Elections are possible even amid COVID-19, says British pundit

A British political scientist and professor of democracy and international development at the University of Birmingham specialising in African politics, democracy and elections has told the BBC it is quite possible to hold elections despite the coronavirus disease.

Nicholas Drew Cheeseman, author of books such as Democracy in Africa and How to Rig an Election, however added that it can only be done if the appropriate measures are introduced by the countries concerned.

His comments anticipated the launch of Burundi’s presidential election today and voting in Ghana in December.

Democracy . . . or dictatorship?

“We have countries like Ghana, which is doing a great job of having a competitive democracy and we see the opposition being able to win elections peacefully, and we see countries like Burundi going the other way by being authoritarian,” he said.

“We have seen that over the years the quality of elections in Burundi has got worse because the president has, over the years, undermined checks and balances on his power, leading to growing authoritarianism,” Cheeseman also said.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, assured Ghanaians last week that the government does not intend to extend its mandate after December because of the effects of COVID-19.

The assurance puts to rest concerns that there may be a constitutional crisis, should the epidemic persist until the end of the year and make voting impossible.

“The government does not contemplate any justifiable reason to seek to extend its first-term constitutional mandate with the virus as an excuse without a safe, free and fair election,” he said.

Growing example

The minister said the government believes that instead of contemplating measures not enshrined in the constitution, the country’s energies should be channelled towards exploring innovative ways to hold a free and fair election.

Oppong Nkrumah said that if countries such as Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Serbia and the United States of America are all exploring how to hold elections, then Ghana should also do so.

Countries such as Mali and South Korea have had elections since the pandemic began to spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan in December.

Today’s election in Burundi has been held with no international observers present, because of the coronavirus disease.

Representatives of the international bodies hoping to observe the elections would have been obliged to enter a 14-day quarantine before being allowed to carry out their work. Officials determined that this appeared impossible.

Fred Dzakpata

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