Abstract
Elections are often key drivers of social change—junctures in a nation’s history, held at times of recovery, rapid change and peace. In democracies they are opportunities for voters to express their opinion and change the direction of their country; in less democratic regimes, elections may still be held as a pseudo-democratic veil for the machinations of true power. They are times at which—in varying degrees—the eyes of the media become trained on a cluster of people—party leaders, their families, their colleagues and their advisers. Rather like a beauty contest, politicians are trotted out onto various televised interview programmes, participate in stunts of sometimes dubious value and speak of their hopes for the future.