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Twelve simple rules on how to become and remain a successful politician by Rainer Erkens* to order a free copy please see contact details at the end of this page
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As a foundation for liberal policy the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung (FNSt) is involved in political consultancy work all over the world. In more than 50 countries on all continents we work with Liberals and liberal parties for our common ideals and objectives: the protection of human rights, the promotion of the rule of law, the strengthening of liberal democracy and a free market.
Unfortunately, however, experience shows that politics is a graveyard for
people with good ideas and noble intentions. Many Liberals, for example, know exactly what is wrong in
their countries and have very convincing and innovative concepts for the
solution of problems - and yet on the political battlefield they lose.
We in the FNSt do not accept this as an inevitable destiny.
We believe that good Liberals stand a fair chance to become and remain
successful politicians, if they follow a few simple rules, which will help them
to see their dreams come true, improve their support from the voters and win
against political opponents.
To make the rules more relevant, a lot of attention is given to practical
applicability and to concrete examples. The
author does not pretend that the list of simple rules is exhaustive; nor does he
claim that all rules can be applied to all situations regardless of cultural
background, regional context or national characteristics and patterns of
behavior. But the author is
convinced that if you follow the rules as laid down, you will soon find out that
you are not only having more success, but that politics will become more
interesting and more rewarding.
A
great deal of what is written down in this paper draws both from the
comprehensive course on strategic planning the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung offers
and the personal experience of the author.
My special thanks goes to Peter Schröder who works as political
consultant for the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung and other organizations and has
recently published a book on political strategies. Rule 1: Think strategically. Nothing is a better recipe for success than to plan your activities carefully and to act according to a clear strategic plan.
The advantage of strategic planning is that it helps you to focus your ideas, activities and resources upon one single objective: your success. Nothing you do happens by accident. Everything becomes a means towards one end: success. While strategic planning is regularly applied in the military field and in business, for many politicians it is still an alien thing to do. Some prefer to leave everything they do to “creativity”, “political instinct“ or “political experience”. Or they simply trust upon the good-will and the wisdom of the voters who somehow will recognize and reward quality. In practice, the lack of strategic planning leads to unclear messages, a wishy-washy profile, the waste of scarce resources, the demotivation of supporters and finally to defeat. However, it is not enough to undergo a process of strategic planning. Once a strategy has been developed it must be carried through. It goes without saying that changes in the environment can force you to adapt or even redefine your strategy to new conditions. Indeed constant checking is a central feature of strategic planning. But then the adapted or redefined strategy must be carried through. Many politicians who embark upon strategic planning like to apply only those elements of the strategy which suit them. This cannot work if strategic planning is done properly. In this case, all elements of the strategy are interlinked and no part
can be removed or ignored without damaging the whole.
However, your opponents’ unwillingness to plan strategically is to your
advantage. Somebody who has a
precise plan and acts in a targeted way is always more likely to succeed than
somebody who is guided by spontaneity. Finally,
do not publish your strategy. Keep
it secret. For if your political
opponents know your strategy, they will try everything to neutralize it. Rule 2: Do not just plan for victory. Know and tell your voters what you will do with your victory. One of the most surprising facts about politicians is that they never really seem to understand that voters expect from them immediate and tangible benefits for themselves. Often politicians only speak about what they want to achieve for themselves, i.e. to become President, Member of Parliament or City Councilor. They assume that the reason behind their personal ambition is self-explanatory to the voters. Voters, they think, will take for granted that once in office I will work hard for them. This assumption, however, is wrong. Do not expect that voter will automatically trust you only because you are a noble and well-meaning Liberal. Take into account that many voters distrust politicians. They believe that all politicians are selfish. Politicians, they suspect, do not look after their voters but after their own interests. You must therefore explain to your potential voters why they should send you and not somebody else into the President's Office, to Parliament or to the City Council. Your personal ambitions or your personal credentials and convictions do not mean anything to the average voter. Voters want to know before an election what exactly you will do for them in your new job. And only if the answer is convincing will they give you a mandate. Then you also do not have to buy their votes before election day by handing out bread or blankets.
Thus before you enter
into a campaign, think about what you can deliver after victory, write it down
and communicate it to your voters. They
must be convinced that you have to become the President, a Member of Parliament
or a City Councilor because you - and only you - will promote their interests
and cater for their needs after they have given you a mandate.
