ALMOST always described as shambolic by Africa’s opposition political parties, elections on the continent have mostly passed as charades, with the latter refusing to accept results which do not declare them winners.
Elections in Zimbabwe and most recently those in Malawi, Mozambique and Botswana are a point of reference.
The default response by most opposition parties has been to point at alleged electoral malfeasance as an excuse for their “drubbing” at the polls.
At Zim Morning Post, we do not seek to sanitise any wrongdoing by despotic regimes, wherever they may be found.
No, not at all.
The May 21, 2019 presidential elections in Malawi, for instance, were too close to call, with incumbent Peter Mutharika of DPP polling slightly above 1.9 million votes, beating his closest rival, Lazarus Chakwera of MCP, by a meagre 158 969 votes, sparking allegations of rigging which spilled into the courts.
But of particular concern about all this was the ensuing violence by supporters of the “losing” political parties, who then went about wantonly destroying property.
In 2018, Zimbabwe had held its own elections in which Zanu PF’s Emmerson Mnangagwa beat MDC Alliance’s Nelson Chamisa by a 50.8% margin, setting a grueling battle at the country’s Constitutional Court, which saw Chamisa’s appeal dismissed with costs.
But before a full compliment of presidential elections was announced, people purporting to be opposition supporters had threatened to besiege the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission headquarters in Harare.
In response, government deployed security personnel to deal with the situation, considering that way back in June, Chamisa had threatened “to close Zec (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) offices” if results did not go his way.
A probably anxious State apparatchiks unjustifiably then went on a rampage, killing in cold blood seven innocent “demonstrating” civilians.
Worse still, violence spontaneously spread into most parts of Harare’s high density suburbs, destroying property worth millions of dollars, further entrenching the country’s pariah status.
Similar trends were also on display in both Mozambique and Botswana, where the opposition said they would not accept defeat in which they were not pronounced winners.
Accordingly, we are forced, at Zim Morning Post, to ask: Is it a forgone conclusion that all elections in Africa are stolen by incumbents?
We also want to know where all this electoral results denialism is bound to take us as a people?
But one thing is clear: We, as a continent, will continue to fall prey to the machinations of other nations as long as our house continues to exhibit signs of ghastly divisions.
