to theunderstanding of what are the demands of the electorate,how do political parties respond to these demands andsatisfy them. In politics it is assumed that there is a

political market, where aspirants seek the electoratessupport (Votes) in order to win an election. The various

means through which an aspirant seeks the voters supporttherefore is political marketing. Harrop (1990) argued insupport of this by describing political marketing as not

just being political advertising, party political broadcastand electoral speeches but covering the whole area ofparty positioning in the electoral market. OCass (1996)uses an exchange model to further conceptualise politicalmarketing. He explained that when voters cast votes, thereis transaction taking place. The party in return for thesevotes offers better government and policies after election.Scammell (1995) proposed that the application ofmarketing concept in politics may result in politicsbecoming more democratic. Thus, bringing aboutimprovement in the quantity and quality of information

flows from the electorate to parties and candidate, makingthem more sensitive and responsive to voters needs. Thisimproves the channels of communication from politiciansto the electorate and even to every specific segment ofvoters (Kolovos and Haris, 2005; Scammell, 1995).Thereare researchers especially among political scientist whobelief that Political marketing is irrelevant to politics; onthe other hand, Henneberg (2007) asserted that Politicalmarketing should be central to the understanding not onlyof modern elections but also the conduct of government

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and democracy itself. Elections and democracy havetherefore, been described as a competitive marketplace, voters and citizens are consumers(Henneberg et al., 2007). This study therefore, aims at

examining the best political marketing strategiesemployed by political parties in Nigeria to achievesuccess in the poll.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Political marketing it will be recalled has severaldefinitions by different scholars, but few of thesedefinitions is assumed will suffice to explain its meaning.Stromback et al. (2010) consider political marketing as afield that builds on a merger between marketing andpolitics. In other word, it is the application of marketingtechniques, strategies, and concept to politics in a broadsense (Henneberg, 2002; OCass, 1996; Lees-Marshment, 2001). Political marketing is also perceivedas related to Political campaign and final stage in theevolution of Political campaigning (Farrell, 1996; Plasserand Plasser, 2002; Farrell and Webb, 2002; Norris, 2000).Newman (1999) argued that political marketing is theapplication of marketing principles and procedures in paidcampaigns by various individuals and organizations.

There are scholars that said that a deeper understanding ofpolitical marketing must include theories regardingpolitical communication and Public Relations(Strombacket al., 2010). This position was supported byKavanagh (1995, 1996) and Scammell (1995) whoexplained that political marketing is electioneering, that

is, a set of strategies and tools to trace and study publicopinion before and during an election campaign, todevelop campaign communications and to assess theirimpact. Lazarsfeldet al. (1965) add that The first thingto say is that some people were converted by thecampaign propaganda but that they were few indeed.

This assertion was correct when people have strongerparty identification; electoral volatility and lower politicaldistrust, people had more respect for authorities, andmedia coverage was characterized by compliance ratherthan skeptical questioning (Dalton and Wattenberg, 2000;Dalton, 2002; Klingsmann and Fuchs, 1995; Pharr andPutnam, 2000). However, these circumstances no longer

exist, the stakes are much higher and politicalorganizations need to develop strategies that would makethem respond to changes in the environment and buildsustainable relationships with various target groups andstake holders. These can only be achieved by ensuringthat the political organizations are market oriented(Strombacket al., 2010). Lock and Harris (1996) pointedout that Political marketing is concerned withcommunicating with party members, media andprospective sources of funding as well as the electorate.

Wring (1997) defines political marketing as the party orthe candidates use of opinion research and environmentalanalysis to produce and promote a competitive offeringwhich will help realize organizational aims and satisfy

groups of electors in exchange for their votes. The abovetwo definitions underscore the importance ofcommunication and promotion in political marketing.

Therefore, for political marketing strategies to be effectivethere is need for a balanced communication betweenthe political organizations and its stakeholders.Stromback et al. (2010) write that political marketing isan exchange process by which political organizationschoose to build their actions and their products upon theneeds and wants among chosen target groups andstakeholders in a manner seeking to balance the strategicgoals on several different arenas or markets The productsof political parties consist of policy commitments, partyimage, leadership image and a mind set of votercentredness while target groups include: Party member,key constituencies, interest group, donors and the media(Wring, 2005; OCass, 1996; Lees-Marshment, 2004;Stromback et al., 2010). Kotler and Kotler (1999), Speakof five different markets candidates face in politicalcampaign and this include the media, voters, contributors,party organization and finally, interest groups, issuesactivists and organized constituencies. The abovediscourse on political marketing as a concept involves theapplication of marketing to political science.

