POL 1015 ASSGN ONE

THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA
SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE STUDIES

INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE – POL 1015

STUDENT NAME: LISA MWALE
COMPUTER#: 14060302
LECTURER: Mr. Nchimunya Mwendalubi Muleya

ASSGNEMNENT ONE.
QUESTION: DO YOU THINK ELECTIONS CAN BE A GOOD MEASURE OF DEMOCRACY? DISCUSS THIS STATEMENT IN RELATIONS TO ELECTIONS HELD IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH.

INTRODUCTION An election is a decision making process where people elect or chose people to hold official offices. This is the usual mechanism by which modern democracy fills offices in the legislature and sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and in a regional and local government. The thesis that elections are used to measure democracy will provide a baseline for this discussion. It will begin by defining the key concepts, discuss elections as a measure of democracy with examples, in particular of African countries which recently had elections including Zambia and thereafter provide an answer as to whether elections are a sufficient measure of democracy. An election is a vote to decide who will hold a political office which are usually conducted after a certain period of time. According to Ball (1998:145) elections are a means of democratically choosing representatives in government and many other institutions. Elections describe a mechanism in a democratic dispensation where all eligible people cast a ballot to decide an issue or choose leaders to hold official offices in the legislature and sometimes in the executive and judicially; and in a regional and local government. Maclver (1994), states that democracy is not a way of governing whether by majority or otherwise but primarily a way of determining who shall govern by involving freedom of choice in electing the rulers and the consent of the electors that those who receive the mandate should rule.
In other words, democracy is best understood as a key mechanism to ensure effective political and national leadership, in serving a selection function and in legitimating the selected through elections. Democracy is indispensable. All in all, democracy can be summarised as rule by the people.
In a democracy citizens have rights, such as the freedoms of expression and of association,Barnett,(2004). Often these rights are written in a constitution or other public document. When people freely exercise these rights, for example, by meeting to advocate for their interests, by volunteering to forward a valued cause, or by protesting a government policy, they do so as part of civil society. In a healthy democracy these institutions like the civil society organizations supplement formal processes such as voting and help citizens shape the culture, politics, and economies of their. To sum it all, democracy is comprised of mainly four key elements which may include; a political system for choosing and replacing government through free and fair elections, the active participation of the people, as citizens in politics and civil life.Thirdly, the protection of the human rights of all citizens and fourthly, a rule of law,in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.
In most instances, elections are used as a pointer to democracy. This is because many believe that without the rule of the people there is no democracy. This further highlights that people should have a say in all matters that affect their lives. From the understanding of liberty and freedoms, the government must be elected by the participation of very free people not under coercion. It implies that the citizens must have a free will to choose leaders of their choice and be able to have freedom of expression within the given framework. Thus, elections become a very important voice for citizens to select their leaders as that is how they participate in the process of making decisions .However, there is more to democracy than just holding elections and electioneering. There are many other factors to consider to complete democracy than just holding an election
Elections today, which signify democracy, must be judged by the conformity to standard norms that constitute free and fair elections. A free election is based on the presumption that fundamental human rights and freedoms are respected, Barnett (2004). These would include freedom of assembly, association, expression, and information. In addition, freedom would include freedom from violence, intimidation and coercion, freedom to access the polling stations by both voters and monitors, and freedom to make choices without fear of repercussions. For example in Zambia,prior to the 2011 tripatite elections,there was a lot of intimidation by the then ruling MMD by brutalising the opposition,corrupting the youths with beer to cause confusion in a way of campaigning.So there was coecion before election as opponents were not ready to freely make their own decisions over who to vote for. Additionally election are fair when all the participant be it in ruling or opposition political parties have on a level footing in order to produce the legitimate results acceptable to all the characters. This means no intimidation, equality in accessing the campaign resources, media and other amenities. For example, the 2011 tripartite election showed how the then ruling MMD were actually distributing gifts to electorates when it was clear that it was against the law. Furthermore, the ruling party had started campaigning far before the campaign period or election date was even announced.ECZ was well aware of such malpractices but could not control the situation. The independence of the electoral institutions is undermined by a number of factors, such as where its Directors are appointed by the president thereby limiting their power to correct electoral malpractices committed by the ruling party resulting in multiplicity of controversies in virtually every aspect of the elections, such as voter registration, polling stations, duration of polls, demarcation of constituencies, verification and announcement of results and access to the media.
In addition, during election campaign, the campaign ground wasn’t level as the ruling party had all the resources to propel a smooth and prosperous campaign which gave the ruling party a strong upper hand in the game. They could use any resources ranging from public vehicles, money and power to curtail other parties’ ability to campaign properly. The ruling party could easily buy anyone to fake defection and pay up the chiefs or headmen in order to belong to the their side, but at the same time demonising opposition parties and preventing them from accessing funds for campaigns.( The postnewspaper,2008)
In another similar example elections held in Zimbabwe in 2013 were said to be marred by unfairness. Allegations were made in 2011, that a third of registered voters were dead or aged 120 (in a country with a life expectancy of 44). These accusations were repeated in 2013, with the additional claim that a considerable number of young voters had not been registered. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a local observer group with 7,000 monitors, listed a number of offences, including state media bias, a campaign of intimidation in rural areas, and the rushed electoral process before key reforms to the security services were in place. But the most effective measure was tampering with the electoral rolls which were held back until the day before the election – thus avoiding proper scrutiny. The roll revealed an estimated one million invalid names, including many deceased voters. And it excluded up to one million real ones, mostly in urban areas where the MDC support was strongest.
On the day of the elections, one of Zimbabwe 's electoral commissioners resigned. In his resignation letter, Mkhululi Nyathi of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission wrote, "I do not wish to enumerate the many reasons of my resignation, but they all have to do with the manner the Zimbabwe 2013 harmonised elections were proclaimed and conducted".
The Electoral Commission later reported that approximately 305,000 voters were turned away from polls, with an additional 207,000 voters being "assisted" on casting their ballots. There were also more than 100,000 centenarian ghost voters on the electoral roll.
On 9 August 2013, the Movement for Democratic Change, sought to have the results declared null and void. If their petition is rejected then Mugabe must be sworn in within 48 hours. A week later they withdrew their petition. Despite their withdrawal the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe ruled that the election was "free, fair and credible". (Guardian, 5th July, 2013)

