Credible elections are a three-phase exercise

On Tuesday, August 9, Kenya, Uganda’s important neighbour to the east, held its general elections to elect governors, senators, MPs and a president. Because of the violence that characterised elections in Kenya in 2007/2008, Kenyan elections arouse enormous interest from people across the region, continent and the world as a whole. For Uganda, a landlocked neighbour, Kenyan elections are certainly of paramount importance.

The elections of August 9 have not been any different. Ugandans followed the developments very keenly. Matters were not helped by the delay that characterised the tallying and declaration of the presidential results. The country was nervous. This is because, if anything goes wrong in Kenya, the way it was in 2007/8, Uganda would bear the brunt. The reason is that Kenya is Uganda’s economic lifeline in terms of trade and commerce.

More than that, in spite of its flaws, many Ugandans regard Kenya’s democracy as a model. That is why, very many Ugandans took to social media to hail Kenyans for holding what, until Mr Raila Odinga addressed the nation on Tuesday,  was largely regarded as a peaceful, free and fair election. Mr Odinga’s address, conversely, poked holes in the credibility of the process.

Before that, four out of the seven IEBC commissioners had dissociated themselves from the declaration of the final results, accusing the IEBC chairman, Mr Wafula Chebukati, of lacking transparency and employing dictatorial tendencies in handling, especially the presidential vote. This has, consequently, cast a huge doubt on the credibility of the elections.

Readers of this column should be reminded that peaceful, free, fair and credible elections should be segmented into three phases. The first phase is the pre-polling period. This is a definitive and foundational stage. This is the time when laws and institutions for managing elections are put in place. This is the time to encourage voters to participate in the electoral process, i.e. register to vote, know their polling stations, know the electoral roadmap, etc.

The second phase is equally very important. The campaign and polling period. Here, candidates should have equal access to the media and be free to assemble and canvass support. On the other hand, voters should have unfettered access to electoral information, regarding especially location of polling stations as well as voting procedures. In addition, voters should know their voting rights so as to avoid being intimidated and violated during polling. In case of rights’ violations and intimidation, voters should know where to go for redress.

The final phase is the post-polling period. This stage is critically important. If it is not managed well, it could easily plunge a country into political instability. There has to be a transparent system for vote tallying and declaration of final results. In case candidates are not satisfied with the way the process was managed, there must be a credible judicial system that candidates can turn to for redress. This fundamentally minimises the risk of resort to violence.

On the whole, Kenyans have in the past couple of years, fared well in the first two phases of the electoral cycle. The last one has always eluded them since 2007/2008. Fortunately, the judicial system has thus far been a good arbiter to resolve contestations. For Uganda, however, we have and continue to mess with all three phases of the election cycle. In that regard, the two East African countries cannot be compared. We wish the Kenyan people well as they transition through yet another important stage.

Mr Robert Mugabe is  a politician, trainer and writer

[email protected]