ADDRESS OF THE PATRON OF THE TMF, THABO MBEKI, AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF WORLD ELECTION BODIES (A-WEB): CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, 20 OCTOBER 2022.
“SAFEGUARDING ELECTION MANAGEMENT BODIES IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL DEMOCRATIC RECESSION’.
Director of Ceremonies;
Chairperson of the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB);
Members of the A-WEB Executive;
Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of South Africa and your fellow Commissioners, Chief Electoral Officer and Staff;
Representatives of the Election Management Bodies;
Representatives of the Continental Election Management Forums;
Representatives of the Electoral Assistance Agencies;
Honourable Members of the South African Parliament;
Members of the South African National Executive;
Leaders of Political Parties;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Representatives of the United Nations Agencies and other Development Partners;
Representatives of Civil Society Organisations;
Members of the Media;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Director of Ceremonies:
As you know, our struggle for liberation drew into its ranks millions of people including significant numbers of our principled white compatriots. I have just learnt one of these, Father Albert Nolan, has passed away. Thus is indeed very sad news.
I would like to take this opportunity to convey my condolences to his family and friends, as well as the Roman Catholic Church. May that eminent thinker and activist for our liberation, Father Albert Nolan, rest in peace.
Thank you Director of Ceremonies for giving me the opportunity to make this solemn statement.
Dear delegates:
First of all, I am pleased to join our Chairperson in welcoming especially our foreign guests to South Africa and this well-known city, Cape Town, as well as extend my best wishes to you all that you will have a pleasant and successful time during your stay with us.
I also thank the organisers for giving me the singular honour to deliver the opening address at this International Conference of the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) which will address the important issue of “Safeguarding Election Management Bodies in the Age of Global Democratic Recession.”
I would like to believe that our own valued Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), today’s host of the A-WEB will be very happy to be exposed to the collective experience of the participants and the distinguished speakers, which will empower it as it continues to improve its performance.
Before I go any further, Director of Ceremonies, I wish to invite all of us jointly to salute the A-WEB Executive and its member organisations for the colossal efforts and contribution to the task to enhance electoral democracy and election integrity over the past nine years.
In this regard and more especially, it would not have been easy for A-WEB as a membership organisation to support its entire constituency and keep it motivated during the global COVID-19 Pandemic.
Of course I must take this opportunity to congratulate the Electoral Commission of South Africa for assuming the leadership of this global election body on the eve of its 10th Anniversary to be celebrated in 2023, and for hosting a successful 5th A-WEB General Assembly on African soil.
I have no doubt that the Electoral Commission of South Africa and the new A-WEB Executive Committee will deliver on their mandate over the next two years. Nevertheless, I am pleased to take this opportunity to wish them success in their important work.
As we grew up, involved in the challenging struggle to defeat the apartheid regime and thus to secure the national emancipation of the black oppressed majority and democratise our country, South Africa, the vision and objective was always written large on our minds – The People shall Govern!
For us, this is what democracy meant – the people shall govern. Of course we also engaged in discussion to try to answer the question – in practice what systems should be put in place to ensure that the people govern?
Shortly before the formal negotiations to end apartheid rule in our country began in 1990, we had preliminary discussions with people drawn from the then white ruling group.
We spent quite a lot of time discussing what we meant when we said it was one of the strategic goals of our movement struggle to ensure that the people shall govern. Our interlocutors kept insisting that in truth we meant that – the ANC, our liberation movement, would govern!
Of course we contested this assertion, trying to explain what we meant when we said the people shall govern.
As we are meeting here today, the South African national legislature is discussing an amendment to our Electoral Law. Once again our law makers, even as they discuss particular details in the law, are still grappling with the question – what system should be put in place to give concrete expression to the vision that the people shall govern!
I am not by any means suggesting that you must engage this question, important as it is.
Whatever anybody says in this regard, none can question that one of the things that must be done to ensure that the people govern is that they should be given not only the right but all the possibilities freely to elect their representatives.
This emphasises the critical importance of the Election Management Bodies which carry the responsibility to ensure that, as I have just said, indeed the people have all the possibilities freely to elect their representatives.
