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Elections Worth Dying For? a Selection of Case Studies from Africa Elections Worth Dying For? a Selection of Case Studies from Africa Edited by Almami Cyllah Elections Worth Dying For? A Selection of Case Studies from Africa Elections Worth Dying For? A Selection of Case Studies from Africa Edited by Almami Cyllah, IFES Regional Director for Africa Elections Worth Dying For? A Selection of Case Studies from Africa Edited by Almami Cyllah, IFES Regional Director for Africa Chapters by Elizabeth Côté Almami Cyllah Dr. Staffan Darnolf Sidi Diawara Carl W. Dundas Christian Hennemeyer Robert David Irish Greg Kehailia Dr. Magnus Ohman Jide Ojo Michael Yard Elections Worth Dying For? A Selection of Case Studies from Africa Copyright © 2014 International Foundation for Electoral Systems. All rights reserved. Permission Statement: No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of IFES. Requests for permission should include the following information: • A description of the material for which permission to copy is desired. • The purpose for which the copied material will be used and the manner in which it will be used. • Your name, title, company or organization name, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address and mailing address. Please send all requests for permission to: International Foundation for Electoral Systems 1850 K Street, NW, Fifth Floor Washington, D.C. 20006 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 202.350.6701 Cover photo by Carla Chianese Page 84: Thaddeus Menang Page 104: Kate Stanworth All other photos are property of IFES Introduction Acknowledgements First, I wish to thank all of the authors who provided valuable insight and information on the many forms electoral violence can take, as well as recom- mendations on how to best monitor, resolve and prevent such violence. Every one of these case studies, containing both thematic and geographical focuses, has helped shed light on some of the types, causes and prevention strategies of electoral violence. In a continent where democracies are evolving, peaceful elections are a priority. I further would like to thank Stephanie Buell for her work co-editing and revis- ing this publication, as well as Maite Hostetter, Elizabeth Reiter, Abigail Wilson, Gray Mitchell, Parvinder Singh, Gabrielle Bardall and Alafi Isaac Alfred for their invaluable contributions. This publication is the culmination of over a year’s work – from the conception of the idea, to the revisions and updating of information and case studies to reflect real-world electoral events as they unfolded, to the final product you are reading here. So again, thank you to the authors, editors and reviewers whose dedication to the complex and important issue of electoral violence has allowed this project to become a reality. This publication and the important information within will no doubt have an enduring usefulness for election practitioners in Africa and around the world. Almami Cyllah, Editor Elections Worth Dying For? A Selection of Case Studies from Africa ix Introduction Table of Contents Foreword ........................................................................................................ 2 Introduction .................................................................................................... 7 EMBs and Electoral Violence .......................................................................... 11 Countering Electoral Violence with Electoral Education ................................ 29 Technology and Electoral Violence ................................................................. 47 Money and Electoral Violence ........................................................................ 69 Media and Electoral Violence ......................................................................... 89 Women, Youth and Electoral Violence ........................................................... 109 Mali’s Struggle Against Electoral Violence ...................................................... 125 Mitigating Electoral Violence in South Sudan ................................................. 139 Nigeria’s Experience with Electoral Violence .................................................. 173 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 189 Elections Worth Dying For? A Selection of Case Studies from Africa 1 Introduction Foreword Elections are a cycle, a process and a national event where the goal is peaceful resolution of societal differences while building citizen trust in the capacity of collective decisions and institutions to govern. Violence undercuts the entire investment. Every voter, candidate, civil society organization, elected official, political party, interest or faction and all other stakeholders know the voting process is fatally flawed and the outcome is suspect when poisoned by vio- lence; trust is diminished or lost. The national implications for both democracy and governance of a country are fatal, often for generations. At the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), we define electoral violence as “any harm or threat of harm that is aimed at hindering or disrupting any part of the electoral process or political process in and around the election period.” Election management bodies (EMBs) can play a fundamental role in preventing and mitigating such violence. Throughout the case studies provided in this book, there is a particular emphasis on EMBs, with a variety of important lessons learned that EMBs in Africa and around the world can utilize as guide- posts in their election management duties. I traveled to Kenya for its 2013 general elections and saw firsthand the critical role that election administration can play in curtailing electoral violence. As IFES Chief of Party for Kenya Michael Yard notes in his case study on technology, the Electoral Commission of Kenya’s failure to provide a transparent, accountable report of vote counting was the primary trigger of the violence that marred the country’s 2007 vote. In contrast, Kenya’s new EMB, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), formed in 2011, executed their election management duties in a highly-professional manner and the 2013 elections saw dramatically lower levels of electoral violence. My experience in Kenya person- ally reinforced how important election administration and adequate planning are in preventing and mitigating electoral violence. Preventing electoral violence requires a multistep approach that takes into account the full electoral cycle. There are a number of important activities that EMBs should engage in during the pre- and post-election phase. In other words, preventing electoral violence does not begin or end on Election Day; it requires 2 International Foundation for Electoral Systems Introduction a phased, continual engagement. In this book, you will find analysis, prevention, mitigation and resolution methods that can be applied throughout the electoral cycle. IFES has developed context-specific electoral strategies to enable EMBs, civil society organizations, political parties, community leaders and security agencies to better manage risk. Since the early 1990s, African countries have made substantial democratic progress, with many notable success stories in the last decade alone. In 2012, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade conceded defeat in run-off vote after a heated controversy over the constitutional validity of his candidacy for a third term. Liberia’s first post-conflict election (2005) and Sierra Leone’s first elec- tion in the absence of peacekeeping troops (2007) were conducted in peaceful atmospheres and widely hailed as credible. In Ghana’s 2008 presidential elec- tion, which was notably competitive, the ruling party’s candidate – after win- ning the first round and losing in a subsequent run-off vote – handed power over to the opposition, reaffirming the country’s place as one of the most suc- cessful democracies in Africa. Indeed, democracy has increasingly become entrenched in many African soci- eties; 29 of the continent’s 54 countries will hold elections in 2014 or 2015. While competitive elections – once unheard of in many African countries – have become more frequent, they pose a heightened threat of electoral violence, par- ticularly in countries without the necessary political and technical infrastructure in place to prevent or mitigate election-related violence. Despite the remarkable democratic advances African countries have made since the early 1990s, elec- toral violence has been an unfortunate reality in many African elections. IFES has been engaged in democratic efforts in Africa for more than twenty years, beginning with our work in Ghana where we spent two and a half years assisting in the planning for the 1996 presidential and parliamentary elec- tions, setting up mechanisms to register 9.2 million voters and to train tens of thousands of election officials. IFES also assisted the Electoral Commission of Ghana in developing its voter registration system. This was IFES’ first election support work in Africa, spearheaded by the late Joe C. Baxter, a former IFES Elections Worth Dying For? A Selection of Case Studies from Africa 3 Introduction Senior Adviser. Over the course of the last three decades, IFES has worked in 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than 135 countries worldwide. This book represents yet another step in IFES’ ongoing effort to support democracy in Africa and we believe that the lessons taken from this study
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