Door to door campaign of Pakistan People Party in Lahore

Pakistan People's Party atau PPP adalah partai Benazir Bhutto dan saat ini dipimpin oleh putranya Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Karena faktor keamanan dan ancaman dari beberapa kelompok militan, PPP tidak berani melakukan kampanye secara terbuka. Jadi, jenis kampanye yang bisa dilakukan oleh PPP hanyalah melalui video, door to door campaign, corner meeting dan iklan di surat kabar. 

Dalam hal video messaging, yang menarik perhatian pengamat adalah tidak hanya pimpinan PPP saja yang memberikan pesan melalui video, tetapi bahkan para pemimpin PPP di masa lampau yang telah meninggal pun, termasuk Benazir Bhutto, ikut berkampanye, sehingga tidak heran disebut dengan 'ghost campaigners'.

The female campaigners of PPP after briefing before they did their work.

Door to door campaign dilakukan dengan cara menyebarkan brosur dan berbicara langsung dengan para pemilih secara personal. Sedangkan Corner meeting adalah pertemuan kecil yang dihadiri antar 100-150 orang saja dan biasanya diadakan di tempat pertemuan atau di lorong-lorong jalan.

Pada tanggal 3 Mei 2013, tim kami memantau kampanye door to door yang dilakukan oleh Women Wings dari Pakistan People Party (PPP) di sebuah Union Council di Lahore. Union Council adalah unit administrasi terkecil di Pakistan. Di Indonesia selevel RT/RW, karena 1 UC terdiri dari 250-300 rumah tangga. 

Mula-mula para juru kampanye berkumpul di rumah Mrs. Bushra Aitzaz Ahsan, kandidat dari NA 124. Lalu mereka berangkat ke UC 147 yang terletak di Ram Garh, Lahore. Saya agak kecewa, karena saya mulanya berfikir bahwa Mrs. Bushra sendiri yang akan turun ke lapangan, tetapi ternyata hanya juru kampanyenya saja.

Sejumlah ibu-ibu tidak langsung bertugas, tetapi masuk ke salah satu rumah yang merupakan titik kumpul di UC tersebut. Di sana Mrs. Fehmida Shaheen, presiden Zone 145, membakar semangat para juru kampanye.  Tak lama kemudian mereka pun berjalan berkeliling membagikan brosur kandidat dan berbicara dengan para pemilih di wilayah tersebut. Kami melihat sejumlah pria menolak dengan sopan brosur tersebut dan kemudian membicarakan kelompok juru kampanye ini. UC tersebut merupakan kantong PML-N.   

Satu hal yang membedakan pemilu Pakistan 2013 dengan pemilu-pemilu sebelumnya adalah keterlibatan perempuan yang cukup tinggi dalam proses kepemiluan, antara lain menjadi juru kampanye atau membantu kampanye kandidat atau partai politik seperti yang mereka lakukan di sini. Maju terus Perempuan Pakistan!

Door to door campaign of PPP.
The female campaigners distributed the brochures and talked to the male and the male denied politely the brochures and their explanation. 

Pakistan People's Party is the party of Benazir Bhutto and now is chaired by her son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Due to security reason and threats from some militant groups, PPP was not dare to campaign out door. Their campaigns were video messaging, door to door, corner meeting and advertising in newspapers. 

The analysts noted that the campaigners in videos were not only the leaders in PPP, but late leaders such as Benazir Bhutto. This was then called 'ghost campaigners'.

Door to door campaign is to distribute brochure and talked individually to the voters in certain area.  Corner meeting is a small meeting attended by 100 - 150 persons and takes place usually in a small room or alley.    

On May 3, 2013, our team observed door to door campaign held by  Women Wings of Pakistan People Party (PPP) in a Union Council in Lahore. Union Council is the smallest administrative unit  in Pakistan. In Indonesia UC is almost similar with RT/RW, because 1 UC consists of 250-300 households.  

At first, the campaigners gathered at the house of the candidate from NA 124, Mrs. Bushra Aitzaz Ahsan. Then they went to  UC 147 located in Ram Garh, Lahore by cars. I was a bit disappointed because I thought that Mrs. Bushra herself would go to the field, but it was only her campaigners. 

Once they arrived, they went inside a house belongs to a campaigner. We can say that it was a camp for Women Wings in that UC. Mrs. Fehmida Shaheen, president Zone 145, gave a short speech to raise the enthusiasm and spirit of the campaigners. After that they spread to different places to do their job. 

We saw that some men denied politely the brochure, didn't want to be disturbed by them and then discussed about that female campaigners. This UC was the stronghold of PML-N.    

One significant mark made different between this 2013 election compared with previous elections is the high participation of women in election process, such as being the campaigners of a candidate or party, like they were doing here. Bravo Pakistani Women!