If you thought election times were hectic in the Netherlands, you are either involved in the process or your doctor makes you take pills every morning. The style of political campaigning in the Netherlands is best described as "Ninja". By the time I have the red pencil in my hand, campaigning must have had some effect on my choice, but I have no idea what. Consciously, I watched some debates and made a decision based on that, or I've filled out an online questionnaire and disregarded the results entirely. Usually, the questionnaire says I have to vote for some christian party; I refuse to based on my beliefs. But what of all the money the political parties spent on campaigning? It must have had some effect. Somewhere. Somehow. But these are just my impressions. I don't go outside much, that could have something to do with it.
So maybe it's just that I'm outside more often, but political campaigning here is anything but "Ninja". Where the dutch ninjas whisper in you're ears whom to vote for, the nuclear missiles of the Philippines are blasting you're senses until you're deaf to the opposition. During campaigning time, the streets are littered with posters with a face, a name and a party affiliation. As elections grow nearer, more politicians and politicians' advocacy groups take to the streets to ride around in vans performing pop songs cleverly working their name into the lyrics.
The only thing missing from this veritable overload of information are the issues. It seems as though saying what you stand for only confuses voters into not voting for you, so it's best to stick to popularity-contest style politics.
Sadly, politicians do realize that the results of popularity contests are fickle if not outright random. That means the only way to reliably win an election is to either buy the votes you need, or kill the opposition. It's not all fun and games and karaoke.
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