Elections in Africa: A Fading Shadow of Democracy?
| Published date | 01 January 2000 |
| Date | 01 January 2000 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0192512100211004 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Elections in Africa: A Fading Shadow
of Democracy?
SAID ADEJUMOBI
ABSTRACT. Elections constitute an important element in liberal democracy.
They are a viable means of ensuring the orderly process of leadership
succession and change and an instrument of political authority and legit-
imation. The failure of elections or their absence largely defines the
predominance of political dictatorships and personalized rule in Africa.
The current wave of democratic enthusiasm has evoked a process of
competitive and multiparty elections. This has provided a platform for the
civil society to make political claims on the state. However, both the struc-
ture and process of elections, the former being the organizational infra-
structure for managing elections and the latter, the precepts and
procedures of elections, remain largely perverted. Election rigging and
brigandage, violence and election annulment are common practices. The
trend is towards a reversal to the old order of despotic political rulership
under the guise of civil governance. Elections in their current form in most
African states appear to be a fading shadow of democracy, endangering
the fragile democratic project itself.
Introduction
After about a decade in which the process of political renewal began in Africa, the
democratic project appears to be in crisis in most African states. There seems to
be a gradual, but dangerous reinstitutionalization of autocratic and authoritarian
regimes clad in democratic garb. In some cases, yesterday’s despots and military
tyrants have resurfaced as today’s “born-again” democrats to re-establish or perpet-
uate their rule, while in others, a new genre of budding autocrats are emerging
(Adejumobi, 1998; Decalo, 1994). Apparently, elections and the electoral process
are the major victims in this tendency towards democratic retreat. The precepts,
structures and processes of elections are mostly characterized by reckless manipu-
lations, the politics of brinkmanship and subversion. Thus, the role and essence of
International Political Science Review (2000), Vol. 21, No. 1, 59–73
0192-5121 (2000/01) 21:1, 59–73; 011072 © 2000 International Political Science Association
SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi)
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