The messages are simplified to the maximum and national issues sneak in as a “first round” of the Generals
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, May 23. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The polling stations and the polls open this Sunday for some twenty candidacies who are running for the presidency of the archipelago and more than 1.6 million voters who rush through the last days of the campaign amid a melting pot of proposals, slogans and struggles between ideological blocks.
“The balance for now is that of a bland campaign,” José Adrián García Rojas, professor of Constitutional Law, Political Science and Philosophy of Law, exposes to Europa Press that he vindicates with a certain nostalgia the role of electoral programs in the age of networks social media, immediacy and the eye-catching headline.
In his opinion, “it is not always easy” to find the programs of political parties, not even on corporate websites, to the point that if a citizen goes to a venue and asks for it, they may think “what a strange person who asks for the program “.
In addition, it details that a program “are not little phrases” grouped in a diptych and links the scarcity in the development of political programs to the “reflection” of the current leadership in politics that, “with few honorable exceptions, are frankly very mediocre “.
García Rojas charges against the “childish game” that exists on social networks and that makes this type of message predominate, while questioning the debates with five or six candidates because the issues are not displayed well or the “disaster drawer” is used ” of social policies, for example. “The rich debates are for two,” she says.
The professor warns that the municipal elections are being configured as a “first round” of the December Generals, which means that many messages of national politics slip into the campaign when they should be talking about the streets, mobility or services.
Samuel Toledano, professor of Communication and Social Work at the University of La Laguna, expresses himself in similar terms, who points out that “the same dynamics of the campaigns are repeated”, with some issues that “have more weight”, in the case of tourism, “but deep down it’s the same”, with the “symbolism” of the posters and the growing influence of social networks.
Along these lines, he indicates that the campaigns “have become a ritual” and “what could be something new” to publicize the program has evolved into “commercialist, consumer, very advertising discourses”, with the paradox that “It may be ironic” that proposals are made that go against what has been defended in the last four years.
“THE CITIZENSHIP NO LONGER WANTS TO READ”
Thus, he points out that the ideology “has shifted” in favor of the “spectacular trend” of the campaigns and politics itself, “which is permanent”, with a lot of “noise and spectacle”, loaded with “slogans and phrases” that later “They are amplified in the networks.”
Toledano explains that this communication model “does not give room for debate and reflection” and is very typical of today’s society in which “citizens no longer want to read, they do not want to reflect, they will not be able to compare programs, they just want to reaffirmation and in the networks it is reaffirmed”.
In this sense, he comments that “the campaign is no different” from what is practiced in the media and advertising, with short messages that seek to “engage” and generate virality and thus “simplify the discourse as much as possible.”
Toledano also detects how “the weight” of some candidates grows over the parties themselves to the point that “it becomes a star and drags”, as can happen with Alberto Rodríguez, at the head of a new formation such as Drago Verdes Canarias and that leads him to put his image on the ballot papers.
If a candidate “has a very powerful role” they also begin to promote “values of personal connotation” such as empathy, sympathy or humanity, something that the PSOE is exploiting in this campaign with the slogan “They already know me, I am Angel Victor”.
Along these lines, he understands that all candidates seek a discourse of closeness to society, which is why videos with citizens proliferate, but “it is a fictitious product” since “the cotton test” is to verify what the parties have done or said during the legislature “and not only during the campaign”.
“It is a kind of publicity strategy, the candidate has become a character and a product and the citizen is voting for likes or dislikes and does not think about ideas or programs in a more reflective way,” he points out.
“GOMERISM OR SOCIALISM”
As is the case at the national level, the Canary Islands do not escape the logic of blocks between left and right, with the particularity of whether in the Gomera Socialist Group (ASG) “gomerism or socialism weighs more,” García Rojas remarks.
In principle, a “marked ideological character” is detected when determining the vote and what usually happens is that the parties seek to “retain their own” and attract the undecided because “it is very difficult” for a right-wing voter to vote to the left and vice versa.
For this reason, he points out, “the competition occurs within the blocks”, that is, a voter opts for another party that is in the same block, which in the case of the Canary Islands is reproduced in the current ‘Pact of Flowers’ , with PSOE, Unidas sí Podemos and NC-BC, and another with CC and PP, plus the unknown of VOX and what role Casimiro Curbelo’s ASG plays, with three deputies practically tied up.
García Rojas believes that the change in the electoral system -with ten more deputies, a regional list and a lowering of ceilings- “does not change anything substantial” since the “only concern” was to give one more deputy to Fuerteventura due to its increase in population.
In addition, and although the balances between the peripheral and central islands were broken, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, with 85% of the population, still only elect 49% of the representatives. “It is a patch that is diluted with a little water,” he explained.
Along these lines, he does not link CC’s loss of political centrality to the electoral system but to the appearance of new formations on the regional board such as ASG or United Sí Podemos that “configured a different framework” of alliances and now we are experiencing a stage of ” transition” to see if the new forces are maintained or extinguished, as it seems that it can happen to Ciudadanos (CS).
VOTE UP TO FOUR DIFFERENT THINGS
Regarding abstention, he points out that the Canary Islands is one of the communities that is in the lead and in these elections the effect of the pandemic can be measured, if it will generate disaffection when voting or, on the contrary, it represents a boost to those who managed it .
Then, he continues, “there is the mobilization of yours, because there may be a critical abstentionism, I stay at home because I want to punish, and others see the incentive to send those who are home.”
The other peculiarity of the Canarian system, he indicates, are the four ballot boxes and the regional list with the candidates for the Presidency and there are “quite strange votes” because “you can vote for four different things.”
He even points out that in the last elections, when the new system began, there were more voters for the insular constituency than for the autonomous one.
