That's the way to do it

Gary Morgan

01 May 2008

LOCAL elections in Redditch this week attracted a worldwide audience.
Six politicians, three from Montenegro and three from the Seychelles, have been on a week-long fact-finding mission to the town to observe how the local ballot was run and organised.
They were guests of Redditch's Conservative party spokesperson Karen Lumley.
The group have been specifically learning about campaigning tactics - the significance of which was described by Georges Bibi, general secretary of The Democratic Party of Seychelles, who said bribery and corruption were rife at election time in his home country.
"The best way of describing the system in the Seychelles is that it is a one-party state in a democratic system," he said.
"We have elections, but the ruling party dominates the media, and we can't get onto the radio, television or in the newspapers because they are controlled.
"It is very frustrating which is why we hope this visit will give us more ideas about how to reach out and engage our people back home."
A similar situation was described by Andela Jaksic, a representative from the People's Party of Montenegro.
She described how the dominant party in her country paid known opponents to stay at home on election day.
"Its very difficult to get our messages across and many people now don't bother to vote because they know nothing will really change. That is the challenge we are faced with," she added.
Joachim Dufres, another member of The Democratic Party of Seychelles, said the visit to Redditch had highlighted what they needed to do on their return home.
He said: "The main difference here is the organisation and the size and scale of the operation.
"We have learnt we must organise ourselves now, and begin campaigning straight away to try and make a difference."
Mrs Lumley, who spent the week campaigning in Redditch ahead of the election here, added: "When I first got into politics we campaigned only at election time.
"Now we never stop campaigning, it goes on all year round. And hopefully this visit will give them other useful tips and ideas which they can take away with them."
For all six it was their first visit to Redditch and they were due to observe the election results being announced at the Town Hall today (Friday), before leaving for home at the weekend.

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