The illusion of "democratic elections"
Having done quite a bit of travelling across West, Central and East Africa, I am personally amused by the democratic process in most of the nations I have visited. Typically, of course, there is a "selection" process before the election process. This process is done behind the scenes and the candidates produced are presented for elections. The election process also usually ends up with the favourite (often times the incumbent) getting 80 to 99 percent of the votes. Typically, after exhausting the number of permissible electoral terms, the constitution is amended to accommodate an extension. After all there is "merit in continuity". Multi party elections is not sufficient to make a democracy viable. The institutions like the courts, the law enforcement agencies need to be independent and incorruptible. The electoral agencies also. The leaders must be accountable, and not be seen as rock stars. Few of the 52 African states can be said to have evolved su...