It attempts to explain that political processes arebased on exchange theory in which marketing thrives on.In other words Political organizations seek voters support

in exchange for good governance. Exchange as a coreconcept of marketing involves obtaining a desired productfrom someone by offering something in return.

Transaction that takes place between politicalorganizations and voters further espouse the principle thatthere is a trade of value between the two parties involvedin exchange process. Kotler (2001) remarked that twoparties are engaged in exchange if they are negotiating,that is reach an agreeable terms, this is when transactiontakes place. Kotler (2001) added that in most genericsense, marketers seek to elicit a behavioural responsefrom another party, for instance political candidate wantgood governance. According to Strombacket al. (2010)

marketing essentially is about identifying, responding toand satisfying the needs and wants of selected groups andpeople in society. Thus, it is not only about politicalcampaigns. Political marketing and market orientation isabout the relationship between political organizations andtheir target groups and stakeholders. Kotler andKotler (1999) in distinguishing between politics andbusiness, argued that the political arena unlike thecommercial world, is highly charged with ideas, emotions,conflict and partisanship.

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Marketing and political marketing: Marketing is oftendescribed as selling of product, but the fact is thatmarketing entails more than this. Kotler (2001) offers adefinition that presents a comprehensive meaning of

marketing as a process by which individuals and groups,obtain what they need and want through creating,offering, and freely exchanging products and services ofvalue with others. The American Marketing Association(1995) also described Marketing as the process ofplanning and executing the conception, pricing,promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and servicesto create exchanges that satisfy individual andorganizational goals. The above definition clearly showsthat marketing involves more than selling of products butentails its distribution, pricing and promotion. Kotler(2001) further explained that it is not only goods andservices that are marketed but other entities likeexperiences, events, person, places, properties,

organizations, information and ideas. Hence, Kotlersideas form the basis for most of these works that relates toPolitical Marketing. Lock and Harris (1996) in their owncontributions identify seven main differences betweenmainstream marketing and political marketing which arebriefly discussed below:

C In political marketing, all voters are assumed to maketheir choice on the same day, this makes it differentfrom other purchasing decision taking place undermainstream marketing.

C Voting choice, unlike any other purchasing decisionhas no direct or indirect individual costs attached to

it. This is not the case with the mainstream marketingwhere there is purchase cost for every purchasedecision made.

C Voters must live with the collective choice eventhough it may not have been their preference. Thisdoes not occur in mainstream marketing wherechoice preference for individual is different.

C In elections winner takes all. In other words majorityrules carry the day.

C Political parties and candidates are complexintangible product which the voters cannot unbundle.In mainstream marketing products can be separatedfrom the buyer.

C It may be difficult to form a new and successful party

most especially in countries like America and Britainwhere there is developed democracy. In mainstreammarketing there are successful new products.

C In most mainstream marketing situations, brandleaders tend to stay in front. In election new leadersmay emerge and not necessary old ones wining anelection.

There are four basic arena identified by prominentscholars in political marketing, in which political partiesare active:

C The Parliamentary arena- The primary actors in thisarena are members of parliament from differentparties. The strategic goal that political parties wantto achieve is to maximize the parliament influence.

C

The Electoral arena- The primary actors are thevoters and strategic goal is to maximize votersupport.

C The Internal arena- This include the members and theactivists of the party while the strategic goal is themaximization of the internal cohesion of the politicalorganizations.

C The Media arena- The primary actors are journalists,editors and gatekeeper within the media. Thestrategic goal is to maximize positive publicity anddownplay negative publicity (Sjolblom, 1968; Nordand Stromback, 2003; Stromback, 2007).

