|
||||
Pretoria – As the results of South Africa’s fourth democratic election scrolled across giant LCD screens at the operations centre of the Independent Electoral Commission on Saturday afternoon, President Kgalema Motlanthe looked forward to a day when party politics might be abandoned altogether. He was only half-joking. Monopolies of any kind bring stagnation, he cautioned. But with 65.9% of the ballot, the ANC thrives still on the hopes and prayers of the poor. Voting patterns are not much changed. The opposition Democratic Alliance consolidated its position among minorities, winning 16% of the national vote and control of the Western Cape province. Only the three month-old Congress of the People, an ANC splinter group with a meagre 7.4%, suggested that voters’ loyalties may change. After just 15 years of multi-party democracy, South Africa’s outgoing president reminded his party faithful that the urgent task of tackling poverty is a challenge bigger than any single party. Evidence for any real diffusion of political power is hard to find, but the prospect of new scrutiny from an emerging “coalition of the vanquished” is a timely moment to consider the experience of opposition groups elsewhere. - Mark Ashurst Director, Africa Research Institute |
• This e-bulletin is compiled from our regular digest of Africa’s newspapers. It offers a snapshot of recent trends in Africa's opposition politics – from the orderly change of government in Ghana to the election boycott in Senegal, shifting alliances in Kenya and Sierra Leone, and coups in Guinea and Madagascar. The shape and fate of opposition politics is often decided by the loyalties of the middle classes. A small but expanding demographic, they have been the first beneficiaries of democracy in Africa - and, often, first to become disillusioned. South Africa’s election – free, fair and a record turnout – is a timely measure of the limits of their influence. |
|||
Opposition Khalifa Sall elected mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall, former minister of commerce and member of Senegal's opposition Parti Socialiste (PS), was elected mayor of Dakar by local councillors a month after the governing Parti Démocratique Sénégalais (PDS) suffered a defeat in the local election. Representing the opposition coalition Benno Siggil Senegaal, Sall received 81 of the 100 votes cast, comfortably beating Karim Wade, son of President Abdoulaye Wade. The local election marked Karim Wade's formal entry into Senegalese politics, although he already acts as a presidential adviser and heads the powerful Agence Nationale de l’Organisation de la Conférence Islamique (ANOCI). His efforts to gain the mayoral seat have fuelled speculation that he hopes to lead the PDS for the 2012 presidential election. Dakar had been viewed as a PDS stronghold. The city’s outgoing mayor, Pape Diop, is a member of the PDS and president of the Senate. The PDS has held almost 90% of seats in the national assembly since June 2007, when the opposition boycotted the parliamentary election, citing irregularities in the presidential election of February 2007. |
||||
|
|
||
Related Stories: |
||
Kibaki yields to PM power demand 17th April 2009 Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki agreed to consult Prime Minister Raila Odinga on all future appointments of senior civil servants. more |
SADC leaders suspend Madagascar Tuesday, 31st March 2009 The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has suspended Madagascar for what it describes as an unconstitutional change of leadership. more |
New era for Zim as Tsvangirai sworn in as PM Wednesday, 11th February 2009 Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe, officially entered a unity government with President Robert Mugabe after he was sworn in as prime minister on the grounds of state house. more |
Opposition PMDC ends alliance with ruling party Tuesday, 5th February 2008 Opposition party, People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) announced that it has broken its alliance with the ruling party, the All People’s Congress (APC), ahead of the July 2008 council elections. more
|
Opposition Atta Mills wins presidency Sunday, 4th January 2009 Professor John Atta Mills from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) won Ghana’s presidential election, beating Nana Akufo-Addo from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) by half a percent. more |
ECOWAS goes tough on military junta Tuesday, 30th December 2008 A two-year deadline to hold national elections, announced by the leaders of a military coup in Guinea, was rejected by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as too long and in conflict with its democratic principles. more |
| Africa Research Institute is a non-partisan think tank based in London and founded in February 2007. Our mission is to draw attention to ideas which have worked in Africa, and to identify areas where new ideas are needed. For more information please visit our website www.africaresearchinstitute.org | ||
From our Archive: |
||