And keep in mind that it is also good for you to know what you will do
with your victory. Do not forget: just as the purpose of war is not victory but the subsequent
peace, the purpose of an election campaign is not to win, but to rule or exert
influence after election day. Be prepared for it. Rule 3: Analyze your strong and your weak points and try to reduce or eliminate those weak points which prevent you from succeeding. As a successful politician you should always be aware of your strong and your weak points. It is normally not so difficult to write down your strong points. But keep in mind that strong points are only really strong when they correspond to weaknesses of your opponent. If you have sufficient money for a media campaign this is merely a strong point if your opponent lacks money. If he also has enough resources to use the media effectively you have no comparative advantage. Far more difficult is the identification of weak points. Here you must be absolutely honest and tough with yourself. It is obvious that a strategy can only work if it is based on facts, not on wishful thinking. Therefore do not try to disguise weaknesses. Self-deceit is no recipe for success. If your opponent has more resources than you, if your party is deeply divided about an important issue or if your party leader is unpopular do not ignore or deny these facts, but take them into account in your planning. Do not only rely upon friends, relatives or member of your team, because they may just tell you what they think you want to hear. If you really want to know about your weak points, listen to somebody from outside of your own circles who does not want to impress or flatter you. Once you have identified your weak points, rank them according to their impact on your chances to succeed and according to your prospects to influence them. Remember that, for instance, you may have just ten months until election day. You should then only address those weak points, which you can realistically reduce or eliminate within ten months. If you lack a political manifesto it can be written in a few weeks. But if your party has never attracted voters from a certain religious minority in your constituency, it is not very likely that in ten months you will win this minority over. Nor should you waste your resources on those facts and attitudes, which are beyond your influence. You are not able to change the number of illiterate people in your constituency in ten months, even if illiteracy among voters may be a very important stumbling block on your road to success. Concentrate on those weak points, which have an impact on your success but can be dealt with within the time frame at your disposal. Develop for each of these points a sub-strategy in which you define what you want to achieve and by when and how you will do it. If you lack money, plan a funds-raising campaign and write down how much money you want to raise by what date. If you lack allies in an important interest group, develop a sub-strategy on how you can get into contact with important people in that interest group and by when you will do so.
Check on a
regular basis how far you have already come in reaching your objectives.
Finally, do not forget that you can turn every weak point into a strong
point if you are clever and imaginative. If
for instance your opponent is a long-standing, experienced and influential
politician while you are a new young contender, attack him for being worn out,
lacking fresh ideas or having lost touch with the voters. Rule 4: Listen to the people and focus on their prime needs Many politicians love to enter into debates with other politicians on petty political details instead of promoting the interests of their voters. Debate then becomes an affair within the political class, which bores voters and leads to alienation between those who elect and those elected. In reality, voters are pretty down to earth. They want concrete improvements in their daily life: a job, decent housing, security in old age and when ill, good education for their children or feeling safe from crime and violence. Successful politician listen to their voters, identify the “bread and butter issues” and address them. They show that they can deliver the goods and render the services the voters want. In practice, however, many politicians like to discuss endlessly about topics which are only of interest to the political class itself and the small highly sophisticated sector of society to which politicians normally belong. You are certainly familiar with the popular topics in the political class: changing certain clauses in the constitution, standing orders and procedures, car allowances and remuneration of public representatives or political intrigues. Also consider how much time is spent on issues which are just interesting to small but vociferous communities: the environment, women’s liberation, minority rights, the values and principles in society and so on. To make it clear: there is nothing wrong with these topics. They have to be addressed at the appropriate time and a politician (and especially a liberal politician) cannot just speak about what the majority likes to hear.
But be aware that outside the more affluent sector of the population they
have very little appeal to ordinary voters. Thus,
if you want to be successful do not spend too much time on fringe issues or on
the internal affairs of the political class.
Focus upon the prime needs of the people.
The best way to identify these needs is to read opinion polls carefully
or to listen to the people by going to where they are and talk freely; find out
about such places.