Political marketing and democracy in Nigeria: Nigeriabecame Federal Republic in 1963 with Dr. NnamdiAzikiwe as its first President; this was shortly after thenation got her independence from British colonialgovernment in 1960. The democratic rule was short livedand was truncated by the Nigeria soldiers in 1965. Thissubsequently made the military to remain in power till1979 when Obasanjo returned power to the civilian. Thissecond republic was very brief (between 1979-1983) withthe military leaders taking over power in 1983. This led toa prolong military rule which came to an end in 1999 withObansanjo elected as the new President of the country.President Umaru Musa Yaradua came to power in 2007after President Obansanjos 8 years rule. President

Yaradua later died in power in 2010 after a protractedillness which brought almost the machinery of power to ahalt. The Vice-President Dr Jonathan Goodluck wasimmediately sworn in as the President. This papertherefore considers the various political marketingstrategies employed by political organizations and itsmembers between the periods of 1999 up to date andhighlight its effect on the polity and the nation as a whole.

There are a lot of issues that made the polity to be overheated during this political dispensation, out of which thefollowing are going to be briefly discussed:

Shariah phenomenon: This event serves as one of the

critical challenges that faced the 4th republic. There wasbloodbath and bizarre wanton destruction of churches byMuslim fundamentalist in the North and the reprisalkillings in the South East. Zamfara, the first StateGovernment to declare Shariah rule, was said to haveimported amputation machines to facilitate limb cuttingfor petty thieves. This crisis would have degenerated to amore bloody situation and even affected the collectiveexistence of the nation if not have been tactically arrested.

The brain behind Shariah has been described as insincere.

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Obasanjo was reported at the peak of the crisis, to havesaid What we have now is what I call political shariah.I am not afraid of it because it will fizzle out and shariahwill be welcomed because it has been part of us. This

crisis might have served as one of the strategies by theopposition and anti government forces to cause confusionand make states look ungovernable or difficult to controlduring the period (Ekwowusi, 2001).

The Niger Delta crisis: This issue has continued to beone of the serious problems threatening the stability andunity of the nation. There are move by concernedNigerians that there should be an amnesty between thegovernment and the militant groups to resolve theunending crisis in the Niger Delta region. There are thosewho are opposed to this view and agreed that amnesty isnot the end to the problems in the Niger Delta. They

argued that the amnesty probably was an attempt to winpolitical currency for the ruling party in the Niger Deltaahead of the 2011 elections. The Obasanjo governmenthad amnesty agreement with the militants in 2004 but thisagreement did not last long due to some of the factionsamongst the militant groups accusing others of profitingfrom disarmament at their expense. The Yaraduagovernment made another move in 2009 which had tocertain extent reduce the instability in the region and savethe nation billion of dollars lost from oil revenues eachyear (Africa Newsblog, 2009; Shamang, 2009;Ajayi, 2000).

The boko haram killings: This was a violent sectariancrisis in the Northern part of Nigeria, most especially inBorno, Yobe, Bauchi and kano states in 2009. This crisiswas perpetrated by Boko Haram, the Islamic sect that isopposed to western education. This sectarian clashresulted to death of several people and loss of propertiesworth billion of Naira in the affected states. This crisiswas quickly brought to an end with the extra judicialkilling of the sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf by thegovernment. The death of the sect leader was criticizedand seen as the act of denying Nigerians the opportunityto unravel the mastermind of such heinous crime,financiers, foreign accomplice and network profile

(Abiodun, 2009; Manahet al., 2009).

J os crisis: This crisis has become a protracted one, withpolitical and religious undertone. There was substantialloss of lives and Properties in Jos and other parts ofPlateau States. The victims were mostly defencelesswomen and children. The crisis reached an unprecedentedlevel during Obasanjos Administration; this consequentlyled to a State of emergency being declared for a Period of3 month, before the situation returns to normal.

Elections problem: There were several allegations ofrigging and irregularities at the poll in the 2007 Generalelections, this culminated in the breakdown of law andorder in some states in Nigeria. The Governorship

election results were overturned by the law court andfresh elections were ordered to be conducted in states likeKogi, Cross Rivers, Sokoto, Ekiti and Edo. The court alsooverturned Governorship elections in States like Ondoand Rivers and ordered new candidates to be sworn in asGovernors. The Anambra state election crisis seems to bethe worst due to the protracted nature of the problem butthis political logjam has been seen as normal. There wasattempted coup against Governor Ngige, with theAssistant Inspector General of Police Raphael Igeinvolved in the abduction saga. The FederalGovernments complacency in the matter became obviouswhen it merely retired the offending Police officer, whosubsequently died of heart failure (Ololade, 2009; Adibeand Amaechi-Musa, 2009). The election crisis no doubtserves as one of the challenges facing democracy inNigeria. According to Ololade (2009) the 2007 electionin Nigeria was regarded as a milestone, marking the firstcivilian to civilian transfer of power in Nigerias history.

