Senegal’s poster printers out of pocket as election campaigning goes social
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Transcript
00:00 Mohamed casts a careful eye over his latest orders for presidential campaign posters.
00:05 "We are in the process of printing posters for the Benoboc-Yakar coalition, whose candidate
00:12 is Ahmadou Ba.
00:13 And these, these are orders for Dioumay, another candidate.
00:18 That's what the machine is currently printing."
00:22 The advertising manager is disappointed.
00:24 He had been expecting much larger orders as the election approaches.
00:29 "This isn't like a normal campaign.
00:33 The candidates haven't come forward.
00:35 We haven't been approached by many candidates.
00:37 Our predictions have turned out to be completely wrong."
00:42 The presidential election was supposed to be held on February 25, but was pushed back
00:47 to March 24, taking many candidates by surprise.
00:51 Some political parties, including the PUR, have decided instead to focus on organizing
00:57 parade-style campaigns in the streets of Dakar.
01:00 "The PUR focuses on proximity politics.
01:03 We go to different neighborhoods throughout Senegal, and we've seen this kind of campaigning
01:08 beginning to bear fruit."
01:12 At the headquarters of another candidate, Boubacar Kamara, the comms team has decided
01:17 instead to focus on social media.
01:20 Their tricky mission is to stand out from the other 18 candidates going for the top
01:25 job.
01:26 "In Senegal, social media is omnipresent.
01:30 We have three million followers on Facebook.
01:32 We are among those who create the best quality and the most aesthetic content during this
01:37 campaign."
01:40 The pressure is on for Kamara and the others, as this campaign season will only last 12
01:45 days instead of the usual 21.