By Gregory Mthembu-Salter
On day two of the International Conference on Sustaining Africa's Democratic Momentum, taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa, delegates from Latin America and Asia took to the podium to share their experiences of the democratic process, giving substance to one of the key objectives of the conference – South-South co-operation.
Dr José de Jesús Orozco, a researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la Universidad Autónoma in Mexico, answered questions from the floor about the fall-out from presidential elections in 2006, when after a very close result with a margin of just 0.58% between winner and loser, the losing party denounced the result as a fraud and even, for a time, established a rival government to the one declared the winner by the electoral authorities. According to Orozco, serious problems still remained and the defeated party had apparently lost confidence entirely in the electoral authorities, and was demanding they be entirely disbanded, which had been refused by the new government.
Dr Torquato Jardim, president of the Brazilian Institute of Electoral Law, gave an entertaining summary of Brazil's 80 year history of multi-party democracy, describing how of late electoral lists have been designed to look like lottery tickets to make it easier for the population, and particularly its illiterates, to vote.
Asked by an African delegate how Brazil had achieved such a high degree of popular participation in the electoral system, Jardim replied that it was simple – voting was compulsory, and without proof they had voted, Brazilians were not paid their salaries and were refused passports.
In the following session, devoted to Asia's experience of democracy, Kodanda Rama Rao of India's Loksatta organisation described the outline of his country's democratic system, hailing what he regarded as its fundamental success in reflecting through pluralism India's immense social and religious diversity. Rao indicated, however, that pressure was growing for electoral reform, particularly with regards India's current 'first past the post' (or ‘winner take it all’) electoral system, which many, including Loksatta want transformed into a system of proportional representation.
Although a civil servant, Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, a researcher in the Indonesian government's department of communications and cultural affairs, took a more critical view of her country's democratic development than did Rao. Observing that only one in five Indonesian parliamentarians was a woman, and to murmurs of approval from many of the African women delegates, Pramodhawardani condemned political parties for paying lip service only to the principle of greater women's involvement in politics.
Beyond their own presentations, several Latin American and Asian delegates at the conference said it had proved a valuable learning experience for them, not just about African democratic specificities, but also concerning the many commonalities between their situation and Africa's, not just regarding problems and challenges, but also solutions and ways forward.
Gregory Mthembu-Salter is an independent writer on African political economy based in Cape Town, South Africa
The views expressed here are the author’s own, and do not necessarily represent the views of International IDEA, its Board or its Council members.
