Journal of African Elections
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VOLUME 7 NO 2 i Journal of African Elections ARTICLES BY Norbert Kersting Phillip Mtimkulu Khabele Matlosa Bernadeta Killian Kevin S Fridy Ernest T Mallya Volume 8 Number 2 October 2009 i ii JOUR na L OF AFRIC an ELECTIO N S Published by EISA 14 Park Road, Richmond Johannesburg South Africa P O Box 740 Auckland Park 2006 South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 11 482 5495 Fax: +27 (0) 11 482 6163 e-mail: [email protected] ©EISA 2009 ISSN: 1609-4700 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher Copy editor: Pat Tucker Printed by: Global Print, Johannesburg Cover photograph: Reproduced with the permission of the HAMILL GALLERY OF AFRICAN ART, BOSTON, MA, USA www.eisa.org.za VOLUME 7 NO 2 iii EDitors Denis Kadima, Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, Johannesburg Khabele Matlosa, Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, Johannesburg EDitorial BOARD Tessy Bakary, Université Laval, Canada David Caroll, Democracy Program, The Carter Center, Atlanta Jørgen Elklit, Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark Amanda Gouws, Department of Political Science, University of Stellenbosch Abdalla Hamdok, UNECA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Peter Kagwanja, International Crisis Group, Southern Africa Project, Pretoria Abdul Rahman Lamin, UNESCO, Accra, Ghana Tom Lodge, Department Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick Robin Ludwig, UN Dialogue with the Global South, New York Robert Mattes, Department of Political Science, University of Cape Town Yvonne Muthien, Corporate Affairs, MTN South Africa Eghosa Osaghae, Igbinedion University, Okada, Nigeria David Pottie, The Carter Center, Atlanta Ben Reilly, Centre for Democratic Institutions The Australian National University Canberra Lloyd Sachikonye, Institute of Development Studies, University of Zimbabwe, Harare Jeremy Seekings, Sociology Department, University of Cape Town Timothy Sisk, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, Colorado Gloria Somolekae, Elections Consultant, Gaborone, Botswana Roger Southall, Department of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand The Journal of African Elections is an interdisciplinary biannual publication of research and writing in the human sciences, which seeks to promote a scholarly understanding of developments and change in Africa. Responsibility for opinions expressed and for the accuracy of facts published in papers, research notes, review articles and book reviews rests solely with the individual authors or reviewers. Contributions are referred to specialist readers for consideration, but the Editor is responsible for the final selection of the contents of the Journal. Editorial correspondence, including manuscripts for submission and books for review, should be sent to: The Editor, Journal of African Elections EISA: P O Box 740 Auckland Park 2006, South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 11 482 5495 | Fax: +27 (0) 11 482 6163 Business correspondence, including orders and remittances, subscription queries, advertisements, back numbers and offprints, should be addressed to the publisher: The Publisher, Journal of African Elections EISA: P O Box 740 Auckland Park 2006 South Africa Tel: 27 (0) 11 482 5495 | Fax: +27 (0) 11 482 6163 iv JOUR na L OF AFRIC an ELECTIO N S CONTENTS Direct Democracy in Southern and East Africa: Referendums and Initiatives Norbert Kersting .................................................................................................................................. 1 The Key to One-Party Dominance: A Comparative Analysis of Selected States: Some Lessons for South Africa? Phillip Mtimkulu ............................................................................................................................... 23 The Role of the Southern African Development community in the Management of Zimbabwe’s Post-election Crisis Khabele Matlosa ................................................................................................................................. 46 Do Elections Matter in Zanzibar? Bernadeta Killian ............................................................................................................................... 74 Africa’s Disappearing Election Results: Why Announcing the Winner is Simply Not Enough Kevin S Fridy .................................................................................................................................... 88 Civil Society Organisations, Incompetent Citizens, the State and Popular Participation in Tanzania Ernest T Mallya ............................................................................................................................... 102 Review ............................................................................................................................................ 123 Contents of Previous Issues ......................................................................................................... 126 Notes for Contributors ................................................................................................................. 142 Page numbering! VOLUME 8 NO 2 1 DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN SOUTHERN AND EAST AFRICA Referendums and Initiatives Norbert Kersting Prof Norbert Kersting holds the Willy Brandt Chair on Transformation and Regional Integration (DAAD) in the Department of Political Science, Stellenbosch University e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT There seems to be a worldwide trend towards direct democracy instruments such as referendums and initiatives. The African Union Charter (2007) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) strategy papers (2003) recommend these instruments. Is direct democracy the panacea for the problem of strong personalisation of African party politics? If electoral democracy is the problem, is direct democracy the solution? The article describes the legal framework and the implementation in countries in Southern and East Africa. Referendums, which are solely implemented at the national level, were often used to support regime change in the 1960s (independence) and in the 1990s (multiparty systems) and to strengthen and finalise conflict resolution. Plebiscites, characterised by strong executive governmental campaigning and party dominance predominate and citizen initiatives are not common. The implementation of citizen initiatives at both national and local level could be an additional way of strengthening accountability. INTRODUCTION In the old advanced democracies direct democracy instruments such as referendums are often regarded as sophisticated, but because they give power to the people they are also regarded by politicians with a great deal of scepticism. Some countries, for instance the United States, use them predominantly at the local level (Kersting 2007). At the national level they are extensively used in Italy (abrogative and constitutional referendums) and in the motherland of direct democracy, Switzerland. But in most countries referendums are restricted to the (supra-) national level (see, eg, Germany). 1 2 JOUR na L OF AFRIC an ELECTIO N S The direct inclusion of citizens may have a strong influence on the develop ment of policies and institutions. In Europe, the Eastern European states held successful referendums supporting membership of the European Union (EU), a positive attitude which vanished in some countries during the debate over the EU’s constitution. After a long process of deliberation involving political elites in the Constitutional Assembly and an agreement by heads of state in the European council, the citizens of most of the countries were asked to approve the new draft of the constitution. In France and the Netherlands the people failed to do so and the process of implementation of the new legislative framework was halted. Other continents, however, have had more positive experiences. In some Latin American countries, Uruguay, Ecuador, and Venezuela, for instance, direct democracy seems to be enjoying a new honeymoon (Altmann 2003). With few exceptions, among them Uganda, Malawi, and Kenya, there has been almost no research into African referendums. This paper, which is intended to be a starting point for such comparative research, shows the existing legal framework without providing an in-depth legalistic perspective. What kind of direct democracy instruments have already been implemented? Do referendums work in the neo-patrimonial systems that often predominate in Africa? Do they make sense in de facto one-party democracies? Is there a need for more direct democracy in the African context, as requested in the African Union Charter (2007) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) strategy paper (2003)? All these questions must be analysed. Direct-democratic procedures can be considered in terms of two criteria. The first is the quality of directdemocratic processes that are brought to the fore, the second is to what extent these processes qualify for a public discourse. Are propaganda, public manipulation, and demagogy central characteristics of referendums or will referendums lead to a better understanding of society and responsiveness (Arnstein 1969; Hatchard, Ndulo & Slinn 2004, p 57). Most investigations of direct democracy have been based only on empirical non- reviewed hypotheses. Analysis has shown that the historical arguments on the subject do not stand up empirically