Political communication‘s absence in Middle East elections

With the 2009 Lebanese parliamentary elections on everyone’s mind and the US presidential campaign in its final stretch, one cannot stop but wonder how far we still are in the Middle East compared to the West, in terms of giving political communication the importance it deserves. Many in our region consider political communication simply a means to “promote” a political party, a candidate seeking an additional term in office, or even wanna-be politicians, with their election “campaigning” simply being limited to plastering a few pictures of a candidate on the side of the roads or hanging parties’ flags on street poles. With examining the track record of elections across the region — at least in the countries that actually do hold elections — comes the realization that the political candidates vying for public office have never really had to do anything more. The people never seriously demanded that their elected