Ideally, political parties should be the institutional transmission belt that conveys the will of the voter to government and back. They are the vehicle through which popular sovereignty is expressed and then transformed into public policy and action. In addition, multiple parties provide a mechanism for competition, so that voters have a choice in conveying their mandate to the rulers. In and of itself, competition has an intrinsic value: it forces parties to provide a better ‘product’ to the voter. In a sense, therefore, it is difficult to conceive of a practical democracy without parties except in small communities where direct democracy may be still practicable.
This study examines the structure of the party systems, and parties’ internal organization and functions, and evaluates the effectiveness of political parties in strengthening democratic governance in five East African states—Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. It provides striking evidence of similarities between the party systems found in these countries—internal weaknesses, poor organizational skills, lack of ideological clarity, intolerance, an inclination to resort to violence, narrow membership bases, and dependence on individual leaders or cliques of leaders. But it also provides evidence of striking differences in party structures and the capabilities of political parties in the five countries. Of the five countries, only in Kenya has there been a peaceful change of government from one ruling party to another—in 2002.
This report aims to provide details and an explanation of this diverse experience in party systems in East Africa. It is based on a study of party documents, published research, interviews and press reports. In addition to these open sources, it relies on individual country studies and interviews with party officials, conducted in the countries concerned under the auspices of International IDEA’s Political Parties Programme for Africa.
This regional report on the state of political parties in East Africa is a summary of the results of research undertaken jointly by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and the Development Policy Management Forum (DPMF), Ethiopia as IDEA’s regional partner for East Africa.
This study is a part of a series of studies undertaken by International IDEA focusing on the political parties in specific regions. In Africa the studies cover West Africa, Southern Africa and East Africa.
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