Africa Elections

An utterly peaceful two-day election in Namibia last week capped a year of astonishing democratic and economic gains in southern Africa, a long-blighted region that now offers dramatic hope for a crippled continent. In Namibia's first post-independence election, the incumbent president, Sam Nujoma, and his ruling party, the South-West Africa People's Organization, or SWAPO, swept nearly 72% of the vote in the former South African colony, a sparsely populated nation twice the size of California.

The governing African National Congress won South Africa's elections by a huge margin, according to final results announced Saturday, but fell short of the symbolically important two-thirds majority. And in a significant blow, it lost control of the Western Cape to the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance. The ANC's victory was expected, and attention had focused on whether it would continue to maintain the psychological advantage gained by winning at least two-thirds of the vote.

It could have been the face of a presidential candidate anywhere. Laurent Gbagbo sat with a frozen smile, equal parts boredom and fatigue, listening to a speech on a day when he had heard a half dozen already. Before sundown he would have just as many more to hear and a few yet to deliver himself. But this was no normal campaign whistle-stop.

When South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Zuma first started attending African leadership summits in 1999, security guards would often block her at the door. "They assumed I was someone's spouse or secretary," Zuma recalled. On Tuesday, there was no mistaking the identity of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the new president of Liberia who made her first appearance at the African Union's annual summit here.

As many here see it, President Sam Nujoma should be former President Sam Nujoma. In November, the founding father of this young African democracy finished his second five-year term, the limit under the constitution. But Nujoma didn't budge; the constitution did. Nujoma's ruling South-West Africa People's Organization voted to exempt him from the restriction. Nujoma was reelected to a third term in December.

When rival soldiers overthrew the military regime led by 30-year-old Capt. Valentine Strasser in January, few believed the new junta's promise to allow democratic elections. But fed up with nearly three decades of corrupt dictatorships, five years of bloody civil war and growing anarchy in one of the world's poorest nations, citizens insisted. Against all odds and expectations, a heavy turnout of voters braved gunfire and intimidation to cast ballots Feb. 26.

Looking back on it now, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida's scheme for the perfect democracy in Nigeria, Africa's largest country and long an example for the continent, seemed a little too perfect. He created two parties and wrote their platforms--one a little bit right of center, the other a little bit to the left. To keep the process spanking clean, he decreed that no former politicians or military coup-makers, including himself, could run for office.

The South African government is using an unlikely cast of cutely dressed cartoon squirrels to promote upcoming elections. The $2-million television and newspaper campaign urges South Africans to "make it happen by voting for the candidate of your choice on Oct. 26," the date of the first simultaneous local elections for all races. Anglican Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu and other critics of South Africa's apartheid regime have urged people to boycott the vote.

President Pieter W. Botha announced today that a general election will be held in South Africa Sept. 6 for all three chambers of the racially segregated Parliament. The republic has separate houses for white, Colored--the designation for people of mixed race--and Indian delegates. The black majority has no vote under South Africa's apartheid constitution. The election is almost certain to mark the end of Botha's political career. He resigned as leader of the ruling National Party after a stroke in January.

White South Africa will elect a 178-member chamber of Parliament this week. To the country's black majority, these elections might as well be in Alaska; blacks simply are not interested in them. This white chamber of parliament effectively rules the country, with the National Party, which is the majority party, having 127 seats and the official opposition holding only 32.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, all but assured of becoming Africa's first elected female head of state in Liberia's presidential vote, on Saturday rebuffed her opponent's suggestions of fraud and laid out her priorities for governing the country. With 97% of the vote counted, economist Johnson-Sirleaf had 59.4%, compared with 40.6% for her opponent, millionaire former soccer star George Weah, according to the National Electoral Commission.

As many here see it, President Sam Nujoma should be former President Sam Nujoma. In November, the founding father of this young African democracy finished his second five-year term, the limit under the constitution. But Nujoma didn't budge; the constitution did. Nujoma's ruling South-West Africa People's Organization voted to exempt him from the restriction. Nujoma was reelected to a third term in December.

Nigerians voted Saturday in landmark parliamentary elections, marking the latest step in their country's transition to civilian rule and greater democracy. An estimated 40 million voters in this West African nation were given their first chance in 15 years to select civilians for a two-chamber National Assembly. However, there was little fanfare here in Nigeria's commercial capital and second city.

Voters are electing a new parliament today that should be responsible for setting policies to put Nigeria on the path to democracy and economic stability. Yet human rights activists worry that the continent's most populous country may be heading for domination by yet another African "big man."

Showing more a sense of desperation than faith that their country's agony would be eased, more than half of Algeria's eligible voters braved threats from Islamic militants to cast ballots Thursday for the country's first multi-party parliament. But the election was marred by a few incidents of violence and accusations of intimidation against parties critical of the government. Even before the counting began, some opposition leaders warned of widespread vote fraud.

After 60,000 deaths and five years of terror that followed the cancellation of the last general election, the exhausted people of Algeria are trying again today to choose the country's first multi-party parliament. Expectations for a problem-free vote are not high in this capital, where the thud of a midday bomb no longer elicits a serious pause in the luncheon conversation and visiting journalists are routinely furnished with a trio of gunmen to take to interviews as "protection."

The governing African National Congress won South Africa's elections by a huge margin, according to final results announced Saturday, but fell short of the symbolically important two-thirds majority. And in a significant blow, it lost control of the Western Cape to the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance. The ANC's victory was expected, and attention had focused on whether it would continue to maintain the psychological advantage gained by winning at least two-thirds of the vote.

Black activists today said at least 25 people of black and mixed race were killed in election night clashes with police who marched through townships firing shotguns and tear gas to break up protests. Media reports and a church monitoring group said at least 100 people were injured in more than 20 townships, and one police officer said others indiscriminately beat and whipped blacks, including bystanders.

Rebellious soldiers toppled Sierra Leone's elected president in a bloody coup Sunday, and an army major said he was seizing power because the government failed to maintain the peace. Soldiers led by Maj. Johnny Paul Koroma took control of the legislature in this small West African country after heavy fighting. They then burned the national treasury, prompting President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to flee into exile in neighboring Guinea.

When rival soldiers overthrew the military regime led by 30-year-old Capt. Valentine Strasser in January, few believed the new junta's promise to allow democratic elections. But fed up with nearly three decades of corrupt dictatorships, five years of bloody civil war and growing anarchy in one of the world's poorest nations, citizens insisted. Against all odds and expectations, a heavy turnout of voters braved gunfire and intimidation to cast ballots Feb. 26.