Kuwait candidates speech skills key in campaigns

The art of speech is one of the key communications' skills exercised by parliamentary candidates who can persuade voters to change their minds and vote for them. Many candidates spend great sums of money on their campaigns without paying attention to the art of speech, which can have dramatic impact on voters. "The candidate can change the mind of voter through the art of speech as one of the most sophisticated elements with regards to dealing between human beings," Abdullah Al-Hajraf, an expert in development and human communications, commented. Speaking to KUNA, Al-Hajraf said art of speech was one of the important elements of communication in Western countries. In the West, he said, a human being "does not live in isolation from others but in a constant state of interaction with others." This means, he added, conveying ideas, objectives, causes and information to the others by a good selection of words and phrases which would be easily understood by the public. These ideas and information should be blended with feelings "which will touch upon sufferings and emotions of others who will feel the urge to listen to the speech of the candidate," he said. Kuwait's constitutional court had last month annulled the parliament that was elected last December and upheld the one-person, one vote system. Parliamentary elections in the country's five constituencies will be held on July 27. Al-Hajraf, furthermore, said changing the belief of the voter was not easy. "The candidate should analyze the real life of his voters because this will help him choose his phrases and words that address their problems thus winning their confidence in elections' day," he said. A candidate can also shift between issues to avoid boredom, suggested Al-Hajraf. The candidate, he said, should prepare for this campaign and his speeches, as well as making sure he moved from his introduction to the conclusion smoothly. The candidate, he added, should avoid long speech and vague words. "Words are keys to hearts and minds," he said. If the candidate realizes that his audience are paying attention to his speech, he said, this would mean his words and phrases were appropriate. "The proper use of the body language is a very influential element," he explained. Fatma Al-Enezi, a history teacher, said skills of speech of candidates could influence her to vote for them. "The candidate who has these skills is capable of highlighting problems of voters," She told KUNA. "The most important thing for me is the candidate's capabilities and speech skills and how he can interact with the public," she said. Mashaan Al-Mutairi, an oil engineer, said there were many highly-educated candidates but incapable of giving speeches. The successful candidate, he said, "is the one with great speech skills because he will convey problems of citizens to the (government) officials in a proper manner." Mohammad Al-Ajmi, a retiree, said he voted for candidates in the past because they had excellent speech skills.