Obasanjo-Atiku face off: The tail end of the Obasanjossecond term witnessed a bitter rivalry between thePresident and his Vice President due to the later seekingto succeed as the next President. This led tofactionalisation in the ruling party, resulting to the VicePresident decamping to a new party, Action Congress.

This face off degenerated to Intra party crisis that nearly

mar the 2007 election. The face off was reported to beprobably a ploy by the President to extend his tenure, afterthe failed third tem bid. The opposition parties were ableto take advantage of this situation to further weaken theinternal cohesion and influence of the ruling party. Thisno doubt affected the ruling partys performance in the2007 general election in state like Lagos which was astronghold for the Action Congress, the party which AtikuAbubakar was later the Presidential flag bearer(Anonymous, 2006; Ajani and Aziken, 2006).

Yaraduas health and subsequent death: Theopposition employed the issue of President Yaraduas

health to score a political point. The matter about thePresidents health was shrouded in mystery; mostNigerians were put in the dark about his health. This madethe civil society and the opposition to ask for thePresidents clean bill of health. Yaraduas Personal doctorconsequently had to present a report to the then ActingPresident indicating that Yaradua was under intensivetherapy. This matter generated a lot of controversy for along period during President Yaraduas tenure in office.He was later taken to a Saudi Arabia Hospital and

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hurriedly brought back home after a long unsuccessfulstay in the hospital. The President died on 5thMay, 2010putting to an end all the controversies. There wasstandstill in governance during this period and the nation

found it difficult to move forward. The prolonged absenceof Yaradua during this period threatened the election, thereform and democracy in Nigeria. This was because thePresident did not hand over power to his Vice President.

This further compounded the situation on the ground. Thethen Attorney General of the Federation in defending thesituation said that the President can rule from anywhere.

This portends the hopeless situation the country wasduring the time (World News Forecast, 2010;Igbokwe, 2009; Azania and Affe, 2010; Awolusi, 2010).

The whole of these events discussed above haveaffected the polity either adversely or positively. Theevents have served as strategies used by either the rulingparty or the opposition forces to heat up the polity, thusputting to test the workings of democracy in Nigeria. Ittherefore provides a good signal, indicating that theFourth Republic has been able to come out stronger andrecorded the present level of stability. This clearlysuggests a better future for democracy in Nigeria andAfrica as a whole.

METHODOLOGY

The research methodology is generally based on fielddata collected in September 23-25, 2010; fromrespondents at Ilorin, Kwara state Nigeria. Therespondents are aged 18 years and above. The period

coincided with when different Political Parties wereconducting their Primaries in preparation for the 2011general election and hence the political scene was highlycharged. This is done in other to get the view ofrespondents who are majorly eligible voters about thepolitical situations unfolding in the country. Thequestionnaires used for the survey were developed on thebasis of existing literature. These questionnaires wereinitially reviewed for ambiguities; a pretest was laterconducted to discover if there is likelihood of unforeseenproblems in the construction and administration of thequestionnaire. The instruments were found to be objectiveand reliable for the study. The questionnaire contains 31

items, with the following sections relevant to the topic ofthe present study:

Biographical data: This includes information about therespondents profile. This consists of six items whichinclude: sex, age, marital status, educational status,religion and ethnicity.

General questions on political marketing: This has 16Item questions bothering on various issues relating to

Political marketing. The instruments used consisted of 5Point Likert Scale: 1 =Definitely disagree, 5 =DefinitelyAgree.

Political marketing strategies: This includes 9 Itemquestions on the various Political marketing strategiesused by Political organizations and the various meansthrough which these political strategies are achieved.

