GIVEN the spate of protests in many nations nowadays, one can almost say that there is a backlash against not only the concept of democracy globally but also a great dissatisfaction with expectations of governance arising from the elections with which those who run governments got to power in the first instance. Nothing illustrates this viewpoint more vividly than the political situation in Bolivia this week where the President who claimed to have won a recent election fled into Mexico for political asylum, as well as the start of the Impeachment process in the US House of Reps where Donald Trump is being held accountable for purportedly using diplomacy and foreign aid to get his political opponent discredited with corruption on the eve of the 2020 presidential elections. Interestingly, the person Donald Trump defeated in the 2016 elections Hillary Clinton on a visit to Britain this week castigated the British government for not revealing a government report that purportedly revealed that there was foreign interference in past UK elections before the coming December elections.
These three events in Bolivia, Washington and London capture the essence of the global pressure that democracy is going through especially with regard to the legitimacy that clean elections are supposed to bestow on the leadership of those who win or claim to have won such elections. This is because democracy becomes a sham if elections are not transparent, free and fair. In addition technology has turned the world into a global village and anyone who thinks interference from abroad or other nations in elections in any part of the world can just be shut out, is behaving like the proverbial ostrich with its head buried in the sand. Globalisation and information technology have made the world borderless more or less and have turned the concept of Big Brother is Watching you into a real political engine that makes the world a stage in our small phones and sitting rooms, without us travelling out to the places we relate with on a daily basis. Indeed that explains why the issues we raise today have universal application not only for Bolivians, Americans or Britons but any citizen of the world in any democracy in any part of the world including our own Nigeria.
There was a time during the Cold War when the policy of Non Inteference in the internal affairs of other nations was the vogue in foreign policy and diplomacy. That era is now gone forever, no thanks to technology and telecommunications. But the business of governance in any democracy cannot be totally be divested of state secrets, confidentiality, loyalty and patriotism . That really is the difference between what is happening in the US Congress where the president is being impeached and what Hillary Clinton could not understand in calling for the release of an election interference report on the eve of the Brexit election . Political values in the US are different from those of the UK. Confidentiality is a well-developed and respected value in British democracy and its bureaucratic establishment. It is not the same in US politics where the whistleblower is celebrated and given protection at the expense of state security and diplomacy. Hillary Clinton herself was branded reckless by the CIA boss before the 2016 elections for using her personal phone for state matters and would have been disqualified in Britain from contesting that election . Similarly the grim and treacherous spectacle of American diplomats and ambassadors revealing state secrets and tele conversations between heads of states still in office would not have happened in any decent nation but the US over the Trump- Biden Ukraine affair. Obviously the American system of checks and balances in the Trump presidency has become weaponised and politicized to serve partisan political ends at the expense of democratic values it is put in place to cherish and protect. Even if the House impeaches Trump as it is proceeding, the Senate which is controlled by his party will never play ball and vote to impeach him. That leaves the issue in the hands of the electorate for the 2020 elections which is going to be about the way and manner of this impeachment saga. Which is almost the same script that has turned the UK election on December 12 in Britain into a Brexit election that has turned the electorate against Parliament which hitherto was presumed to be supreme but now has feet of clay for most politicians in this Brexit election.
In Bolivia from where President Evo Morales fled to Mexico one can see clear frustrations with democracy and the electoral system as well as the electoral monitoring process which has been internationalized for election monitoring. Morales claimed he won the election but opposition claimed he rigged it. The international monitoring body said he rigged but a neutral body warned the election monitors not to politicize the election monitoring system. Who then is telling the truth? While the army came in to create order and stability, the two leaders in line of succession in Bolivia resigned and paved the way for a lady senator next in rank to claim the presidency. The truth however is that democracy in Bolivia has been badly battered and it will take sometime for it to regain its credibility and legitimacy. For now both the army and diplomacy seem to have rescued Bolivian democracy and given that nation peace and stability after the post election violence and protests. Mexico gave asylum and the army pressured the election rigger to flee for his life and take refuge in Mexico. But the army has never been a trusted ally of democracy in any part of the world and the world will be watching when, if and how the elections promised, will hold in Bolivia.
Let us remember the saying that charity should begin at home and take a peep at the Kogi State election today. There is no doubt that state governor Yahaya Bello has done a lot for his people. But that will be seen in the way the electorate votes today. Already the President has called for a free and fair election. This again is the only way to guarantee legitimacy for the winner of the election. But the Kaduna state governor Nasr El Rufai has taken political accountability to a new level by reportedly prostrating before the people of the state and asking them to forgive the governor for any lapses during his tenure That may seem like state cross border election interference, but it is good for democracy, transparency and accountability in Nigeria and Kogi state. It also shows that in a democracy power is not absolute and is renewable at election time and that makes elections the time of reckoning for performing or non performing politicians. The Kaduna state governor should know what power is about and how to claim it as he was quite hostile to some election monitors in his state elections who wanted to politicize the election monitoring in his state. Anyway prostrations may be symbolic and even humbling but at the end of the day the ball is in the court of the electorate in Kogi state and it is them who will decide the next occupant of the state house in Lokoja. That is the essence of elections and that is the beauty of democracy provided such elections are free and fair .Once again long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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