Lessons for Africa from US elections

At a time when everyone, except, of course, the loser, is excited about the election outcome in the United States, it is necessary for us in Kenya, and in Africa in general, to ask ourselves how it is that a gruelling 21-month campaign period can be so free of the sort of incidents that always mar our best efforts in the electoral process.

That is how long both Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama fought to secure the most powerful political office in America, and on earth.

Yet, though the stakes were quite high, there were no allegations of ballot rigging, gerrymandering, regional or ethnic zoning, or any kind of violence.

Is there, perhaps, something wrong with the way we Africans view competitive politics? The relatively genteel manner in which the candidates conducted themselves should be a lesson for Africa.

First, running for office is not a do or die issue in the United States or in other mature democracies. The fact that our electoral systems have been pegged on a winner-take-all zero-sum game makes it imperative for the holders of public offices to try and cling onto them at all costs.

As a result, those who oppose the policies of the ruling clique are rarely ever convinced they lost elections fairly. Indeed, as the saying goes, nobody loses an election in Africa — they are always rigged out. Check out what is happening in Zambia.

Is it possible the electoral systems, and even systems of governance, that we inherited from the colonial powers had inbuilt weaknesses that made them prone to implosion?

But of more import to us in Kenya is election violence. We have suffered from it for too many years, culminating in the murderous post-election chaos experienced early this year.

If such an outcome is unthinkable in the US, why is it so common in this part of the world? The answer could simply be that we are incapable of harbouring any tolerance for each others’ points of view.

Here is one value that can profit us in Kenya — that true democracy requires tolerance and the ability to give in with grace when we lose a political contest.