The respondents were selected from three LocalGovernment Areas which formed Ilorin city and itsenvirons. The Local Government Areas are Ilorin East,Ilorin South and Ilorin west. The Study Location waschosen for its importance as both the administrative andcommercial nerve centre of the state. The Sample unitswere reached through 15 Research Assistants specificallytrained for the research work (5 Research Assistants eachfor a Local Government), who randomly distributedquestionnaire to the selected respondents. The researchassistants were University graduates and also familiarwith the topographical terrain of Ilorin city. The targetSample size was 1548 people but the final sample consistsof 1531 people. This represents 98.9% response rate forthe study.

Hypotheses and method of analysis: The researchdesign of the present paper is based on the followinghypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: Political organizations often employedPolitical Marketing Strategy to win an election.

Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference in themanner through which Political Party maximizes voterssupport.

The Stepwise Regression analysis was used todetermine whether there is any Political Strategy thatPolitical Organisations employ to win an election. TheChi-square Statistics on the other hand was used to testwhether there is significant difference in those methodsthrough which Political Organisations maximize voterssupport.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The demographic distribution of the sample is shownin the Tables in the Appendix. The study reveals thatmore people (47% Vs 45%) identify with their PartysProgramme and agreed that party need to embark onrigorous campaign in order to win an election. There isneed for rigorous campaign probably to attract asignificant member of undecided and or floating voters.

This is in agreement with Yannas (2005) position thatparties actively sought the advice of campaign strategists

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to map out the political landscape and design campaignstrategies in order to attract the undecided. Identifyingwith partys programme also result to members buildingstronger party relationship and loyalty. These are some of

the political strategies that Political organization need, inorder to respond to the changes in environment andmaintain sustainable relationships with target groups andstakeholder (Stromback et al., 2010). The people alsoconsidered more important the need by party to orientateits member about her candidate (67%) and present mostespecially credible and acceptable candidate for election(87%). Party orientation of members about its candidatehas become an important phenomenon in Nigeria. Partymembers are made to know about their Party symbols,emblems and other insignia so as to be able to vote fortheir party in any election. A party that present crediblecandidate for election also have advantage over otherswith less credible candidate. This is why most partiesduring their elections primaries screened out candidateswith bad record or reputational problem. In Nigeria theEconomic and Financial Crime Commission and the StateSecurity Service screen candidates and must find them tobe suitable before giving the candidate final approval tocontest. Furthermore, greater proportion of the people(76%) suggested that the political candidates should havestrong personality and be caring. Identification of partysymbols by members (85% vs 13.6%) is considered veryimportant by the respondents. Many did not believed thatparty campaigns are fabricated (54% vs 46%) andtherefore agreed that Campaign information might bereliable and dependable (54% vs 38%) while 8% neither

agree or disagree about the reliability of campaigninformation. In respect to political campaign, peoplesometime tend to believe some of the information gotfrom it despite the fact that it contains negativeinformation about the opponent. With regard to partyhaving good publicity, 63% of the respondents agreed,while 85% of the respondents surveyed agreed that anyparty with internal strife and problem may find it difficultto do well in the Poll. In other word Party squabbles andfactionalisation can affect Partys internal cohesion, if notwell managed. The fact that people believe the politician, both the elected and those given political appointmentare well and better remunerated than their counterpart in

civil service in terms of Perks, salaries and otherallowances , make seeking for elective and politicalappointment attractive to the people. Politics is no longerseen as avenue to serve the people but means of acquiringaffluence. Hence many see politics as a do or die affairsand this consequently result to crisis when Party attemptto impose wrong or unqualified candidate on the people.Most people (54% vs 46%) are not voting on the basis ofwhat benefit they hope to get from their Party but did notsee the use of money in Politics as one of the major

problems facing democracy (54.1% vs 37.9%). However,there are those who vote on the basis of what they willbenefit from the party, for example in the study 46% ofrespondents fall in to this category. In similar vein

Apospori et al. (2010) argued that voters differ from oneanother, they attach importance to specific considerations.He further said that unemployed workers may placeparticular weight on governments record on jobs, whilethe teacher may place more importance on educationpolicy. For some, a vote may represent a statement ofidentity while for some others it may be the result of acalculation of personal benefit (Apospori et al., 2010).