They
can be a market, a bus station, a school bazaar, a local pub or whatever. Rule 5: Concentrate on three issues, which are of interest to your voters - and stick to them. Often politicians overestimate the interest voters have in politics. While politicians are moving the whole day in the world of politics, for the average voter politics is only a small part of life - and normally not a particularly important one.. Voters simply do not have the time and the patience to follow politicians and listen to carefully worded and lengthy political speeches. Therefore a successful politician has to reduce the number of political messages. It is nice to have a whole political manifesto at your disposal. But remember that the attention span of the average voter is limited. He may give you just a few moments of his time but in these few moments you must be convincing. So take three issues from your political manifesto. Select those ones, which are of concern to your voters. Choose at least one issue where you differ from your political opponents so that you have what in marketing is called a unique selling product. Build short messages for all three issues, which are emotional enough to touch the voters’ hearts and formulate them in such a way that they can be easily digested and memorized. From then on repeat your key messages time and again. Just as a successful company tries to plant a simple message into people's minds by repeating the same advertisement over a long period of time, a politician must concentrate on a few messages and hammer them into the electorate at every opportunity. A politician has reached his purpose when the whole audience at a political meeting starts singing his messages like under a trance even before he opens his mouth! Do not be afraid of sounding too repetitive. Some politicians seem to assume that they have to be always innovative and must say something new every day. Nothing could be more erroneous.
Can you imagine that Coca-Cola, Nestlé or Volkswagen would say every day
something different about their products? Consumers
would be totally confused and none of the products would have a clear profile.
Saying the same over and over again may be boring to you and your team,
but be assured that what you may have heard hundreds of times, for most voters
will still be new and they have to hear it anyway several times before they have
internalized it. Rule 6: Do not try to be everybody's darling. Nobody can give you more profile than your opponents Many politicians seem to enter politics not in order to fight, but to be applauded. They ignore that politics is a zero-sum-game: you can only win at the expense of your competitors. And you will only win, if you can convince the voters that you are better than your opponents are. It may therefore pay off to criticize those who are supporting your opponents or disliked by the voters. If you want to perform successfully as a politician you must understand that society is composed of people and groups of people with different and often conflicting interests. There are people who will benefit from your policies and those who will lose. If you campaign against corruption those who benefit from corruption will automatically be against you. If you campaign for the privatization of public companies those who administer parastatals will most likely oppose you. If you want more flexible labor laws, trade unionists will attack you. However, in politics it is important to understand that it is not a disadvantage to have political enemies. Keep in mind: it is often easier to wake up your opponents than to mobilize your supporters. But your opponents can become involuntarily your best allies. The more fiercely corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, trade unionists or others attack you, the more ordinary voters will accept that you are really fighting for their benefit against vested interests. Nobody is more valuable than your opponents are when it comes to giving you credibility. If there are no opponents try to create some by provoking those who will anyway not vote for you. When you say that you fight corruption, people will at best smile and take it as one of the many promises politicians make. Yet, if powerful and entrenched well-known beneficiaries of corruption start attacking you, voters will suddenly begin to take you seriously.
Thus, if you play your cards right, your opponents will be your most
credible and cheapest public relations agent.
Therefore do not hesitate to choose “negative target groups” which
you can tackle. Make it clear that
these targets have good reason to be afraid of you being elected, because they
are a burden upon ordinary people and prevent new jobs, decent housing, good
education and the other prime needs people want to see satisfied. Rule 7: Speak plainly, be straightforward, use examples - and avoid detail. To many voters politicians seem to live on a remote planet. One of the reasons why politicians are perceived this way is their language. Politicians are living in two different worlds. On the one hand they are dealing with their peers, with civil servants, lobbyists, journalists or advisers. They discuss with people from the elite how they can solve a problem and which methods should be applied. This leads to a highly sophisticated debate with a lot of technical terms nobody outside of the inner circle understands. Many politicians fail to grasp that the kind of political language, which may be necessary in committee meetings, is not the best vehicle to speak to the voters. Always keep in mind that if you want to communicate with people your language must be comprehensible to those whom you want to reach. Political meetings are no place for rhetorical self-indulgence. Campaign pamphlets are not meant to prove to the voters how learned you are. Speak in simple terms! Use short sentences. Avoid complicated technical terms people cannot even pronounce, let alone understand. And make extensive use of pictures and examples, which ideally should come from daily life and do not need much