Kibaki yields to PM power demand 17th April 2009 Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki agreed to consult Prime Minister Raila Odinga on all future appointments of senior civil servants. The two leaders met to discuss tensions in the country's power sharing arrangment after key appoinments, made unilaterally by the president, attracted criticism from Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party. Also attended by members of the Permanent Committee on the Management of Grand Coalition Affairs, the meeting addressed executive appointments and ministerial behaviour. Odinga expressed concerns that ministers from Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) were undermining or contradicting him. Kibaki and Raila later warned ministers against dividing the nation, emphasing the importance of unity. The Permanent Committee has been charged with producing a guiding principle on managing the affairs of the coalition. Kivutha Kibwana, the PNU representative in the coalition secretariat, said: "We are meeting next week and we hope to come up with that framework then, otherwise, as you saw, things are on course." His ODM counterpart, Miguna Miguna, was similarly upbeat: "The Prime Minister expressed appreciation that the meeting is taking place, after the unsuccessful Kilaguni retreat." SADC leaders suspend Madagascar Tuesday, 31st March 2009 The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has suspended Madagascar for what it describes as an unconstitutional change of leadership. After meeting to discuss the report of a fact-finding mission to Madagascar, the regional body called on Andry Rajoelina to vacate the presidency immediately. SADC Executive Director Tomaz Salomao said: "The extraordinary summit suspends Madagascar from all community institutions and organs until the return of the country to constitutional order." Former president Marc Ravalomanana resigned when the army stormed the presidential offices on March 17th 2009. Military leaders installed political rival Andry Rajoelina, sacked mayor of the capital Antananarivo, at the head of a transitional government. The African Union (AU) suspended Madagascar on March 20th, denouncing what it called a coup, and gave the country six months to hold elections. Some Western governments have suspended non-humanitarian aid to the country. New era for Zim as Tsvangirai sworn in as PM Wednesday, 11th February 2009 Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe, officially entered a unity government with President Robert Mugabe after he was sworn in as prime minister on the grounds of state house. Shortly after, Thokozani Khupe, vice president of the MDC, and Arthur Mutambara from the smaller MDC faction, MDC-M, were sworn in as first and second deputy prime ministers. The ceremony comes four months after Mugabe, Tsvangirai, and Mutambara signed a power sharing deal brokered by former South African president Thabo Mbeki. The power sharing talks stalled repeatedly over which party would control the police and security forces. But all parties have now agreed in principle to share the office of home affairs that control the police, and to the creation of a new National Security Council, which will allow joint control over the security forces. On the eve of being sworn in, Tsvangirai said: “The sceptics must understand why we have done this and what is the best course of action to address the questions and challenges of transition in this political environment ... We have made this decision and we made it without being forced ... It is our decision. Let history be the judge of this decision”. Opposition PMDC ends alliance with ruling party Tuesday, 5th February 2008 Opposition party, People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) announced that it has broken its alliance with the ruling party, the All People’s Congress (APC), ahead of the July 2008 council elections. National Secretary General of the PMDC, Ansu Lansana, said: "My party is an autonomous entity and all that is possible will be done to contest the local council elections independently." The two parties joined forces in 2007, after the first round of the presidential elections, in order to defeat Sierra Leone’s Peoples Party (SLPP). The alliance allowed APC’s Ernest Bai Koroma to win a landslide victory. "The arrangement that brought us together was for the mutual benefit of the parties concerned. We were all fighting to bring about a change in the politics of Sierra Leone. We have succeeded in doing that," said APC Secretary General Victor Bockarie Foh in reaction to the split. Opposition Atta Mills wins presidency Sunday, 4th January 2009 Professor John Atta Mills from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) won Ghana’s presidential election, beating Nana Akufo-Addo from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) by half a percent. The presidential election was decided by a run-off vote, as neither candidate managed to receive the 50% required for an outright win in the first round of voting. The Electoral Commission (EC) announced that Mills won 50.23% of the popular vote, against the 49.77% received by Afuko-Addo. Kwando Afari-Gyan, who heads the EC, said: “On the basis of the official results given ... it is my duty to declare Professor John Evans Atta Mills the president-elect of the Republic of Ghana”. Despite allegations of vote-rigging and voter intimidation Afari-Gyan said he “did not find the evidence provided sufficient to invalidate the result”. Mills, who has run for the presidency on two previous occasions, said: “I assure Ghanaians that I will be a president for all ... the time has come to work together to build a better Ghana”. Elections have been held every four years since 1992. This is the second time the opposition party has defeated the ruling party and won the presidency. ECOWAS goes tough on military junta Tuesday, 30th December 2008 A two-year deadline to hold national elections, announced by the leaders of a military coup in Guinea, was rejected by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as too long and in conflict with its democratic principles. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the secretary general of the regional body, said: “the position of the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Yar'adua (of Nigeria) is very clear, ECOWAS has a policy of zero tolerance for coup d’état and so does the African Union, we work in tandem with the AU and in that, we made it very clear to the government the CNDD in Guinea, that as long as there is a military face to the transition it will be difficult for the ECOWAS to work with the government”. ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) have both suspended Guinea until the country returns to constitutional order. Remove me from this list |
||
