Register of voters is the alpha and omega of the campaign

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Zagreb, 12th January – "The register of voters is the alpha and omega of the campaign, and local elections are a great opportunity to build the party organisation, and are great for the entry of new members into the party" said Enriko Parlaj, CPP's Head of office of Varaždin County at the seminar of CPP's Political Academy „Local elections and the work of call centre".

Talking about the campaign organisation at the local level Parlaj said that the goal must be defined as well as the steps. These steps must be followed when dealing with the realization of that same goal.

"The goal can be achieved by setting a well organized county and local election headquarters, with a plan set in details and conducted campaigns, as well as a well organized election day", started CPP's Head of office of Varaždin County.

In the following part of the seminar he talked about Campaign Plan (White book) that indicates and also serves as a guide for investment of outstanding efforts and doing everything possible to win an election.

"The Campaign Plan helps to reach a campaign goal, revising activities and schedule of events. The Campaign structure, strategy communication with voters, media strategy, timetable and budget campaigns denote the basic components of the Campaign Plan", said Parlaj.

Parlaj talked further in the lecture about the strategic objectives, priorities and measures in the campaign, as well as special events and activities of subsidiaries and volunteers, voters register, call center operations, door-to-door campaign and election day.

"The Register of voters is the alpha and omega of the campaign and election day means organizing a campaign so that every supporter of the party can be brought to a polling place. It is necessary to make an accurate list of all voters and estimate with great certainty for whom they will vote, and it is important to constantly supervise the undecided voters. It is extremely important to ensure that supporters talk with those they trust the most and try to bring out to the polls every supporter on election day", highlighted CPP's Head of office of Varaždin County Abraham Lincoln's phrase from the year 1840.

"It is important to define the headquarters (team of the campaign), make a campaign plan (White book), to identify voters, start a tour of the potential and undecided voters and finally do the election day. The campaign plan serves us to win the election, nothing must be left to chance", concluded Parlaj.

Iva Janežić, a spokeswoman for the CPP's Varaždin County talked about communicating with local media and voters in the campaign, where she pointed out the importance of strategy and planning before the communication.

"Planning is crucial, especially for securing media coverage," began Janežić continuing talking about campaign strategy, planning activities and methods in a campaign that one should use to communicate with voters.

"Without planning and strategy there is no communication. The strategy allows us a clear picture of our situation, our starting position, as well as a clear goal, a message to voters and a well-defined target group among them", continued Janežić.

In communication with voters Janežić emphasized and noted several methods of conveying a message to a specific audience through personal contact, mail, issuing party bulletins, promotional materials, organization of events and campaign rallies, through call centers and the media. She substantiated everything with concrete examples from the Varazdin County.

In communication with the local media she pointed out the elements of political communication, how to work with the media and how local media "yearn" for local stories.

"The aim of the media campaign is to shape and improve the image of the party and the image of an individual or a political candidate", continued Janežić and explained the system of advertising, compiling budget, schedule and media plan.

"When communicating with the media, customizing to media rules as well as the wise use of communication channels is essential. The research and segmentation of the electorate is important, because we send messages to special groups of voters. Also the personalization is important. Campaigns based solely on previously acquired reputation of the party are becoming history", concluded Janežić.

Heads of call centre Ivan Pamuković and Tea Šupe spoke about the work and functioning of the CPP's call center and about technical preparation that is extremely important.

"In the whole story, the interviewers are most important. Even if the respondents are not interested in giving answers they must continue further conversation. On the other side they must also identify with the formulated questions. Right here the main role plays communication capability of the interviewer", said the leaders of CPP's call centar.

Pamuković referred to the characteristics of the system in which call center works and the experience and guidance for efficient data processing while Šupe ended her presentation by saying: "Interviewers are not "calling machines" and they must be actively involved in the campaign."

The seminar was organized for CPP's presidents and secretaries of regional alliances and CPP's presidents of CO. Seminar got an excellent rating.