Togo launches truth and reconciliation commission into 2005 elections

File this under: Too late.

Togolese officials have begun what they call “national consultations” to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission regarding the country’s 2005 election where an estimated 500 people were killed by police forces.

Presently, officials are fanning throughout the country looking to talk to members of all strata of society, taking opinions what the mandate, focus and responsibilities of such a commission should be.

Togo’s April 24, 2005 presidential election was rife with complications surrounding the succession of long-serving ruler Gnassingbe Eyadema, who had died a few months before. Opposition parties cried foul when the government circumvented the constitution after Eyadema’s sudden death on February 5 by naming his son, Faure Gnassingbe, president. Per the constitution, the post should have gone to speaker of Parliament. After domestic and international outcry, Faure eventually stepped down and was named Presidential contestant for the ruling party.

Citing a law that stipulates candidates must live in the country for the previous 12 months before an election, government officials also barred long-time opposition figure Gilchrist Olympio from the polls. Olympio, who was seriously injured during a 1992 assassination attempt against him, had been living in exile in France. Faure eventually won the election with 60 percent of the vote and has been trying to heal the country’s wounds since then.

Benin to get new polls, plus a budget to hold them

When Beninois voted April 20, election monitors noted serious technical and organization flaws: Polling places ran out of ballots in some areas, in others the ballots were improper. Things were so bad that people in six southern and central arrondissements didn’t vote at all.

The election commission – and the country’s president – all saw it coming, they say. It was the first time the country held two elections – town and village councilors – on the same day.

Thus, new elections will be held in the six areas, and the Independent Electoral Commission will receive a budget to do so.

Questions linger after Benin’s local elections

Doubts have been cast on Benin’s local and municipal elections, held Sunday, where voters attempted to cast ballots for more than 26,000 candidates.

Claiming the polls suffered from “inadequate practical or organizational preparation,” ECOWAS monitors have called voting to take place in five southern localities where people could not cast ballots. In other areas, monitors reported that ballots ran out in some polling stations and party symbols and names were missing from others.

Voice of America reported Sunday that many of the 5,000 polls opened late.

A Beninois journalist told VOA that issues stemmed from “complications” from the autonomous election board, which was attempted to hold two elections – ministerial councils and local councils – were held the same day. That sentiment backed up by President Boni Yayi, who spoke Sunday night.

Benin is generally ranked favorably by Political- and Human-Rights organizations. Freedom House, from the United States, which concentrates mostly on political freedom and civil liberties, terms the country “free.” Using indicators like safety and security, economic opportunity, rule of law and transparency, the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance ranked the country 13 (out of 48) sub-Saharan African governments.

Guinea-Bissau sets date for parliamentary elections

From News 24:

The impoverished and unruly West African state of Guinea-Bissau will hold parliamentary elections on November 16, a presidential decree says.

The date was fixed after talks between leaders of the country's 35 political parties and President Joao Vieira, who on Tuesday had expressed concern about the political tensions in the country.

Vieira seized power in 1980 while he was head of the armed forces. He was toppled in 1999 after 19 years of iron-fisted rule and returned from exile to win the presidency as an independent in 2005.

Vieira, however, did not have majority support in parliament and the various party blocs had been arguing over the poll date, with some wanting it held at the end of the current parliamentary term in April.

Here’s an interesting tidbit: "The country's election commission had estimated the cost of the polls at $5.9m," which is roughly $4.21 per person.

A quick search revealed the estimated cost for an election from the United States – cue voice over: the world leader in election politics – for the 2006 Congressional election: $2.6 billion (you read that right). (Thanks Center of Responsive Politics.) That breaks down to roughly $200,000 per person. In Canada – the uncontested leader in parliamentary politics – elections are decidedly cheaper. Total cost for 2000 general election: $199.7 million, which equals to around $6 per person. Campaigning got decidedly more expensive in 2004, when election bills came to a total of $277 million (or $8.40 per person).

Of course, the costs for the North American elections include campaign spending. I wonder what the costs for Guinea-Bissau's include? Is it just organizing polling, getting ballots ready, etc. Or, is campaign spending estimates also included?

Humpty Dumpty: Gbagbo promises Ivorian election by June; questions remain about demilitarization

So, how do you put a country back together after civil war? Does one wait for the militaries to hand in their weapons? Or, does one rush to the polls to attempt to forge out a new government that people from both sides can rally around?

