The Power of the Election Poster

The ubiquitous picture present on the Khartoum roadside is that of President Al-Bashir either wearing the traditional loose fitting gown and head dress or in military uniform. Although most of the posters used show Al-Bashir in the shape and age people are used to, as he is relatively advanced in age, others also show him in his younger years.  For example, the picture often displayed is when he spoke to the people via a televised address soon after assuming power.  Then he wore his military brigadier general uniform with his black moustache and shaven face.  And the posters don't let you forget.

The second most popular posters across Khartoum: Vice President Salva Kiir

The other picture that has overwhelmed the city streets and roads over the past year, albeit to a lesser degree than that of Al-Bashir, is the picture of Salva Kiir, the President of the Government of Southern Sudan and leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). Kiir's supporters posted his pictures at the entrance of some Nile crossing bridges in the capital city. The pictures carried slogans such as "Salva Kiir for Change". Those pictures are often torn or covered by other posters, through carelessness or political motive it's hard to determine.

Public use of posters for political decoration

Many people buy pictures of these two leaders, Kiir and Bashir, for their own decoration.  A decoration that often has political motives. For example you often see posters put on the rear windows of cars or on the facades of shops or company headquarters. Posters carrying words of denunciation and condemnation against Al-Bashir's enemy Louis Morino Okampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court are particularly popular. Other pictures carried by a group of young boys and girls last Wednesday 13 January showed the President at Abboud Bibahri Park, wearing his traditional headdress, a black cloak and a confident smile.

Comparison to election posters of 1953 and 1986

The 1953 elections conducted during the Anglo-Egyptian rule had no printed pictorial assisted campaigns. The contestants used to rather hang cloth banners, carrying paintings and slogans. It was only the elections of 1986 when printed pictures as political tools started to be used. The Communist Party claims it was the first to print posters for its electoral campaigns. Mr. Siddiq Yusif, the man in charge of the elections file at the party stated they printed pictures of all their candidates during the 1986 elections. He added they would do the same at the upcoming elections. He described how the communists might engage printing presses owned by friends of their party for processing the party's advertising material in order to get special concessions. The posters are designed by a group of painters and plastic art professionals. Although most of the pictures used in 1986 were in black and white, given the limited photographic and printing resources, a huge number of candidates' pictures still flooded the city streets, posts, universities and particularly the voting centers.  There was also other kinds of wall posters used by the electoral authorities of the time to assist voters in their choice of candidate.  For example, at some constituencies, pictures of candidates and their names used to be printed on one list and pasted on the walls. A reporter, who covered those elections, said the pictures used at the time would either make him feel pro or against this or that candidate very quickly considering that many such candidates were unknown to the voters.  This proved to him the power of the image.

The art of party political marketing

The picture used to influence voters' minds is no longer an iimprovised technique. There are experts specialised in the art of marketing politicians across the world. In Egypt, for example, the ruling National Party sent a number of President Mubarak's elections campaign officials to the U.S. and U.K. to become familiar with the latest techniques with regard to political campaigning.  As a result, the pictures distributed during Egypt's latest presidential elections showed Mubarak with a younger look than his true years would assume.

Sudan's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) elections official, Mr. Bokhari Al-Ju'eli has recently stated that the picture of Maulana Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani will feature prominently in posters prepared for the DUP. However, other political parties fear they will not have sufficient resources to use printed pictures on a large scale, as happened in the 1986 elections.  Certain political powers, like the Unionist party ( according to Al-Ju'eli ) have not finalized their efforts for the upcoming elections in regards their picture campaign.   You might think a little late considering elections to be arriving in April.

In contrast to the Unionists, the Popular Congress Party (PCP) leaders are preparing posters behind closed doors for the election campaign due in February. According to the PCP's political bureau chief, Mr. Kamal Omar, the party is in the process of launching its presidential elections candidate, Mr. Abdullah Deng Nhial, through posters carrying his picture, alongside a picture of the sun. Mr.Omar also complains about the ruling National Congress Party's exploitation of state resources, in particular reference to the Abboud Park mass rally and their big pictorial campaign. He adds that the law bans any election campaigning prior to the Elections Commission's declaration and this was violated by the NCP.

But pictures don't always hold political sway in Sudan

The pictures used during an election campaign are not always a decisive source of persuasion to many people in Sudan though.  There are other factors like tribal loyalty which play a key role in deciding which way the peoples votes will go.

An imprinted image of a candidate in ones mind cannot be removed by a poster or a photographic picture, no matter how polished and beautified it is made by computers as it wings its way to the walls of our city streets.

Pictures, clothing, ornamental accessories and body language, as Dr. Mohammed Mahjoub Haroun, Professor of Political Psychology describes do play an important role with regard to the image of a candidate in the advanced democratic countries. Voters in the Sudan, on the other hand, are more concerned about provision of basic services, legal issues and public policies. They are not so attracted to a candidate's look and how handsome his picture is produced.

It is true that the attraction of candidates pictures on the posters or banners may boost the level of popularity of these candidates amongst certain groups, but, the more effective and impressive picture that remains engraved in people's minds about the candidate or his party is the one formed by more than one factor.  For example, what has this or that candidate achieved or failed to achieve for the people of Sudan?  An imprinted image of a candidate in ones mind cannot be removed by a poster or a photographic picture, no matter how polished and beautified it is made by computers as it wings its way to the walls of our city streets.