translating. Voters like politicians who are straightforward. They like politicians who do not get lost in confused and confusing details, but who are able to say what they want to achieve or have achieved without an obfuscating ocean of information. Tell people that you will decrease taxes - do not waste your time elaborating whose taxes you intend to cut when and by what percentage. Otherwise your key message that you will decrease taxes will get lost. The more you go into detail the more you start moving on slippery ground. It is fine to tell voters that you intend to decrease taxes. But in reality some groups may benefit more than others from your tax cuts. As soon as this becomes evident you will get bogged down in a rather unfriendly debate about winners and losers. The fact that everybody profits from tax cuts disappears behind the hot debate about the distribution of the benefits. Your opponents will be only too happy to elaborate on such details. Do not give them a chance. But you can well do the opposite: try to involve your opponents in a boring and dangerous discussion on the details of their policy. People will soon stop listening to your opponent and simply switch off - or get annoyed about what they hear. Stick to the following
good advice: if anybody in the audience you address wants to know something more
specific, give him the chance to pose a question after your statement. It is up
to you then how much more you want to go into detail. Rule 8: Talk about concrete results for your voters. Forget about procedures, instruments and technical details. This point is closely linked to the previous one. Many politicians tend to forget that voters are not interested in procedures but in results. Voters understand what you try to achieve, particularly if you talk in simple language about “bread and butter issues” which are close to their heart. But they do not bother about how you achieve them. Do not get lost in procedures. It is sometimes annoying to read pamphlets in which political parties demand that, for example, a subcommittee should be established by the city council to explore the possibility of buying a house where young people can meet. Many young voters want a place where they can come together. They may support a party, which stands for such a place. Yet they are certainly not interested in the establishment of a subcommittee on the subject. It is your job as politician to deliver what the voters expect. How you do it is generally left to him, because voters assume that you as politician know best how to get your work organized. If instead of talking about a youth center you speak about a new subcommittee you waste an excellent idea. Just as said elsewhere, you should leave the debate on boring procedures to your opponents - and wherever possible you should seduce them into spending their precious time on technical issues and instruments. They will soon lose attention. Imagine big companies like Coca-Cola, Nestlé or Volkswagen not advertising the quality of their products, but only talking about which machines they use in their factories. Who then would feel motivated to buy their products?
Successful
politicians do not talk about instruments.
They talk about the results or even better the profit of their activities
for the voters. Look at
privatization. Often liberal
politicians forget that privatization is not an end in itself but only an
instrument. However, for many
voters instruments are very abstract - and as in the case of privatization
highly politicized. Therefore it is
always better to speak of the expected results of privatization instead of the
privatization process. Liberals
like privatization since if done properly it leads to more and better products
and services at lower prices. That
is what voters want. And that is
what liberal politicians should talk about. Rule 9: Do not lose touch with reality. Take voters as they are. Often Liberals have an idealistic picture of voters. They assume that voters will reward politicians who look after their interests, are reliable and not corrupt, do not make exaggerated promises and are generally decent people. The disappointment comes on election day when voters opt again for the old, supposedly corrupt and non-delivering incumbents. The reason for the disappointment is simple: Liberals ignore realities. And this is not the voters’ fault. There are a few basic rules about how voters behave and which one has to remember. Firstly, voters do not reward past achievements, but elect the representative from whom they expect most in the future. Politics has little to do with religion, where good deeds and ideas are rewarded and bad ones punished. An incumbent may have been bad on delivery, but as long as he can convince his previous voters that next time he will really deliver he stands a good chance of being re-elected. Secondly, voters forget. New contenders tend to believe that voters keep in their memory records about everything the old incumbent has done wrong in the past. They ignore that for most voters politics is only a small and in general not very important part of life. They do not wish to be or become political activists. Once they have elected a representative they are just too happy to abandon politics and leave it to somebody they are willing to trust. They do not keep records about everything their representative does or does not do. Thirdly, people are not necessarily as morally demanding as some Liberals assume. Voters have what from their viewpoint is a realistic picture of their representative. They may complain about politicians but experience has taught them that politicians are not saints. Most voters take for granted that their representatives want to benefit from their position and will use their power to pursue their own interests. They accept this as long as the politician does not exceed a certain limit. The most important question for voters is whether their representative will behave totally selfish or whether there will be a trickle down effect for the voters. If that is perceived to be the case, they