Political Parties in Africa: Challenges for Sustained Multiparty

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Political Parties in Africa: Challenges for Sustained Multiparty Democracy
raising; political parties’ sources of income; and the direct or indirect funding of
political parties.
6.6 Political party and candidate election contestation requirements
With the democratization process which swept across Africa during the 1990s and
the end of one-party rule, it became possible for most Africans to form and register
political parties. However, the formation of political parties is prohibited in Eritrea
and Swaziland, and until 2005 it was prohibited in Uganda under the National
Resistance Movement. The second set of prohibitions concerns the religious and
ethnic political parties which are prevalent in most African countries with the
exception of Ethiopia, Mauritius, South Africa and Sudan.
In countries where the existence of political parties is allowed, the registration of
political parties which intend to contest national elections is mandatory and most
African countries have frameworks and legal procedures for this. Table 6.1 shows
that in the majority of African countries where political parties are legal they have
to meet a set of requirements before they can contest elections to the first chamber
of the legislature.
Table 6.1: Requirements for political parties to contest national
elections (first chamber)
No. Requirements Countries No.
1 Sign election
registration forms
or file application
2 Payment of a
deposit
3 Trans-regional
presence
4 No registration
required
5 Minimum number
of candidates
Botswana, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho,
Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Senegal, Seychelles,
Sierra Leone, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe
Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia,
Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi,
Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles,
Sierra Leone, Somalia, Zimbabwe
Cameroon, Gambia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, Zanzíbar
Benin 1
Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique,
Tanzania
6 Other Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt, Gambia, Mauritius,
Malawi, Namibia, Tunisia, Zambia
7 No regulation Eritrea, Swaziland, Uganda 3
Source: Compiled from the ACE database, http://www.aceproject.org, downloaded July 2006.
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