The majority of the respondents disagreed that the bestpolitical party may sometime not win (52.6%) buthowever, were of the opinion that there is no election thatis completely free and fair (76.9%). People further arguedthat elections in developed democracy are fraught withsome irregularities that make it not completely free andfair. Most of the respondents were of the opinion thatdemocracy is greatly being influenced by the judiciaryand press (69%).There is no doubt that the media and

judiciary have great influence on democracy, mostespecially with the role the two institutions are presentlyplaying in ensuring a stable society in Nigeria. The publicwhen exposed to information learn a lot, most especiallyfrom Television news, Party websites and Newspapers(Apospori et al, 2010). In Nigeria most Politicianscurrently make use of websites as a platform for theirpolitical campaign. They also agreed that democracy isthe best form of government (61.2%). In other word,People said they prefer a worst democracy to the best

autocracy.

The test of Hypothesis H1 with stepwise regression: Inorder to determine whether Political organizations oftenemployed political marketing strategy to win an election,Stepwise regression was used to test the hypothesis. Thereare basically four political marketing strategies that weregiven consideration in the study. These include:Parliamentary influence (PMS24); Voters Support(PMS25); Positive Publicity (PMS26) and Internalcohesion (PMS27). The result for Model fit shows thatModel 1 has Voters support as the only best PoliticalStrategy while Model 2 has Voters support and Positive

publicity as the best political strategy employed bypolitical organizations (Appendix, Table 2A). The resultof ANOVA (Appendix, Table 3A) also confirms thisposition for Model 1 and 2. It shows that for Model 1,Voters support is highly significant at 99% level ofconfidence, while for Model 2, Voters support andPositive Publicity are significant at 99% confidence level.

The Regression Coefficient also indicated that Voterssupport is the best Political Marketing Strategy withcoefficient of 0.957 for Model 1, while for Model 2

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Voters support has coefficient of 0.945 and PositivePublicity has coefficient of 0.055. The excluded variablesfor Model 1 are Parliamentary Influence, PositivePublicity and Internal cohesion (Appendix, Table 5A).

The above results have shown that Voters support hasgreatest effect on Political organization, followed byPositive Publicity. Political Organisations need tomaximize Voters support for success to be achieved atthe Poll. They should also strive to have Positive Publicityto be able to do well in the Poll. Therefore, the Nullhypothesis which stated that Political Organisations oftenemployed Political Marketing Strategy to win election isaccepted, while the alternative hypothesis that PoliticalOrganisations did not often employed Political MarketingStrategy to win election is rejected.

Test of Hypothesis H2with chi-square statistics:Thereare various methods employed by political organizationsto maximize voters support and these include: bettermedical and educational services; regular water andpower supply, awarding contract to party faithful andloyalist, embarking on ceaseless political campaign waragainst opponents and presenting credible and acceptablecandidate for election. Chi-square Statistics was employedat 99% confidence level to test hypothesis 2 and the resultreveals that there were significant difference in themethods employed by political organizations to maximizeVoters support (Appendix, Table 6A). In other word theresult indicates that the methods are used by politicalorganizations in different proportion and variance. Thisdepends on what the political organizations feel maximize

her voters support. In the study, presenting credible andacceptable candidate for election was the methodemployed by the political organization to maximizes hervoters support, this was followed by awarding contract toparty faithful and loyalist. Therefore, the Null hypothesisis rejected and we accept the alternative hypothesis thatthere is significant difference in the manner throughwhich political organizations maximize Voters support.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The study has revealed that political organizationsemployed political marketing strategy to win election. It

is therefore, necessary for political organizations tomaximize voters support and maintain positive publicitynot only with the media but the Publics and other majorstakeholders. Other political marketing strategy that canbe employed by political organizations are building stronginternal cohesion and maximizing parliamentaryinfluence. However, there are certain problems that tendto work against effective utilization of these politicalmarketing strategies if appropriate measures are not takentowards addressing the situation. Based on the above the

following are recommended for the effective use ofPolitical marketing strategy:

The use of money to influence electorates votingbehaviour should be discouraged. The idea of Political

god father and money bag should be totally eradicatedfrom partisan politics. Elections should be based purelyon merit and partys programme for the people. Thepopular believe that Politics is a dirty game should bediscountenanced, if people that are involved in politics aremen of integrity they can make it to be a clean game.Political organizations should try to build strong internalcohesion. The practice of politics with bitterness shouldbe things of the past. In a situation where there is internalstrife and disputes, this will result to chaos if not properlymanaged. Therefore, political organizations shouldencourage dialogue with members, discourage factionswithin the party, allow grassroots participation, settleparty conflicts and disputes and reconcile warringfactions.

