Successful elections in Africa

Africans have fought hard to ensure that democratic elections are the required and preferred way for government representatives to access, maintain and give up political power. As a result, competitive elections in Africa are no longer the exception; they have gradually become the rule.

Since the early years of democratisation in the 1990s, the focus has shifted from the quantity of multiparty elections to the quality, with an emphasis on their credibility and legitimacy. In successful elections, the outcome is accepted by the majority of key contestants and voters. Disputes, if any, are peacefully resolved through recognised mechanisms of dispute resolution. Such elections are becoming increasingly evident in Africa:

• Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Ghana and Tanzania have all held at least three successive successful national elections.
• Incumbent leaders have been replaced, either through the defeat of the ruling party, or through a change of leaders from within the ruling party.
• The requirement limiting presidents to a maximum two terms of office is widespread: attempts by leaders to stay in power beyond their two terms have been successfully fought in Malawi, Zambia and Nigeria.
• Successful transitional elections have taken place in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, marking its emergence from 41 years of undemocratic rule (although this achievement was marred by post-election violence).
• After a 14-year conflict, Liberia held free and fair elections and gave the continent its first female president; post-conflict Sierra Leone and Burundi have also had successful elections.

Even in Zimbabwe, the March 2008 elections were qualitatively better than those held previously, although they were only partially free and enjoyed limited transparency and fairness. Attempts by President Mugabe's regime to manipulate the outcome were exposed by national and regional election observers.

A number of factors explain the gradual success of elections in Africa:

• African countries have learnt from failed experiments with democracy and have designed innovative electoral systems, including arrangements to include ethnic minorities, contain extremist ethno-regional political parties, and encourage election alliances and party coalitions.
• The continent has developed its own codified standards for free and fair elections.
• African countries have also made public commitments towards democracy; for instance, 29 countries have agreed to submit to a periodic evaluation through the African Peer Review Mechanism, a system introduced by the African Union to help countries improve their governance.
• Regional institutions are more willing to play a role in ensuring the success of national elections. This is illustrated by the increased involvement of the Southern African Development Community in Zimbabwe.

Despite these improvements, the recent experiences of Kenya and Zimbabwe show that no election should be taken for granted. These countries also highlight a possible worrying trend in African elections: if a ruling regime loses an election through fraud or manipulation, might it encourage violence as a way of forcing an internationally-mediated power-sharing arrangement?

In addition, democratisation and regime change have not generally led to improved political performance or human development. Critics therefore argue that maintaining a commitment to elections may become a challenge. However, successful elections are crucial for political legitimacy and a prerequisite for political stability and socio-economic development.

The increasing number of successful elections should therefore be celebrated, and lessons drawn from less successful electoral processes, which, fortunately no longer constitute the majority of Africa's elections.

Denis K Kadima
Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, PO Box 740, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa
T +27 11 482 5495 F +27 86 6032668
dkadima@eisa.org.za
www.eisa.org.za