Campaigning

Political campaigning is where political parties and their candidates try to persuade you to vote for them, normally by talking about their policies. This is most noticeable in the run up to elections, but campaigning can take place all year round. 

Campaigning is a really important and useful part of helping you choose who to vote for.
In higher profile elections, such as for the Senedd or UK Parliament elections the larger political parties can spend a lot of money on their campaigns. They have large teams working for them to make sure they reach voters in the best way possible.

Although campaigning is mostly done by election candidates, political parties, and their teams, you might see other groups campaigning for a particular political party or candidate. This could be because the group cares about a single issue, such as climate change or the NHS, which they know is a key policy for a particular party or candidate. They want a certain candidate or party to be elected, because of their policy on this issue, and they will support them in different ways.

Campaigning can be a whole range of things. You’ve probably seen posters on lamp posts or in your neighbour’s window. Or maybe you’ve noticed leaflets being posted to your home or handed out in the street. 

But there are lots of other types of campaigning which you’ll see in your area and around the country. 

Newspapers will run lots of stories during the campaign period, including interviews with candidates. Many newspapers publicly support one of the main political parties. This means you may see a newspaper publishing more positive stories about one political party than any other.

There are different rules for journalists who work in TV and radio. Generally, they are not allowed to encourage voters to vote a certain way. They are asked to give an independent view of elections and campaigns. 

You might also see large posters in your local area. Political parties often spend money on large billboards or digital posters at train stations and bus stops. 

In the UK, political parties are not allowed to advertise on TV. Instead, the main political parties are given a set amount of time on TV to put their policies to voters. You’re likely to see these on the main TV channels – these are called party election broadcasts. 

In some elections, you might also see the leaders of the main political parties in debates on TV.

Supporters of political parties and their members might also put small posters in their windows or placards in their front gardens to show their support. It’s not unusual to see entire streets with posters on each house. 

You’ll also see adverts from political parties and groups of supporters on social media. Sometimes, political parties know who they want to speak to so can easily contact these people through these adverts. This means you might see more adverts for one political party or cause than any others. 

Talking to your candidates

You shouldn’t be afraid to ask your candidates and their teams questions about issues that are important to you. 

Candidates might knock on your door, or may have a stand on your high street. This is called canvassing. 

You’re welcome to approach them to ask questions so you can understand their views. It’s why they’re there – they want to tell you what they’re all about, and they’ll want to hear what’s important to people in your area so they know what to focus on if they get elected.

Candidates might also take part in public debates with other candidates in your area. These are called hustings. They usually take place in a local community building and you’re free to go along. Hustings are often advertised in local newspapers and on community Facebook groups.

Depending on the type of election, political parties and candidates might have teams working for them who you can contact to ask your questions. You might want to email or call them, or message them on social media. Different candidates will have different options, but a quick online search should give you the details of how to get your questions to candidates and their teams.

Campaigning should be transparent. You should know exactly where information is coming from and that it is trustworthy, so you can make an informed decision about who to vote for. 

The money spent on elections campaigns is regulated by the Electoral Commission to make sure they are fair and open. There are limits on how much political parties are allowed to spend during campaigns. If political parties break these rules, they may have to pay fines.

Following an election, you can go online and see how much money political parties spent on campaigning. You can see where parties’ larger donations of money came from. This also applies to campaign groups who may not necessarily be linked to a specific political party.

Printed campaign adverts have to clearly say who paid for them on the advert. This is the law. Social media platforms also have their own rules to encourage transparency. For example, when you see campaign adverts on Facebook, you’ll see that it states who paid for it. 

There are rules about what is and isn’t allowed in campaigning, and these are shared with political parties and campaign groups so they can keep within the rules. For example, a candidate can’t try to get you to vote for them by promising to buy a chocolate bar for everyone in your town if they win, and candidates can’t tell lies about another candidate’s character or behaviour.

And campaigning can’t take place in some places, such as inside polling stations on polling day. 

You might also notice that the TV and radio stop reporting on campaigning on polling day. This is because if it’s reported that a party or candidate is in the lead half way through the day, those who haven’t voted yet might be put off from voting at all  This would damage the whole process. 

Fake news

Unfortunately, there can be a lot of information during election periods which can be misleading or just plain untrue. These stories are usually on social media. If they’re not fact-checked, they can quickly be shared thousands of times without anyone questioning whether they’re factually accurate.

Some of the time, you’ll be able to easily spot when something isn’t true. For example, ‘the Prime Minister admits they are an alien’ is likely to ring some alarms bells. But other mis-information or ‘fake news’ isn’t as easy to spot.

If you see a headline, a list of facts or an article on social media, you should check that it is true before taking it on board or sharing it with your friends. 

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