Political Parties in Africa: Challenges for Sustained Multiparty

Political Parties in Africa: Challenges for Sustained Multiparty Democracy
3. Two-party systems are indicative of highly polarized ideological differences
which in some cases undermine the smaller political parties; larger parties use
(or rather abuse) them for their own political convenience. Kenya’s National
Rainbow Coalition and Kenya African National Union (KANU) offer a
glaring example of this. However, although the future of the National Rainbow
Coalition is uncertain, given the current internal squabbles which have marred
the relationship between some of its coalition partners, the likelihood that it
will maintain some strong presence in Kenyan politics cannot be ruled out.
4. It is not inevitable that two-party systems develop into a multiparty system or a
dominant-party system. For example, following the first multiparty democracy
elections in Mozambique, Frelimo gained and the Mozambican National
Resistance (Resistência Nacional Moçambicana, Renamo), which hinted at
the possibility that the country was developing in the direction of a two-party
system. However, following elections, Frelimo won votes and Renamo lost
votes, and this tilted the balance towards a dominant-party system (the subject
of the next subsection).
5. Two-party systems are not in themselves guarantors of political stability
or otherwise, despite the fact that they are signifiers of polarized pluralism.
Consider, for example, the political stability and almost near-perfect transition
in Benin, as contrasted with the political turmoil of pre-civil war Sierra Leone
and the current brutal and unwelcome development in Zimbabwe.
The development of two-party systems in Africa could be welcome, particularly from
a national integration viewpoint. Multiparty system states are more prone to ethnic
and regional conflicts whereby each group creates its own political parties, leading
to fragile coalition politics at best and political instability at worst. There is also
the possibility that smaller political parties, although they provide a mechanism for
electoral participation, will be marginalized by larger political parties, contributing
to distrust of politics and politicians in the event of massive ‘floor-crossing’.
4.2.3 Dominant-party systems
In most of the literature, dominant-party systems should not be confused with
one-party systems, although they may at times exhibit similar characteristics. A
dominant-party system is competitive in the sense that a number of parties compete
for power in regular and popular elections, but is dominated by a single major party
that consequently enjoys prolonged periods in power. In Africa, there are dominantparty
systems in 16 countries (see Table 4.2).