“Rosa sat so Martin could March
Martin marched so Barack could run
Barack ran so we all could fly”
In what ways do elections serve as instruments of democracy in Africa? The influence of two different types of electoral systems–majoritarian and proportional representation on popular confidence in African parliaments. While majoritarian electoral systems are designed to promote citizens direct control over policy makers,proportional representation (PR) systems are expected to increase the scope of representation of all factions of society. BALLOT BOX OR BULLET BOX?????????
What’s an election and it’s benchmarks?
Elections are the central institution of democratic representative governments. Why? Because, in a democracy, the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed. The principal mechanism for translating that consent into governmental authority is the holding of free and fair elections.
All modern democracies hold elections, but not all elections are democratic. Right-wing dictatorships, Marxist regimes, and single-party governments also stage elections to give their rule the aura of legitimacy. In such elections, there may be only one candidate or a list of candidates, with no alternative choices. Such elections may offer several candidates for each office, but ensure through intimidation or rigging that only the government-approved candidate is chosen. Other elections may offer genuine choices–but only within the incumbent party. These are not democratic elections.
