A session on “Review and Documentation of the 20-call campaign” was held at the Sharif Governance and Policy Think Tank (GPTT) on August 4, 2024. This was the first of the “Battle of Narratives: A Reflection on the Performance of Electorial Campaigns in the 2023 Presidential Election” series of meetings. The meeting featured Sheykh Joula, the head of the “20-calls” campaign for Dr. Jalili’s electoral committee.

The 20-Calls campaign

The “20-Calls” campaign initially began in 2021. However, the campaign faced significant challenges due to limited resources and infrastructure. These challenges resulted in minimal success. Learning from this experience, the campaign was refined for the 2024 election. Key improvements included simplifying the contact guidelines from 12 pages to a more effective 2-3 pages and incorporating a sample promotional video. The campaign’s strategy centered on mobilizing its social capital, especially among religious scholars and students, despite a lack of funding for digital advertising. This grassroots approach led to greater success in 2024, as it effectively resonated with voters on an individual level.

A significant point raised was the effectiveness of tailored communication strategies, especially through phone calls. It was volunteers, not paid operators, who were making the calls. This approach was found to be very effective among lower-income groups. Besides, the campaign was successful in regions like Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan and significantly influenced the voters’ decisions.

In Sheykh Joula’s opinion, the polarization was less intense in the 2024 election. He attributed the reduced polarization with two main factors. First, there was a shift away from the aggressive political culture where candidates often gained votes by strongly criticizing the previous government. This was less prevalent in 2024, partly because the previous president, Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, was not heavily criticized due to his martyrdom. Second, Dr. Jalili’s campaign emphasized not attacking other candidates. This proved to be a successful strategy. Nevertheless, some level of polarization is always inherent in elections.