As part of the peace deal signed in March 2007 in Ouagadougou, fighters on both sides of the conflict will be disarmed; a new unified national army will be created; most importantly, identity documents will be distributed, which will determine citizenship (an issue that lead to the civil war); finally, the Ouagadougou agreement stipulates that and elections will be held.

Political leaders such as President Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel Guilllame Soro, who is now the Prime Minister, would like to hold elections at the end of June, a timeline Gbagbo reiterated after meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is acting as a mediator.

However, Reuters reports, that the country’s disarmament and military demobilization process is far behind schedule and this likely to impede the country’s political reunification. Opposition politicians Henri Konan Bedie from the south and Allassane Ouattara from the north worry that the two leaders will use the delayed disarmament as an excuse to further postpone the elections (and remain in power), argues Selay M.K in the citizen journalism site Agora Vox.

Question: Isn’t it also true that the two leaders have refused to disarm their militias to keep the other side(s) honest? The issue here is that elections have been scheduled in the past and have been postponed after previous peace deals fell apart.

Earlier this year, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the government’s election plan “very ambitious.” However, a diplomat speaking anonymously told IRIN the June election deadline may be ambitious, but leaders set it to insure elections will be held during 2008.

With northerner Guillame Soro as Prime Minister, federal authority is slowly, but surely reinstalling itself in the former rebel-zone northern part of the country. This process has been hampered because many rebels would like to keep their parallel command structures intact in case the country devolves into conflict again, IRIN reported.

Other issues remain. In an October 2007 report, the UN Secretary General admitted the population is still visibly scarred by the civil war and many issues, such as land ownership, have not been resolved. Under this backdrop, the United Nations has pressed ahead on creating identity documents so people can vote. The Secretary General will release a report regarding election preparations before April 15.

Ghana prepares for a peaceful 2008 election

With more than a slight nod to the post-election crisis in Kenya,

“Our collective efforts, physical, psychological and spiritual should be harnessed positively to ensure a trouble-free pre-election campaign and a post-election atmosphere based upon results that are transparent, justifiable and sustainable.’’

“Political Parties should grow more matured into a state where they can identify more concretely with the national interest; they should again graduate from politicians to statesmen in the national interest.’’

The former National Security Co-ordinator, Mr K. B. Quantson, made these observation at a roundtable discussion on the topic, “Towards a Peaceful Election 2008: The National Security Environment,’’ last Thursday, in Accra.

The roundtable discussion was organised by the Center for Democratic Development (CDD) and aimed at providing a platform for informed discussion of issues pertaining to the National Security environment and its implications for peaceful and credible elections in Ghana in December 2008.

Opposition questions Senegalese election commission

With Senegalese local and municipal elections scheduled for May, opposition parties feel the body responsible for overseeing the vote is not autonomous enough to carry out its tasks in an impartial manner.

Moustapha Niasse, who ran against Abdoulaye Wade for president in Febrauary 2007 under the banner of Alliance Forces for Progress, AFP, would like to change the National Autonomous Electoral Commission, CENA, before voting begins. After running in the Presidential contest, a group of opposition parties formed a coalition known as the Siggil Senegal Front and boycotted the June parliamentary elections, citing irregularities in the Presidential vote.

President Wade’s party, Senegalese Democratic Party, won 131 out of 150 seats in the National Assembly.

From AllAfrica.com:

The election commission, accused of allowing frauds to take place, defends itself and accuses opposition parties of spending their time criticising its work, instead of working constructively.

But, faced with strong criticism, the commission released earlier this month a 79 -page report indicating the 2007 parliamentary elections were "conducted in a generally correct and acceptable manner". The body also argued that it performed its tasks "seriously and rigorously".

However, in the same report, the commission mentioned that: "Although these elections were conducted peacefully, they had a somehow bitter taste because of the opposition's decision to boycott."

Since the report was released, opposition parties have gone one notch up in their attacks against the commission, amplifying any petty detail contained in the CENA's document which mentions a flaw in the system.

Budget woes could spell troubles for Guinea's election commission

The chair of Guinea-Conakry’s National Independent Electoral Commission complained the organization was not financially prepared to manage this year’s legislative elections.

Sékou Ben Sylla told Afriquenligne, "Up to now, no budget has been allocated to our institution and our offices are not equipped, hence we have to do with our own means", he said, adding that the equipment at CENA, the institution which supervised the last communal polls and which was succeeded by CENI, were not transferred to the CENI as expected.