will probably endorse the old incumbent again even if his behavior is not immaculate. The best way for a Liberal to attack an incumbent is not to attack him for being corrupt or practicing nepotism, unless the extent of his corruption or nepotism has reached such a dimension that it has turned into a public issue. Rather attack him for not having delivered and convince the voters that he will not deliver in the future either. Nail him for not having provided jobs or housing for the community instead of tackling him or employing family members. Rule 10: Be available and listen to those who decide upon your success. Reward loyalty and make yourself indispensable. Many voters complain that their elected representatives do not care for them any more once they have been elected. That makes it easy for you to impress your voters. Do the rather unusual: be visible, be approachable and listen to what you voters tell you. Since public expectations about the approachability of politicians and their concern for voters are low, even a relatively small degree of attention and physical presence will distinguish you from all competitors and make you a positive example. Be on the spot if something happens in your constituency. Take part in the daily life of your voters. To be visible and thus accountable will not only increase your reputation, but it will also enhance your knowledge about your constituency. The more you listen to the people the more you learn about what is motivating your voters and really matters to them. Also do remember that your loyalty should go first of all to those who have elected you. It is surprising that often politicians rather try to expand their support than consolidate what they already have. It is true that voters may not always reward your work, but they do certainly not appreciate it if you ignore them after they gave you their vote - and woo those who are supporting your opponents. Stick to the simple rule: reward loyalty with loyalty. Furthermore, keep in mind to whom you are accountable and to whom you owe your loyalty. It is good to know what your voters think. But in reality you may not owe your mandate to the voters or to the rank and file party members, but to a party boss or to a selection committee. In this case it is not enough to please your voters. If your destiny depends on a small political elite rather than on the voters’, you must prove to them that they should nominate you again. One way of doing this is to demonstrate that you have particularly good access to an important target group for your party.
You can also acquire enough knowledge and competence in a specialised
political subject like finances, energy or defense, which makes you particularly
valuable for the leadership of your party.
Or you can prove to be a particularly innovative and ruthless campaigner.
You have to find a unique selling product, which proves that you have
qualities, which cannot be replaced or ignored easily.
If those who decide upon your political destiny think that you are
indispensable, you have won. Rule 11: Any platform can be used to promote your case. But you must have a message.
Young
politicians often complain that they have been given unimportant and unexciting
portfolios or that their party is so small that they do not get any attention
from the public. They simply ignore
that public attention does not happen by itself.
It must be fought for. And
one of the basic rules of politics is that any political platform can be used to
promote you and your career. But
there is one precondition: you must
have a message. You must say
something that is relevant to the people, that distinguishes you from your
opponents and that is presented in such a way that it sounds new and
interesting. Keep in mind that journalists are in a difficult position. They have to fill their newspaper, their radio or TV slots every day with interesting and sellable news. You can help them by providing information and ideas, which they can print and broadcast. One way of doing that is to say the opposite of what everybody else says. Another one is to break the taboos of the political class and to object against planned salary increases or allowances for Members of Parliament. This may not make you popular with some of your colleagues, but remember that you can only have a profile if you have opponents who attack you. Another good idea is to be where the action takes place. If a popular artist comes to town, welcome him where the people and the media are. Introduce yourself to the media on the spot. You will see that often they will start to interview you immediately. If there is a bad accident or a fire in your town, go to the place of the disaster, look for the people from the media and use the moment to make a political comment.
Criticise
the unsatisfactory safety regulations or the late arrival of the ambulances as a
symptom of the bad shape of the health system.
Also talk to the people from the fire brigade or to the policemen and
praise them for their hard work – if possible in front of TV cameras.
Your potential voters will then see that you are where things are
happening, that you care about what is going on and that you address the
problems as a responsible politician.
Finally,
even if you have been given an unimportant portfolio, try to find out whether
there are issues within that portfolio which are of interest to voters and can
be emotionalised. It all depends on
your creativity. If nothing else
works, you can still identify a specific target group for which your portfolio
is of great importance and become their spokesperson. If all else fails, simply ignore your portfolio. If there is nothing to be exploited in your portfolio, talk about other political issues which are more relevant to your voters. Keep in mind that your voters have not elected you to become a spokesperson on the arts, on the railways or on postal services, but to address their prime needs. They will certainly not protest, if you talk about jobs, housing, education or security even if these are not your official portfolios.
