Senegal’s poster printers out of pocket as election campaigning goes social

FRANCE 24 English

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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.

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