The budget issues will make it impossible to allow the 25-person staff proper funds to travel and to build a computer system to monitor the results.

So far, this year’s elections for the National Assembly have been twice rescheduled. Sylla hopes for all parties to agree on a date by the end of January.

Despite setbacks, presidential term limits remain best hope for African democracy

One concept that has spread throughout African democracies is term limits for presidents. They have been put in place for a reason, argues Appiah Kusi Adomako in the Ghanaian Chronicle, because “the more a politician stays in office the more likely corruption and abuse of power seem to be likely.”

Recently, a group of presidents have tried to stay in office past their terms by either changing the constitution (like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe or Eyadema Gnassingbé of Togo) or rigging the elections in favor of a chosen successor (like in Sierra Leone and Nigeria). Or, failing that, presidents can use their power to steal elections, like it appears what recently happened in Kenya.

From Mr. Adomako, here are a few suggestions on how to control abuse from incumbent presidents and level the political playing field.

Some school of thought has called for all incumbent presidents who want to stand for re-election to relinquish their position to allow for a free and fair election. This is not possible in every democratic process. What can we do make sure that democratic processes are not compromised? What has happened in Kenya can happen in every nation. It takes the electoral commissioner to rig election for the president when he wants to go for the second or third term.

It takes the Chief Justice and the Speaker of Parliament to interpret the constitution to favour a person especially when incumbent wants to go for the third term or do anything undemocratic in the democratic process.

So you would agree with me that military in Africa possess no threat to democracies but the institutions of the state-Electoral Commission, Judiciary and Legislative and finally the law enforcement agency to enforce illegalities.

We must be reminded that government by the people for the people still remains the sovereign definition of democracy. Leaders must accept the will of the people.

We can't forget the role presidential backers play as leaders decide to fudge ballots or what-not to remain in power. These power-brokers are accustomed the economic and political perks of supporting the person who occupies the country's State House. That's why the cash incentive offered by the Mo Ibrahim Prize for those who step down on time may be cynical, but very useful. (As if politics is somehow above cynicism.) A wad of cash may provide the necessary motive for once-wavering leaders to leave office, no matter what their backers say.

After a very lively 2007, this year proves to be somewhat quiet on the presidential election front. This year Ghana will hold a presidential election as will Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritius, “independent” Somilialand and Zimbabwe.

Butterfly effect: Kenya, ethnicity and politics in Africa

Regardless of what our masthead says, we’ve come to focus most of our attention on West Africa. Africa, it seems, is the dream for the Attention Deficit Disorder-addled journalist. The continent is far too large, too diverse to attempt to skillfully cover the whole thing. And, let’s be honest: If all of Africa gets pretty short shrift in the English-speaking international press, West Africa proudly languishes on the bottom rung. It’s generally poorer than other regions; French-ier, too. What’s more: few game parks call the region home, and high-quality diving spots have never been its specialty.

So, it may be a bit out of our purview to speak about Kenya’s shameful elections and their violent aftermath. What interested me about the press coverage is that it has been the Americans – mostly the New York Times – that picked up on the ethnic card right away and ran with it. It’s not that the British or French have ignored the issue – ethnic fighting made headlines in Le Monde – but the European stories seem to concentrate primarily on political realities of the two parties and place ethnic tensions secondary. I am not saying either method is better than the other. It may just make light of the difference on how Americans (or U.S. newspapers) view Africa compared to Europeans.

I ♥ term limits
One discussion missing from the coverage – which has been very good, all things considered – is not about local ethnic and political issues, but grander themes affecting the whole continent. As more African countries tilt towards what most people abstractly call “democratic norms,” elections seem much more contested (and fairer) than a decade before. This may because of rising education levels or the growing influence on civil society (another buzz word). But no reform is most likely more important than the presidential term limits. First, term limits provide an easy litmus test on a president’s dedication to constitutionalism: any attempt to change the number of terms and you look like a villain (even if you succeed).

Second, term limits will eventually force presidents out of office, which relegates heads of state to a position at least somewhat subordinate to the needs of their political party. During the age of Africa’s Dinosaurs, it was the need (and power) of the President who trumped all party needs. That’s because the president most likely created the party to fulfill said needs. But even in nominally democratic Burkina Faso where Blaise Compaore has run his party, the CDP, like a personal fiefdom, younger members see the light at the end of the tunnel of his reign and are beginning to yearn to taste a little of the that wine themselves.

