Political Parties in Africa: Challenges for Sustained Multiparty

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Political Parties in Africa: Challenges for Sustained Multiparty Democracy military resistance and political opponents have confronted the Eritrean regime and the governing political party. Whether and when Eritrea will become a multiparty system is difficult to tell, and is largely contingent on the internal and external contexts within which the democratization struggle is launched. 4.2.2 Two-party systems A two-party system is duopolistic in that two ‘major’ parties that have a roughly equal prospect of winning government power dominate it. In its classical form, a two-party system can be identified by three criteria. 1. Although a number of ‘minor’ parties may exist, only two parties enjoy sufficient electoral and legislative strength to have a realistic prospect of winning government power. 2. The larger party is able to rule alone (usually on the basis of a legislative majority); the other provides the opposition. 3. Power alternates between these parties; both are ‘electable’, the opposition serving as a ‘government in the wings’. Two-party systems display a periodic tendency towards adversarial politics (see Heywood 2002: 326). This is reflected in ideological polarization and an emphasis on conflict and argument rather than consensus and compromise. It is also noted that such systems sometimes operate through coalitions including smaller parties that are specifically designed to exclude larger parties from government. (In similar vein, Sartori (1976) distinguishes between two types of multiparty system, which he termed the moderate and polarized pluralist systems. In this categorization moderate pluralism exists in countries where ideological differences between major parties are slight, and where there is a general inclination to form coalitions and move towards the middle ground. This classification is apparently relevant to African countries with a large number of ethnically-based parties.)
Table 4.1: African two-party systems International Idea No. Country Major political parties, including the two dominant political parties 1 Benin Union for Future Benin, Benin Rebirth Party, Democratic Renewal Party, African Movement for Development and Progress 2 Cape Verde African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), Movement for Democracy (MPD), Independent and Democratic Cape Verdean Union (UCID), Democratic Renewal Party (PRD), Social Democratic Party (PSD) 3 Ghana Convention People’s Party, Democratic People’s Party, National Convention Party, National Independence Party, New Patriotic Party, People’s Convention, United Ghana Movement 4 Kenya Kenya African National Union, National Rainbow Coalition 5 Seychelles Democratic Party, Seychelles National Party, Seychelles People’s Progressive Front 6 Sierra Leone Sierra Leone People’s Party, All People’s Congress, Peace and Liberation Party 7 Zimbabwe Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Source: Mohamed Salih, M. A., African Political Parties: Evolution, Institutionalization and Governance (London: Pluto Press, 2003). At least five observations can be teased out of Table 4.1. 1. Not all two-party systems have emerged from a truly democratic experience. The best example here is Zimbabwe, where the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), which is known for its capacity for electoral fraud, intimidation of voters and outright intimidation and imprisonment of political opponents, has kept the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) at bay for too long. 2. The two-party system is not immune from engendering severe conflicts leading to state collapse, particularly in situations where the ethnic advantage of one political party vis-à-vis the other may lead to the opposition becoming impatient and resorting to the military as a way of advancing civilian politics. The case of Sierra Leone speaks volumes to this possibility. African Party and Electoral Systems
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Country Enforcement authority Benin
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Chapter 7 Conclusions and Recommend
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Acronyms and Abbreviations ACE Admi
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References and Select Bibliography
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Kadima, Denis, (ed.), The Politics
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About the Authors Per Nordlund is a
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