According to a political analyst, the strategy of the Liberal Party made it’s candidate unpopular in the 2019 senatorial elections because people just knew the opposition candidates by calling them ‘Otso Diretso.’
In an interview with Inquirer, the political analyst said that LP focused on endorsing “Otso Diretso” too much instead of promoting them individually that made their campaign to backfire.
“They had two brands to build, Otso Diretso and the individual candidates. And they chose the former. Now Otso Diretso is more popular than the individual candidates,” the analyst said.
According to him, in an election candidate must ensure that the people would remember their name because, in the end, the voters are going to shade the politician’s name.
“They invested in a name that won’t even be on the ballot.” the analyst said.
While the opposition is calling themselves in the campaign as part of Otso Diretso, in the ballot, they’re listed as a representative of Liberal Party (LP) which might confuse the voters.
Also in the recent Magdalo survey, all candidates of Otso Diretso didn’t enter the magic 12.
Meanwhile, one of the camps of one of the Otso Diretso candidates, Mar Roxas blamed the ‘yellow’ brand of the Liberal Party for their defeat in the last presidential elections.
Roxas is also campaigning solo, unlike his other party-mates who are visiting different areas in the Philippines together.