Maravi

Consequences of flawed elections

Consequences of flawed elections
By The Post
Wed 11 May 2011, 04:00 CAT

It is difficult to understand why those calling for free and fair elections are seen to be against Rupiah Banda and the MMD.

It doesn’t make sense for one to say they want free and fair elections, but when it comes to putting in place processes or mechanisms that may help to guarantee free and fair elections, they are vehemently opposed to them. Free and fair elections don’t come on their own.

They have to be striven for and processes have to be put in place to ensure free and fair elections. And to ensure free and fair elections, the electoral process should not be entrusted to people who are not capable of being impartial, to partisan elements and people who are appointed and sustained by those seeking reelection.

There should be an independent electoral commission comprising representatives from all registered parties, the main non-political bodies and impartial observers. Civil servants and other public workers have to keep a distance from political campaigns; equal opportunities should be given to all parties and persons in the political campaign.

All should be given permits and afforded adequate security to hold their allies. The use of public media has to be open to all without restrictions.

The campaign itself should not have a tribalistic outlook or sectionalism but look for the common good of all people and allow for sincere dialogue among opponents, even in cases of political divergence. Violence must be avoided because the electoral campaign should not be confused with a battlefield where the aim is to destroy the other.

Real political victory lies on the ideals proposed, on the ethical values of the candidates, on the respect for the freedom of choice of all citizens and not on any form of moral pressure or intimidation of political opponents or voters. Political parties should be formed and run on ideals and principles and not on tribal and personal cult.

Therefore, to have peaceful, free and fair elections, certain conditions have to prevail in our country and in our hearts. There ought to be a conducive atmosphere. The major players have to agree on the conditions under which elections would be held.

The contestants have to conduct themselves in a manner that does not put others at a disadvantage. There ought to be transparency in the organisation of elections.

And all the political parties and their candidates must restrict their campaigns to pertinent issues, for example, service to the poor, social welfare, agricultural issues or economic recovery.

Those who campaign outside these issues – people only interested in shouting and telling lies about their opponents – are not promoting peaceful elections and should not be voted for.

There is need for constructive dialogue at all times on key electoral issues. And those in government and in the ruling party should ensure that the concerns of all key players are adequately addressed.

Free, fair and constructive elections will become a reality only when the politicians take their responsibility seriously by addressing themselves to real issues, to their manifestos, so that voters could judge what ideas the parties and their leaders had on problems that really matter: cost of living, unemployment, corruption, poor services in education, health, government officers and so on and so forth. They should reject violence in the strongest terms and respect truth and their political opponents.

It is sad when elections are marred with unfairness and violence. It is essential for the government and political parties to respect people’s voices and choice. Respect for human dignity requires that elections are conducted well. Elections should never be a matter of fraud or coercion since that would break the sacred character of democracy.

The impact of flawed elections on democracy is devastating. Flawed elections destroy democracy. We say this because when elections are flawed, the people’s will does not prevail. When elections are flawed, the government cannot be said to rest upon the consent of citizens.

When elections are flawed, the principal mechanism for translating the consent of the governed into governmental authority is destroyed. And we know that elections are the central institution of democratic representative governments.

This is so because in a democracy, the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed. When elections are flawed, that consent cannot be accurately determined, it may not even be there at all.

We have seen from the experiences of others around us what flawed elections can do to a country. Thousands of people lost their lives in Kenya as a result of flawed elections.

And in Kenya the problems started with the appointment of compromised elements, partisan characters, corrupt and spineless people as commissioners of Kenya’s electoral commission.

People who are not credible cannot be expected to run a credible election. Strong and credible institutions are extremely important in avoiding flawed elections. And an independent electoral commission is indispensable to the holding of free and fair elections.

The people running our elections – from the electoral commission to the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Home Affairs – cannot be said to be independent. Some of them may be credible, but certainly not independent.

There is urgent need to reform our electoral process if we have to avoid the risk of running flawed elections and the consequences that go with it.

The ruling party cannot be entrusted with the running of elections totally on their own. There is need for the involvement of other stakeholders in the whole electoral process.

We can’t continue to have a situation where only what the ruling party thinks is favourable to them is allowed.

The case in point here is parallel vote tabulation. Why is Rupiah opposed to parallel vote tabulation, a totally legal process that increases the accuracy of vote counting? Is he looking for the possibility of cooking up figures and increase his stake? Why should an honest person be opposed to checks and verifications of election results? What are they afraid of?

Rupiah’s approach to this year’s elections undermines public confidence in our entire electoral process. And this may undermine the credibility of our elections and make it difficult for the opposition and their supporters to accept the results if the ruling party is presented as the winner.

It has been easy in the past to calm down the opposition and their supporters and make them accept election results they deem flawed. But this will not continue forever because our people are seeing the examples being set by others.

They saw what happened in Kenya when the ruling party tried to steal the opposition victory. There was resistance and thousands of people died. And what we have in Kenya today is a transitional government of national unity.

We also witnessed a similar situation in Zimbabwe. There was fighting in Ivory Coast over election results and thousands of people died. Our people have witnessed all this.

And it would be folly for anyone to expect them to accept election results they see as being flawed. The best way to prevent what we have seen with our neighbours happening in our own countries is to ensure that all the conditions necessary for the holding of peaceful, free and fair elections are put in place in our country and planted in our hearts. Peaceful, free and fair elections require the intelligent and responsible participation of all.

And as such, as we approach this year’s elections, we must express concern regarding the independence of the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the integrity of our entire electoral process. We must also express concern regarding frequent instances of intolerance, intimidation and lust for power.

In the present atmosphere of fierce completion and character assassination, we should consistently remind ourselves of the noble goals of political activity and elections.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS

posted by MrK @ 4:34 PM