Maravi

Dangerous, poor, inadequate

Dangerous, poor, inadequate
By The Post
Sat 23 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT

Electoral violence and malpractices are increasingly becoming a permanent feature of our elections. We should not get used to electoral violence and malpractices because they are not only undesirable but also pose a serious danger to the stability of our country and undermine our democratisation process.

Elections are very important and should not in any way be allowed to be dominated and directed by the standards of thugs and scoundrels of all shades. Elections are the hallmark of our multi-party democracy, allowing our people’s regular input in choices about leaders and policy.

Yet there are also competitive processes, unleashing conflict and tensions that, if not constructively managed, would potentially distabilise the fabric of our nation. The challenges occasioned by increasing election-related conflicts and political violence underscore the importance of building institutions that balance competition with order, participation with stability, and contestation with consensus.

What has been happening in our elections and by-elections makes it necessary for us to reflect judiciously on the mechanisms and modalities of ensuring that elections contribute to sustainable democratic governance and peace through proactive strategies aimed at preventing, managing and resolving election-related conflicts and redressing political violence. There is clearly a need for us to re-examine the work of the Electoral Commission of Zambia and see how it can be improved and strengthened.

We say this because as things stand today, the Electoral Commission of Zambia is in a very weak position and doesn’t have adequate capacity to conduct free and fair elections. It cannot be denied that a large part of the electoral process is not under the direct control and supervision of the Electoral Commission of Zambia.

The Ministry of Local Government actually plays a far much bigger and important role in the conduct of elections than the electoral commission. And so does the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Department of National Registration and the Police.
Most aspects of our elections are managed by officials from the Ministry of Local Government, who are strategically placed there to manage elections in a manner that is favourable to those in power.

It cannot be denied that some of these officials are taken to the Ministry of Local Government from the Intelligence and other security agencies specifically for the purpose of managing, or rather mismanaging, elections. And when it comes to the operations of the police during elections, it is clear that the police do not treat all the contestants equally and fairly.

Members of the police command are generally political appointees who are more inclined towards maintaining the status quo, ensuring that those who appointed them continue in office. As a result of this, the police is generally on the side of the ruling party, tolerating its violence and malpractices. Sometimes they are even made to participate in these malpractices and acts of intolerance. This is surely not a recipe for managing elections well.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia is too small and weak to be able to directly manage elections in an efficient, effective and orderly manner. They are also not in a position to efficiently and effectively supervise their agents like the Ministry of Local Government. And politically, they don’t have any capacity to control the work of the departments of the Ministry of Home Affairs that have something to do with elections.

So, in reality the work of the Electoral Commission of Zambia is predominantly one of printing ballot papers. The rest is done by other units over whom they exercise very little control. And these are units that are directly under the supervision and control of the ruling party and its representatives in government.

This means that the issuing of National Registration Cards that are required for one to register as a voter is outside the control of the Electoral Commission of Zambia. In our electoral system, elections begin here, because without a National Registration Card, one will not be able to register as a voter and vote. Although there is an electoral code, the Electoral Commission of Zambia is not in a position to enforce it and doesn’t even attempt to enforce it.

Part of this is left to the police. And we all know how partial our police has been. They are on the side of the ruling party. Ruling party cadres get away with all sorts of malpractices and political violence without any charges being raised against them, while it is not uncommon to see opposition cadres being arrested for all sorts of things, even the most trivial of infringements.

There is need for fair and transparent rules to conduct and organise elections. And more firewalls against manipulation and other egregious practices that reduce the credibility of elections and cause violence need to be established.

All these electoral conflicts and acts of violence signal weaknesses in our governance of elections, the rules of orderly political competition, and the lack of impartial law enforcement and, to some extent, even a judiciary that can impartially interpret and adjudicate electoral disputes.

These challenges reflect the problems associated with managing elections and building institutions of competition that are widely respected and accepted by winners and losers. They also signal the uneven playfield for the contestants, for the opposition who feel they are deliberately disadvantaged and disempowered by their opponents in the governing party.

Elections that end in conflict and violence, resulting in loss of lives and the destruction of property raise questions about election management and administration, but also about the long-term impact on the consolidation of political competition.

At heart, electoral violence fractures political competition and impedes or criminalises political dissent. And we all know that electoral violence adversely affects social stability and, if not properly managed, could, in combination with other conflict fissures, lead to anarchy.

We need to pay a lot of attention to the conduct of elections because they are the means or mechanisms by which our people make choices about who should represent and lead them, as well as express preference for given policies. Elections deserve our maximum attention because they are instruments of legitimation for a body politic. They should be able to facilitate changes in leadership from one party to another in a way that is structured, competitive, transparent and within our legal framework.

In such a process, tension is inevitable and perhaps desirable to the extent that it can bring out the best of the contending parties or individuals, but it can also bring out the worst. From what we have seen so far, elections can fuel violence in situations where contestants do not follow the rules or accept election outcomes as the legitimate expression of the will of the citizenry. Elections, however, are not the sole cause of election violence.

Often, elections just provide the opportunity for people to express other grievances, be they political, about resource sharing, social justice, marginalisation, intimidation, or other malaise, perceived or real. And of course, we must not forget the role of rogue elements in such situations.

The links between elections, peace and security, and democratisation are not automatic. They are contingent upon many factors. In some cases, elections build and enhance democracy and its institutions, while, in others, elections may lead to contested results and violence.

It is in recognition of this negative trend that we call for a review of our entire electoral process to determine how best to prevent, manage and resolve the increasing election-related conflicts and political violence. The aim is to come up with mechanisms and modalities to create an inflection process to ensure that our elections contribute to a sustainable democratisation process in our country. And we should always bear in mind that elections are not a singular event. Like democratisation itself, elections are a process that ideally confers legitimacy on a government and contributes to the long-term democratisation of our country.

If we don’t confront these issues in an honest and resolute manner, the increasing challenges of electoral malpractices and political violence that we are today facing may soon get out of control and threaten all our achievements so far. We need to move very quickly on this front or else we are courting disaster, anarchy.

Labels: POLITICAL VIOLENCE

posted by MrK @ 6:57 AM