There is also need for political organizations topresent credible and reliable candidates for elections. Thisshould start at intra party level, even before candidateemerges for the party. The emergence of credible leaderswithin the party brings about harmony and strong internalcohesion for the political organization. A situation wherecandidates or leaders are imposed on party members breedwrangling and rancour within the party.

Finally, campaign information should be reliable anddependable. Political campaign should address issues andnot personality. Therefore, negative campaign should bediscouraged.

Appendix:

Table 1A: Sample demographic distributionFrequency %

SexMale 706 46.1Female 825 53.9

Total 1531 100.0Age18-29 572 37.430-40 351 22.941-50 140 9.151-60 103 6.761-70 365 23.8

Total 1531 100.0

Marital statusMarried 716 46.8Single 815 53.2

Total 1531 100.0Educational statusNo formal education 123 8Primary 231 15.1Secondary 691 45.1

Tertiary 486 31.7Total 1531 100.0

Source: Authors field work, 2010

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Table 2A: Model summary (c) - stepwise regression

Change statistics------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Model R R2 Adjusted R2 SEE R2 change F change df1 df2 Sig. F change1 0.934(a) 0.872 0.872 0.16964 0.872 10380.682 1 1529 0.000

2 0.934(b) 0.873 0.873 0.16862 0.002 19.496 1 1528 0.000a: Predictors: (Constant), voter support; b: Predictors: (Constant), voter support, positive publicity; c: Dependent variable: Best political strategy

Table 3A: ANOVA(c) - stepwise regressionModel SS df MS F Sig.1 Regression 298.737 1 298.737 10380.682 0.000(a)

Residual 44.002 1529 0.029Total 342.739 1530

2 Regression 299.292 2 149.646 5262.877 0.000(b)Residual 43.448 1528 0.028

Total 342.739 1530a: Predictors: (Constant), voter support; b: Predictors: (Constant), voter support, positive publicity; c: Dependent variable: Best political strategy

Table 4A: Coefficients (a) - stepwise regressionUnstandardized Standardizedcoefficients coefficients 95% Confidence interval for B Collinearity Statistics

-------------------------- ---------------- -------------------------------------- ------------------------------Model B SE $ t Sig. Lower bound Upper bound Tolerance VIF

1 (Constant) 0.087 0.013 6.669 0.000 0.061 112Voter support 0.957 0.009 0.934 101.886 0.000 0.938 0.975 1.000 1.000

2 (Constant) -8.31E-016 0.024 0.000 1.000 - 0.046 0.046Voter support 0.945 0.010 0.922 97.140 0.000 0.925 0.964 0.921 1.086Positive publicity 0.055 0.013 0.042 4.415 0.000 0.031 0.080 0.921 1.086

a: Dependent variable: Best political strategy

Table 5A: Excluded variables (c)Collinearity statistics------------------------------------------------------------------

Model $ In t Sig. Partial correlation Tolerance VIF Minimum tolerance1 Parliamentary support 0.028 (a) 3.001 0.003 0.077 0.962 1.040 0.962

Positive publicity 0.042 (a) 4.415 0.000 0.112 0.921 1.086 0.921Internal cohesion 0.028 (a) 3.001 0.003 0.077 0.962 1.040 0.962

2 Parliamentary support 0.000 (b) 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.515 1.943 0.493Internal cohesion 0.000 (b) 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.515 1.943 0.493

a: Predictors in the model: (Constant), voter support; b: Predictors in the model: (Constant), voter support, positive publicity; c: Dependent variable:Best political strategy

Table 6A: Chi-square test, PMS 28: test statistics

Medical and Water and Award of contract to Ceaseless political Credible and acceptableeducational services power supply party faithful campaign candidate

Chi-square (a) 1153.652 1085.252 446.720 713.276 6.929df 1 1 1 1 1Asymp. ig. 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.008a: 0 cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; The minimum expected cell frequency is 765.5; p#0.001

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