WITH AN EAGLE'S EYE : Lessons from Rwandan elections

Mobhare Matinyi

Since the restoration of a Western model of democracy in Africa in the early 1990s, African countries have been teaching and learning from each other about democracy. Some of these lessons have been so bitter, the likes of Kenya’s election in 2007 but a few, like the Zambian multiparty elections, have been sweet.

This time around it was Rwanda’s turn to teach other African countries a lesson when the progressive country held parliamentary elections from September 16 to 18. This was the third parliamentary election since the 1994 genocide.

Although, for obvious reasons, many Africans care much about presidential elections, in reality it is the parliamentary polls that deserve much more attention because they bring power to the people through representation.

In the case of Rwanda, a country with a unique culture and history that strongly shapes its polity, voters were electing 80 lawmakers, of whom 53 were voted for on September 16, for the eight provinces. Women had 24 seats filled through district electoral colleges on September 17; and two youths and one representing the disabled were elected through the electoral colleges on September 18. The members of the Rwandan Diaspora voted on September 15.

One important thing, to which the Chairman of Rwanda’s National Electoral Commission (NEC), Professor Kalisa Mbanda, referred as a matter of sovereignty, is the fact that Rwanda managed to fund its own election by nearly 100 per cent. There were no donor funds. What a success!

Besides, this parliamentary election cost less than the previous one because the electoral commission currently has its own printing facility that printed 6 million ballot papers. Additionally, apart from reusing some election materials, the NEC had a long list of volunteers, another sign of patriotism rarely found in other African countries. In the end the total cost came to $6.6 million compared with $11 million in 2008. How many countries can reduce the cost of elections?

The way Rwanda organised its elections left many international observers puzzled as virtually everything was in place, so much that one could think it was an artistic performance. Just one example, polling centres, most of which were located in schools, had a number of polling stations each one with its own four well-trained staff with uniforms, materials, a properly designated room and voters lined up in discipline with members of the police force and the military as well, watching from a distance.

Polling in Rwanda was not that much of a headache, from campaigning right through to the end. On polling day, according to the preliminary statement by the Observer Mission of the East African Community (EAC), 99 percent of stations opened on time at 7:00 am and closed on time at 3:00 pm. Rwandans don’t spend the whole day voting, they just need a few hours.

One could wonder: Mmh! Eight hours of voting? How? Believe it or not, by midday almost all voters had exercised their democratic right and were back to work in their farms. With no fear of rigging, Rwandans left all polling stations in the hands of electoral officials, domestic and international observers in some stations, and party agents who were mostly from the ruling party, Rwanda Patriotic front (RPF), which won soundly, and very few agents from opposition parties.

The counting process, which kills people in some African countries, was a mere formality inside highly decorated classrooms with music playing outside, exactly the same way the campaign rallies were.

In fact, campaigns looked like big celebrations with people dancing and singing more than listening to long speeches. In some cases RPF cadres were singing: “Chama chetu cha RPF chajenga nchi” mimicking the famous song of Tanzania’s ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), “Chama chetu cha Mapinduzi chajenga nchi.”

The campaigns which took 20 days only, were starting at 2:00 and ending at 3:30 pm to allow people to continue with their lives. Furthermore, the country was not littered by campaign posters neither were there the usual crazy crowds seen on streets in other “democratic” countries in Africa.

Of course, one could argue that the Rwandan elections were boring but what is wrong if corruption, violence, and rigging are absent? The question of how genuine is this peace is entirely another issue, but the fact is, nobody died or was injured during the elections.

Rwanda could be an example of a closely-guided democracy, but for an African country with a history of genocide, nothing can be better than this. Surely, Rwandans have gone back to that African principle of consensus, a principle that guided African kingdoms before colonialism settled in.

Rwandans seem to have a national consensus and a common agenda of peace, democracy and development. Africans, seriously, we have a lesson to learn from these magnificent people of Rwanda.

The Citizen