Do not leave the really fertile areas to your opponents and your
competitors, even if they are older and claim to be more experienced than you
are. Conquer your own ground and do
not allow yourself to be confined to barren pastures. Rule 12: Money is not everything. Successful politicians know how to replace and scarce resource with others. And they are not discreet about their opponents' finances. There is one standard reason given when people try to explain why they do not succeed in politics: lack of money. Wherever the Friedrich Naumann Foundation holds workshop or conferences, the first thing young politicians complain about is a lack of funds. They can go on for hours outlining the injustices of a political system which rewards old incumbents and gives them an unfair advantage over young contenders. It is good to have a realistic view about unequal opportunities. It goes without saying that sufficient money can make campaigning easier.
But it is simply not true that the richest candidate always wins – not
even in the United States where campaigns are extremely expensive.
Do not forget: it is totally
wrong merely to talk about a weakness instead of eliminating or reducing it.
Your opponent’s finances may be immoral but wailing and self-pitying
will not bring you any votes. Instead,
you will soon look like a real loser and the battle will be lost before it has
really started. So what can you do? Firstly, try to raise funds. If you follow the other simple rules, you should have no trouble to raise at least that minimum amount of money, which is indispensable to start an election campaign. For this you need to know clearly what you want to achieve and you must have a strategy. You must be able to demonstrate in a convincing way to your voters (and in the case of fund-raising particularly to certain interest groups) that you address their prime needs and that you will deliver. You must have three clear messages which you present in simple, plain language. You are then in a position to convince potential donors that it is worthwhile to invest in you.
However,
if all efforts to raise funds are to no avail you should ask yourself, whether
your profile is unclear, your messages are unfocused or complicated and if you
really know what you want. In other
words: go back to the drawing board
and take the lack of funds as a sign that something is wrong with your strategy.
But
if you have good ideas, a convincing message and a clear strategy you will
easily find political allies. Try
to mobilise young people who share your political vision.
Motivate them to work for you as volunteers. You are then replacing money with time and enthusiasm because
those are resources many young people can offer. Tell your voters that in this campaign cold money stands
against honest commitment. Thirdly, do not be discreet about your opponent’s finances. If you think that your opponent gets unfair state funding or money from special interest groups, let alone from people with criminal intentions, make it a public issues. If you have precise facts and figures about his budget and its origin, publish them. Challenge your opponent to declare publicly for the sake of a transparent election where his money comes from. Force him to identify his sources and even if he does not want to answer, make his refusal a constant topic of your speeches. If he does not want to disclose the source of his finances, voters will think that he has something to hide. There is no reason for you to be polite and shy about unfair and unequal opportunities favouring your opponent. The size and the origin of his budget are not a matter for a gentlemen’s agreement, but are of public interest. And one last recommendation: sometimes voters may come to you and tell you that your opponents have offered them money or goods if they vote for them.
Do
not expect your voters to reject gifts. Rather
tell them that they should feel free to take whatever is offered but that this
does not compel them to vote for your opponent.
After all, voting is secret. Your
opponent can never be sure if people have voted for him in return for money,
drinks or a blanket. So tell the
people: "Feel free to take my
opponent’s gifts but vote for me." As you can see, the twelve rules are closely linked to each other. Successful politicians know what they want and plan their campaign strategically. They can convince voters that they will act to their benefit and know how to phrase their messages in such a way that people understand what they want and are convinced that once elected, the politician will deliver. Successful politicians are not afraid of attacks from their political opponents. They know that they need opponents in order to gain profile and credibility. Successful politicians are aware of what their voters want and are highly visible to both, voters and the media. They know how to use resources to get their campaign off the ground and have learned to exploit the weaknesses of competitors and incumbents by distancing themselves from the political class. Young candidates should benefit from these experiences. Applying these twelve rules might not in all cases be a guarantee for success, but ignoring them is a certain recipe for failure. Rainer Erkens
*The author of this paper, Rainer Erkens, is currently Regional Director, Africa for the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung (FNSt). Before working in Africa, Rainer Erkens spent nine years in the headquarters of the Free Democratic Party in Germany, the last years as Political Director of the party. Among other things he was involved in three national election campaigns for the German Federal Parliament (“Bundestag”) and two national election campaigns for the European Parliament. He has worked for the FNSt from 1996 till 1998 in Latin America before being transferred to South Africa in 1998. to order a free copy please contact Friedrich Naumann Foundation Gisela Lemaitre PO BOX 1130 Parklands 2121 Johannesburg Republic of South Africa Tel.: +27 11 880 8851 Fax: +27 11 880 9198 e-mail: africa@fnf.org.za |
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