Oscar R. Window |
Valladolid (EFE).- The image of candidates asking for the vote and campaigning in markets or food markets is a classic and the reasons why this electoral practice has been maintained in Spain for decades can be summarized in two: proximity and plenty of target audience in the same space, although there are nuances, according to experts and candidates consulted by EFE.
Precisely this Saturday the electoral campaigns of the PP, PSOE and Vox, with their respective leaders in Castilla y León -Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, Luis Tudanca and Juan García- coincided in the market and in the Plaza de Abastos de Miranda de Ebro (Burgos). Gallardo- in the same space between twelve and one in the afternoon.
1.- Inheritance from the past
Some specialists point out that this type of electoral practices has its origin in municipal campaigns, closer to potential voters, which is why it has become something “almost historical” and “traditional” for the parties, which often pull programming from previous years to organize events, which is detrimental to innovation and leads to repetition.
“It will end up getting lost, like many other things,” predicts one of those consulted by EFE, a veteran electoral campaign manager, where he acknowledges that “hangers” are being sought from which to hang the message of the day for each party.
2.- In search of people on Saturdays and Sundays
Related to the search for those frames in which to place the daily slogan, the question of campaign strategists arises as to where the citizens are concentrated on a weekend morning -also other days where the market is held daily-. And the answers are limited.
At church? Fewer and fewer faithful… On the beach, taking advantage of the fact that this campaign is inserted in the middle of July? Perhaps the candidates are a bit out of place between swimsuits and bikinis… But what about the trail? Perhaps not the ‘first swords’ of the general elections, but the provincial candidates usually drop by that forum, which does not fail to meet on Saturdays and Sundays in most of the largest cities and municipalities in each province.
The mayor of Valladolid and PP candidate for the Senate, Jesús Julio Carnero, has acknowledged to EFE that “being in the market is feeling the trade in an ancestral way, it is feeling the trade as it always existed, it is feeling the trade in its own identity , in a traditional way, directly, locally, from proximity”.
3.- Connection with the street and proximity
The experts consulted agree that the practice of asking for a vote at the market is also a message in itself, since the candidates show that they are ‘stepping on the street’ and try to demonstrate closeness with those who will decide on their future at the polls.
“The market would make visible the eagerness of politicians to demonstrate that they not only step on carpets, but that they frequent the places that the neighbor on foot, the town, the citizenry could frequent,” said the political scientist and professor at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Oscar Sanchez.
This political analyst has added that, although this practice is more linked to the electoral campaign than to the rest of the legislature, it is “a purpose that the parties like to project”.
4.- Variety of public
Experts also agree that a wide spectrum of society mixes in this type of space.
“In the middle of 2023, the possibilities of segmentation are very high, but the ‘microtargeting’ deployed in the digital world through social networks continues to be compatible with a bet as analogous as contacting such a diverse audience that meets at the flea market” , Sánchez has analyzed.
The PSOE candidate for Salamanca, David Serrada, explains that going to a market in municipalities that are the head of the region in the so-called España Vaciada allows contact with residents of other towns who travel on that business day to make their purchases.
5.- Education in the ‘face to face’
In addition, adds Serrada (PSOE), “people go more calmly than in day to day, predisposed to stop, even to ask very specific questions” about their daily problems: the vendors themselves ask about the future of the quotas of the freelancers; the elderly for their pensions, mostly.
Carnero (PP), focuses his speech on the holders of the stalls, whom he sees as “people full of gratitude, good work, good work”: “The market is a way of life and, therefore, I believe that it is worth betting on our markets”, he summarized.
And is that “face to face” so close with the citizens hard? “No, people are polite, if they don’t want the propaganda or what we are distributing, they tell you in a good way in most cases, although there are also some unpleasant cases,” explained Serrada (PSOE).
Specifically, it hurts him that, although they are “very few”, in this campaign they have met people who resort to the slogan “That I vote for you Txapote”. EFE