Influence of Political Billboard Advertising on Non-Literate Electorates’ Voting Intentions in 2022 Governorship Election

Oladipo Mary Oluwaferanmi — 2026-07-03

Political campaigns are planned endeavours by political parties to win over the public. The purpose of a political billboard campaign is to create awareness, persuade and remind voters of the political party’s programmes and candidates. Since billboard uses large graphics and pictures, they are on the basis of the findings, the study concluded that, though billboard can serve as a reminder to the non-literate electorates. This study thus sought to find out whether billboard adverts influenced the intention to vote among non-literate electorates in Osun State. This work was anchored on political mobilization, rational choice, and agenda-setting theories. Political mobilization theory explains the strategies political parties use to mobilize electorates, rational choice assumes that individuals have preferences out of available choices of alternatives, agenda-setting theory examines how the media influences the importance and salience of various topics in public discourse, on the basis of the attention paid to them. The survey method was used to gather data from 389 Ede respondents from North and South Osun state. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts, and the result was presented in percentages and tables. Findings revealed that the non-literates had a pre-determined candidate of choice on the basis that the candidate was from the same area as the respondents. However, findings further revealed that political billboard adverts reinforce the predetermined choice and constantly remind them of the political party/candidate to vote for. This research recommended to political parties since they are focusing on non-literates that there should be the use of clearer pictures and more visible graphics for easy identification of political parties as this may encourage these non-literates to vote for them when they see the billboard.

Protestantism: A State Religion during the Malagasy Monarchy

Rafenomanantsoa Emilson — 2026-07-08

Emerging from the sixteenth-century European Reformation, Protestantism expanded dynamically, leading to the nineteenth-century insertion of the British Presbyterian movement into Madagascar. This article examines the institutionalization of Protestantism and the systemic transformations catalyzed by the strategic convergence between British missionaries and Malagasy sovereigns. Employing a qualitative, historical-critical methodology, this study analyzes an extensive corpus of administrative treaties, ecclesiastic archives, and historical documents to elucidate how this religious movement functioned as a primary mechanism of state modernization and political centralization. The empirical findings reveal that the London Missionary Society (LMS) systematically introduced scriptural literacy and a Western-style educational apparatus in Imerina from 1820 onward, utilizing pedagogical networks to accelerate evangelical conversion. Despite a three-decade period of aggressive state-enforced suppression under Queen Ranavalona I, the Protestant apparatus demonstrated profound structural resilience. Following the diplomatic liberalization of 1862, this socio-religious movement culminated in its historic elevation to the rank of de facto state religion under Queen Ranavalona II in 1869. The state-church alliance generated sweeping civilizational advancements, including the formation of native administrative cadres, the implementation of robust biomedical and hospital infrastructures, and significant innovations in material architecture. Simultaneously, this study highlights the dialectical tensions produced by social polarization, alongside the eventual emergence of a stable socio-cultural synthesis, exemplified by the integration of traditional ancestral customs within Christian liturgical practices. This undisputed Protestant hegemony permanently altered the island's institutional trajectory until 1896, when French colonial rule under Governor-General Gallieni systematically dismantled its structural privileges to favor Roman Catholicism.

Polit Journal Scientific Journal of Politics

Influence of Political Billboard Advertising on Non-Literate Electorates’ Voting Intentions in 2022 Governorship Election

Protestantism: A State Religion during the Malagasy Monarchy