2/14/2023 0 Comments Subvert democracyThese gaps relate to the increase in constitutional coups and ‘popular uprisings’ in Africa.Īrticle 23.5 of the charter prohibits ‘any amendment or revision of the constitution or legal instruments, which is an infringement on the principles of democratic change of government’. The African Charter is ideal for this purpose, since it sets a standard for good governance and free and fair elections.Īfrican countries that don’t observe two-term limits are more unstable than those who doīut the AU needs to deal with gaps in the charter that enable the subtle subversion of democracy in member states. It can hold member states accountable through electoral observation missions, PSC meetings and assessment tools like the African Peer Review Mechanism. The difficulty that new regimes face in extricating themselves from the past makes strengthening democratic institutions essential. In Zimbabwe, for example, the government that replaced Robert Mugabe continues to use heavy-handed measures to squash dissent. In 2018 Freedom House noted that the transfer of power to ‘new leaders from old parties may fail to bring reform’. The ISS study argued that many leaders come to power through patronage networks and rigged elections, a situation created by the relative absence of competitive electoral systems. ![]() In 2016 the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) showed that democracy often fails to translate into development because governance capacity among African leaders is lacking. Weak democracies deprive the continent of development and service delivery. The weakness of democratic institutions is also evident from the 2017 Ibrahim Index of African Governance. The slow pace of democratisation is highlighted by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2017 Democracy Index, which indicates that many African countries remain under authoritarian and hybrid regimes. Gaps in the African Charter enable the subtle subversion of democracy in member states Thus far, the African Charter has been signed by a majority of African states (46) and ratified by 31. ![]() Ten years on, even the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) is asking whether the charter has made a difference.ĭr Khabele Matlosa, director of the AU’s Political Affairs Department, told the PSC during its 22 August 2018 open session that only Togo had submitted a report on compliance to the African Charter since it became law in 2012. When it was first adopted in 2007, the African Charter raised the hopes of democracy activists, who believed it would strengthen good governance. Last year, on the 10th anniversary of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (the African Charter), outgoing AU Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma admitted that the continent’s modest gains were outweighed by persistent governance deficits. The AU has no illusions about the problem. And yet democracy continues to be subverted in other ways, like constitutional coups. ![]() Fewer coups on the continent are largely the result of the African Union’s (AU) rejection of unlawful take-overs. Most African countries now hold regular elections, albeit often flawed and contested. The AU has helped reduced coups, but steers clear of other tactics used to subvert democracy.
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