Africa - Review 2000
The uphill struggle for democracy 

Biased electoral systems, grey areas between state and party, as well as internal squabbles and disunity are among the multiple disadvantages that have dampened the opposition's effectiveness. 

The poor showing by Tanzania's scattered opposition in elections in October, is just the latest example of the mountains of challengers many African nations have to overcome to fight the hegemony where politics, albeit multipartism, is dominated by a single group. Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party won 71.7 percent of the votes cast. 

But the story could have been different in the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar where the CCM party only won because of massive electoral fraud. The Zanzibar situation brought into sharp focus the need to come up with norms and standards to deliver honest elections in the African region where the management of elections is far from perfect. Thousands of people failed to cast their votes in the Oct 29 presidential, parliamentary and local government elections in Zanzibar because ballot papers either failed to come on time or in some cases never showed up. 

Zanzibar is only the latest case of controversy over polling results -- most other countries, including Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia, have faced criticism over alleged manipulated voting figures in the past. In much of Africa, rigging of the elections appears to be the sole prerogative of ruling parties, who seem to have turned it into an art form. And if elections are not rigged, incompetence by electoral commissions, tasked with running the elections, generally leave a sour taste. 

Côte d'Ivoire, long-time haven of stability in the west African region, was torn, in recent months, by ethnic and political violence following elections there recently. For years, considered to be the most stable, prosperous country in West Africa, residents of the Côte d'Ivoire were stunned last December when soldiers mounted the first coup in the country's history and installed General Robert Guei. But Gen. Guei was ousted in a popular uprising in October after he tried to steal victory in the presidential elections won by Laurent Gbagbo. 

However, prospects of peace in the west African nation hang in the balance following last month's elections. Côte d'Ivoire's minister of defence and Civil Protection, Moise Lida Kouassi, has disclosed that the deposed Gen. Guei, plans to topple the new government of President Gbagbo. According to Kouassi, Gen. Guei, who seized power on 24 December 1999, was reportedly setting up an army essentially composed of members of his personal guard and Liberian refugees. 

Ruling parties have been used to staying in power. Results on much of Africa's elections confirm the fact that the countries remain firmly in the grip of a single party, despite multiparty polls, and a host of opposition groups. If some opposition movements were able to benefit from democratic openings and win polls in Zambia (1991), Congo (1992) Malawi and South Africa (1994), Mauritius, Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire (2000), this proved more difficult in countries like Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. 

Few ruling parties have found it easy to stay in power without having to resort to electoral fraud or unfair advantages over the opposition. Out of a parliament of 150 members, Zimbabwe's ruling party only needs to win 46 seats to retain control of the house in any election. President Robert Mugabe, in power since the country attained independence in 1980, appoints 20 members to parliament in a system heavily weighted in favour of the ruling party. The ruling ZANU-PF party also benefits indirectly from the support of 10 chiefs sent into parliament by a college of traditional leaders, loyal to the government. 

In its general elections held in June, Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won an unprecedented 57 of 120 parliamentary seats up for election. However, political observers say had it not been because of violence and intimidation before and during the elections, the opposition would have won the vote. At least 32 people, mostly MDC supporters, died in politically motivated clashes in the run-up to elections. 

Violence is still continuing and looks set to intensify as 2002 draws near. Zimbabwe's presidential elections will be held sometime in 2002 and, from all appearances, these will be the most fiercely fought since independence. But if plans to come up with norms and standards for elections in the southern African region are successful, the bumpy road in conducting elections and institutionalising a democratic culture will be smooth. 

According to the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF), experience gained by their members in observing elections in Namibia, Mozambique, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Tanzania is quite revealing and hence the need to come up with good practices which will become the benchmark for good regional and international standing in the development of a democratic culture. Shortcomings in the electoral process based on observing elections in the southern African region include adequately funded ruling parties and poorly funded opposition parties, opposition parties being denied adequate access to the state-owned media, electoral commission accused of lacking independence and not being impartial by favouring ruling parties and impartial law enforcing agents controlled by and favouring ruling parties. 

Ethnicity is also a potent force employed by would-be monoliths to retain their grip on power. Nowhere has democracy and its instruments been more trampled on than in Nigeria. Elections there in mid-1993 were overturned and a year later, the man believed to have won them was imprisoned after he declared himself president. A new government is now in power led by Olusegun Obasanjo. But he also had to swap his military garb with civilian attire. However, commentators state that the transformation is only superficial and often joke, 'once in the army, always in the army'. 

In Ghana, all talk has been about outgoing president Jerry Rawlings even though he was not a candidate in these elections. Part of the reason is that Rawlings has formed a special 64th Battalion of the Ghana army that has been trained in special skills associated with subversion. The battalion is regarded as the best-armed in the military, and is generally believed to be a law unto itself. When Rawlings, an air force flight lieutenant, first seized power in 1979, he oversaw the execution of three former heads of state and dozens of senior officials for corruption. He then quickly passed over power to a civilian government. 

But in 1981, he staged another coup. Many in Ghana have said they believe Rawlings will continue to play an important role in national life, especially if his vice President, John Atta Mills, chosen by Rawlings to succeed him, wins. Rawlings, 53, is a former fighter pilot who first seized power in 1979 in a bloody military coup and has dominated national life since. 

Rawlings won the elections in 1992 and 1996 but, under a constitution that he helped draft, was barred from running for a third term. If Rawlings, who has master minded coups in the past, stays completely out of politics, it would make Ghana one of the few bright lights in a region wrecked by turmoil. 

In the west African region, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are already engaged in bloody cross-border fighting, and Guinea-Bissau was recently rocked by a military uprising. While there are many bad apples around, a few countries have proved that the wishes of the people can be respected and there is no need to shed blood. 

In elections held in September in Mauritius, the opposition alliance of Anerood Jugnauth's Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) and Paul Berenger's Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) won 54 out of mainland Mauritius's 60 member parliament. This was the first time since 1995 that a sitting head of government was removed from office in the 14-member Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region under which Mauritius is a member. To its credit, the tiny Indian ocean volcanic island uses a "Block Vote" where voters have as many votes as there are seats to be filled and the highest polling candidates fill the positions regardless of the percentage of the votes they achieve. 

Mauritius has a three-member constituency. This type of voting is peculiar to Mauritius. Its proponents argue the main advantage (of the block vote) is that is reinforces the party allegiances of electors and reduces the communal feelings of the electorate by making it less easy for the supporter of a particular party to give support only to the candidate or candidates of their party. 

By Lewis Machipisa, IPS

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