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Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 20:22:46 EST
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Subject: [AfricaMatters] Africa Offers Poll Monitors to U.S.

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Africa Offers Poll Monitors to U.S.

Stam Predrag
Friday, Nov. 17, 2000


HARARE, Zimbabwe - It is with disbelief, amusement and a large dose of
sarcasm that Africa is following the post-election drama in Florida - the
vote recount, manual count, and now the lawsuits.

Some of America's traditional critics are having a hard time hiding their
glee at the drama unfolding in Florida. Still, most African analysts and
officials are worried about the possible consequences of the growing
constitutional crisis in the U.S. because of the country's significant
influence on the international scene.

With each passing day in the election saga, the U.S.'s international rating
is rapidly being eroded in many Third World countries, particularly in
Africa. Some of them have already offered to send their own poll monitors
and experts to solve the mystery of the 43rd U.S. president.

"Perhaps it is time for Africa also to send former presidents, like myself,
to monitor the process," Kenneth Kaunda, former Zambian head of state, said
at a media forum in Lusaka last weekend.

Payback for Jimmy Carter


Noting that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was frequently sent to Africa
and other continents to monitor elections, Kaunda described the
post-election situation in Florida as "chaos" and even suggested that the
U.S. administration may need international help.

A government-controlled daily in Zimbabwe, The Herald, published a letter
Tuesday to the effect that American and other Western poll monitors, whom it
described as "self- appointed, self-styled high priests of human rights and
democracy," always used to be sent to developing countries.

"The hypocrisy and double standards of these so-called democratic
institutions is never called into question when it comes to developing
countries and yet none has ever told the world of the distortions to
democracy arising out of power of the media and the power of money in the
industrialized countries," the paper added.

In an earlier comment, The Herald claimed that, "The drama and intrigue of
election irregularity allegations is not a monopoly of the Third World, as
elections in America have proved."

Even at first glance, it is clear to see that the most critical comments and
reactions in the African press have come from those countries whose
elections were pronounced more or less flawed by Western observers.

As expected, this was the case with Zimbabwe where parliamentary elections
took place in June of this year. President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU (PF)
party secured a narrow victory over its main opposition rivals, the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC).

Most Western observers criticized the country's violent pre- election
campaign, which resulted in the death of more than 30 people, mostly MDC
supporters, including several white farmers.


U.S. Worse Than Third World?

"Even by Third World standards, the irregularities and alleged electoral
fraud are inexcusable," said the Panafrican News Agency (PANA) in its
analysis of the U.S. presidential election.

In an article titled "Democracy Dealt A 'Low Blow' On Home Soil," PANA
claimed that "democratic behavior is never a genetically conditioned, innate
or inherited faculty that can be transplanted."

PANA also warned, "It is hoped that wrong, unintended signals have not been
given to power-hungry despots to cite the American 'mistake' in engineering
electoral confusion for personal interests in the Third World."


Ignorance of the Electoral College
and How a Republic Works

Most African analysts are at a loss to understand how a candidate who
supposedly won the popular vote could still loose the U.S. presidency
because of Electoral College votes. In most African and Third World
countries, a "one man - one vote" system decides the fate of presidential
candidates.

In an editorial, The Point, a newspaper in Banjul, Gambia, questioned the
wisdom of a system in which one can numerically defeat his opponent
nationwide and then have to submit to the Electoral College.

"We are encouraged and, in fact, sometimes coerced to ensure that our
democracy is representative of the will of the people ... and for people to
be governed by consent through direct participation," wrote the paper.


"We are sure that many Americans harbor these thoughts, more so in the
context of the current 'democratic crisis' prevailing in Florida."

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