Another example is that of the general elections which were held in Malawi on 20 May 2014. They were Malawi 's first tripartite elections, making it the first time the people of Malawi voted for their local governments, members of parliament and president in a single election. These elections were characterised by breakdown in electronic systems for relaying results back to the IEC headquarters. The then president Joyce Banda claimed fraud and attempted to cancel the elections which move was rejected by the Malawi Law Society. This was further subjected to a recount which triggered a number of protest especially from the people.

In another similar example, elections were held in South Africa in 2014.The African Union 's (AU 's) election observer mission declared South Africa 's 2014 national and provincial elections as free, fair, transparent and credible. "The elections were also peaceful and reflect the wishes and aspirations of South Africans,” http://www.southafrica.info/news/elections.
In Nigeria, during the 2011 elections there was a serious witnessing of electoral and ethnic violence where more than 1000 people died. This was attributed to the government’s inability to be transparent in election procedures so much that elections were postponed three times and this gave worse suspicion and more violence. So it’s clear that even though the elections are being held, but then they are far from showing any sort of democracy.

Therefore, democratic principles signifies that governments policy procedures and implementation and transparent. Transparency should be seen in administering the elections such as voting, counting and the announcement of any type of elections.
Earnestly, a country like Zambia can holds elections every after 5 years, but if it allows its citizens to suffer abject poverty such that the ruling party can easily give such poor people donations to buy votes while others are living in excess riches show that even though elections were held but then democracy-real democracy is far from being attained.
Therefore, even if a country holds elections but there is no respect of human rights, violence such as can be witnessed in countries like Libya, it’s not sufficient to say there is democracy in that country. Therefore, elections alone are not sufficient measure of democracy.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this paper had endeavoured to discuss elections as a measure of democracy. It has discussed the key terms which are election and democracy and has used examples to show how election can be a measure of democracy.
Finally, much as elections is cardinal for the erection of democracy, but then it is surely not the sufficient measure for democracy. A country can hold the election but then if these elections are not free and fair, there is unequal distribution of resources, there is no transparency in all the dealings of the government, there is no respect for human rights and freedoms by the constitutional holders and no freedom of expression and no free media, democracy can’t prevail in the country.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Ball, A.R. (1998). Modern Politics and government. London: Macmillan.

2. Barnett, C and Murray, L (2004). Spaces of democracy: Geographical perspectives on citizenship, participation and representation. London: Sage publications.

3. Maclver, (1994). The web of government. London: Macmillan.

4. Eddie Mwanaleza, The post newspaper. September 2008.

5. Guardian: 5th July, 2013

6. SAnewss.gov.za

7. www.southafrica.infor/news/elections

Bibliography: 1. Ball, A.R. (1998). Modern Politics and government. London: Macmillan. 2. Barnett, C and Murray, L (2004). Spaces of democracy: Geographical perspectives on citizenship, participation and representation. London: Sage publications. 3. Maclver, (1994). The web of government. London: Macmillan. 4. Eddie Mwanaleza, The post newspaper. September 2008. 5. Guardian: 5th July, 2013 6. SAnewss.gov.za 7. www.southafrica.infor/news/elections