Vote Sizing Institute

The elections process is always characterized by a number of risks and tensions. That’s why during election periods, a lot of people are involved to protect the purity of the process and tensions are always high. Elections range from BOD (Board of Directors) elections, meeting house elections, municipal and parliamentary elections to the Presidential Elections, which is the most mobilizing of all.

I find myself involved in the agitating outcome of the 2010 Presidential Elections that took place in Ivory Coast. I’ve decided to vent my own agitation and propose my own solution for a peaceful solution.

BOD and meeting house elections are like a car, while Presidential Elections is like a Boeing airplane. A car full of people can be stopped instantly and reversed to its initial drive-off position. Similarly, a BOD election that is marred by irregularities, with someone already proclaimed winner, can be quickly halted and the process reversed.

By contrast, a Boeing airplane cannot simply stop in mid-air or reverse its course back to the runway for a solution, even if abnormalities are discovered. In this same way, presidential elections, marred or not by irregularities, are often very dangerous and risky to reverse the results instantly.

All those advocating force to take off Laurent Gbagbo, president proclaimed winner by the Constitutional Council of Ivory Coast, are trying to stop a Boeing after take-off, forcing it to reverse and land back on the runway. It’s very risky! These people, to my opinion, are either ignorant, or don’t care at all about the risk they are putting on human lives.

After the 1992 presidential elections in Cameroon, when the CPDM party candidate, the incumbent President Paul Biya was proclaimed winner by the Supreme Court sitting in for the Constitutional Council. Some people highly protested since they were convinced the SDF party won the elections. In order for peace to thrive, Fru Ndi and the SDF however, conceded to the Supreme Court of Cameroon and the CPDM party.

In Kenya and Zimbabwe, those who cried foul on elections results were persuaded to dialogue with the incumbent presidents for wellbeing and peace of their nations.

Tah Asongwed, in his book Guide to Electoral Fraud, thinks that, “Some people mistakenly thought elections could be fraud free until they witnessed a form of electoral fraud practiced in the United States of America during the 2000 presidential elections….” He is of course, referring to the 2000 presidential elections in the USA, when people thought that President Bush lost, and that Al Gore should have been president. Be as that may, for the interest and peaceful existence of the nation, Al Gore told Americans to accept the rulings of the Supreme Court.

It is extremely hard on earth, let alone Africa, to find a democracy-oriented institution that works without mistakes, even though some mistakes are consciously made. When that happens, it doesn’t mean a particular person has failed, it means we have all failed. That is why, like Fru Ndi, Al Gore, Raila Odinga, Morgan Tsvangirai and many others, we have accept the outcome OUR countries’ Presidential Elections, marred or not by irregularities, because we accepted the institutions in the first place. It is better to say NO to an electoral system and institutions and not participate in elections, than to approve them and complain about the end result. We have to accept the outcome read by OUR weak institutions; use it as a study ground, to fix the weaknesses for the future.

Returning to our initial metaphor when an airplane takes off before some problems are identified, be it a mechanical problem or be it a terrorist on board, trying to stop it in mid-air and putting the reverse gear is never recommended because many lives will be highly lost. The airplane has to be allowed to continue its route, manage the problem, and land quietly, if possible, so that the problem can be rectified before its next take offs.

When President Obama of the USA visited Ghana, he said “better institutions” should be encouraged, not “better people.” How, then, do we encourage better institutions? Is it by using force on someone who has been declared winner by the institution we all approved? Or is it by working together in order to fix the weaknesses discovered, for the future? What makes some of us think that one man (a presidential candidate) is better off than another presidential candidate? People will pass and institutions will remain.

Let’s respect our institutions, work to ameliorate them, as we grow together in peace. The UNO and WHO proclaimed a slogan “health for all by 2000” but in 2011, people are still dying in some developing countries because of lack of drinking water. Changing presidents is no guarantee for a democratic and healthy society. The USA, after about 235 years of democracy and independence, still has lots of problems to fix. Each American president promises solutions that will make America free of problems but that has never happened.

Democracy should grow from us and not given or imposed on us. Let’s RESPECT the Ivorian Institutions and help them to work together for better institutions. As the saying goes, “two heads are better than one,” and so are 10 million united heads better than two groups of 500,000 united heads. We do not build by tearing down people, we build by correcting and encouraging them.

Awafong Julius T.

Outreach Coordinator

Vote Sizing Institute

www.VoteSizing.Org