What term limits have helped usher in, then, feels like the beginning of a larger seismic shift to more (in general terms) of a Western Hemisphere version of politics. In the New World, by and large, the party machines triumph over personalities. Think of Mexico and the near seventy-year run of the PRI. Think of elections in places like El Salvador which were just smoke-and-mirror affairs where members of the oligarchy merely switched chairs. Think the generation-long Republican stranglehold on the Executive Branch in the United States and the corresponding Democratic iron grip on the Legislative Branch.

As democracies mature and civil institutions strengthen, it becomes imperative for parties who have enjoyed long periods in power to continue their grip on supremacy. Look at Kenya. If the opposition Orange Democratic Movement would come to power, not only would NARC lose the power of the purse, but investigations – studies into scandals and past sins – would spread like a khat bush after a nice long rain.

Those dastardly opposition leaders
There’s a sub-section to this argument. The long-suffering former opposition party leaders who finally reach the throne. Think Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, where long-term whipping boys were either exiled or forced to show up at the airport come rain or shine and shake hands with every C-list dignitary bent on flying to Africa. Oh, these opposition leaders were given cursory powers, but they mostly were democratic window-dressing.

After humbly spending decades in shame as the ruling party dreamed up new ways to appropriate their reforms, steal their best politicians and beat them come election day, once these former minions got their chance at the throne, they weren’t going to let go. Think the rumors that Abdoulaye Wade grooming his son for power. Think of the (xenophobic?) shenanigans Laurent Gbagbo has stirred up to continue power in Cote d’Ivoire.

Part of the problem is age. Just because opposition leaders fought Africa’s dinosaurs tooth and nail doesn’t mean they were any more committed to democracy than the presidents-for-life. It’s an argument that says a new Africa would benefit from a whole a new generation of politicians, especially in politically ill countries like Zimbabwe. (On a random note, age is one factor why some people support Barack Obama in the United States.)

In a continent full of political realists, the average African doesn’t have to look far to find fault with Kenya’s election. How can voters oust half the ruling party’s cabinet and still bring back the president to power? (One Kenyan opposition leader told the New York Times: “We live in Kenya. We are Kenyans. We know what is happening.”)

Fool us once – shame on you
One of the underlying factors of the opposition’s fury may stem from what they saw on television – in Nigeria. It was during 2007’s other major election in Anglophone Africa where a ruling party acknowledged it helped swing the vote for its candidate in a tainted election. While opposition parties cried foul, a few days of protests – some of them quite violent – eventually fizzled out and the president remains sitting, although with circumscribed powers.

Word travels fast in these parts. Kenyans most likely learned a lot from the precedent of still-born democracy in Nigeria. Kenyans came to understand how far a ruling party can bend the law, install their choice in the Presidential Palace and then make nice and promise never to do it again – all in the name of Democracy. Once that lesson was understood – and most likely a few others – the anger Kenyans possessed towards their own sham election spread like fire. Of course history and local realities play a big role. But this is also a larger African issue. Presidents and heads of state often get together to talk over issues of the day – and most likely trade notes. We can’t underestimate the fact that African citizens fully understand that criminal politics that go down in one country could easily produce a butterfly effect elsewhere.

Cote d'Ivoire's voter rolls are growing

Mobile court hearings in Cote d'Ivoire, used as part of the process of identifying the country's voters among untold undocumented immigrants ahead of planned national elections next year, have been generally positive since they resumed in September, IRIN reports.

Ahmedou El Becaye Seck, Chief of the Electoral Assistance Division of the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), told reporters at a press conference in Abidjan that nearly 1,300 hearings had been held so far and the number of substitute birth certificates granted had far exceeded the number in previous operations.

Another 30 new teams have been added to help with the process, while the National Committee for the Supervision of Identification, known by its French acronym CNSI, will also be reinforced.

Identification of voters - including millions of undocumented Ivorians and foreign-born residents - has been a key issue in the West African country that became divided in 2002 between the Government-controlled south and the rebel Forces Nouvelles-held north. Free and fair presidential elections are due next year, as part of a peace accord between the Government and the rebels that was signed earlier this year in Ouagadougou, capital of neighbouring Burkina Faso.

At one point, nearly one-quarter of the population of former economic powerhouse Cote d'Ivoire was believed to be foreign born.