This International Conference on the theme “Safeguarding Election Management Bodies in the Age of Global Democratic Recession” offers an excellent opportunity to the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) together with other key electoral actors to discuss that should be done to protect and empower these EMBs so that they fully discharge their responsibility.
The important matter of the policies and values of political parties falls outside the mandate of the EMBs. However, any upright EMB would be gravely concerned in instances when especially dominant political parties have leaders and form governments which show by their statements and actions that they are not committed to ensuring the integrity of the elections.
In this context, perhaps our Conference could reflect on the matter – in such cases what should the EMB do?
Secondly, what must be done when the EMBs and other public institutions established to protect and advance democracy become the focus of generalised attack intended to discredit them in the public mind for partisan gain? In such situations, for instance, there might be allegations of bias or cohabitation with the ruling party without facts or evidence being provided?
I believe that the Conference objectives create the space to respond comprehensively to these challenges. I refer here to the objectives which include:
● to provide a platform for dialogue among EMBs and key stakeholders on democracy and elections, highlighting challenges and opportunities;
● to discuss critically the external vulnerabilities of the EMBs in the face of deteriorating democratic standards and find innovative ways to safeguard these Bodies;
● to explore alternative constructive mechanisms to complement what already exists in various EMB platforms and other entities the better to deal with the challenges of democratic recession, including disinformation on EMBs and electoral processes to promote such recession;
● to review the interventions by the global, continental, and inter-governmental institutions in addressing democratic recession and propose improvements to ensure resilient democratic electoral systems;
● to propose intervention by important bodies which normally do not deal directly with elections, such as the international development partners (donors), academia, non-governmental organisations, and think tanks, which would assist the EMBs as they address the impact of democratic recession;
● to disseminate the Conference proceedings and resolutions far and wide through media releases, the internet, and various publications, informed by a cogent communication strategy, to help ensure the biggest possible impact of the Conference views and decisions;
● to enhance the effectiveness of the operational machinery of the EMBs in emerging democracies and post-conflict countries, including their election management and administration structures, their leadership, their intra and inter-organisational coordination and their planning skills.
Director of Ceremonies:
To come closer to the practical, let me reflect briefly on some developments relating to relatively recent processes of democratisation.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the political transitions to democracy in the late 1990s have not necessarily resulted in functioning democracies everywhere. The varying trajectories of that transition from one continent to another, as well as from one country to another, have led to a mixed bag of results.
As Professor Larry Diamond rightly notes in his recent January 2022 article in the Journal of Democracy entitled “Democracy’s Arch: From Resurgent to Imperilled”, the different actors and the strategies they adopted have determined the character of the transitions.
In some countries such strategies have helped to resolve protracted and seemingly intractable conflicts, while in others violent conflict and civil strife have continued undiminished.
External and internal factors have combined to inspire the democratic efforts in some countries, but have served to propel democratic recession in others.
We must note with concern that the 2021 ‘Global State of Democracy Report’ recorded an increase of three times the number of countries experiencing democratic recession as against the number of countries moving towards democracy since 2016.
Indeed, on the basis of the criteria used in this Report, there are troubling signs reflecting the fragility of what has been achieved. Among the group characterised as being of nascent democracy, some are already suffering reversals.
The Report shows that, until 2020, these reversals tended to be related to the integrity of elections, the role of the media and freedom of expression. The major drivers of regression are characterised in the Report as including:
● the rise of the number of illiberal and populist parties in government;
● increasing levels of societal and political polarization, combined with low levels of support for democracy;
● economic crises and poverty;
● the mimicking of the large and influential economic and geopolitical players who exhibit, among other things, a lack of respect for constitutionalism, adherence to the rule of law and effective functioning political and economic institutions; and,
● the struggle to balance freedom of expression (especially through social media) with public safety, as well as the scourge of disinformation.
Based on the above prognosis by the ‘Global State of Democracy Report’, it is axiomatic that institutionalising and nurturing democracy is a daunting challenge. We must acknowledge the reality that both democratic and non-democratic practices can and do co-exist, and at times, in the same country.
I believe that it is therefore important that as the Conference tackles the different topics in the various Sessions, we must pay attention both to the drivers of democracy and its strengthening as well as the anti-democratic aspects which undermine and threaten the gains made, including how these threats manifest at the continental and country levels.
Given everything I have said relating to the processes of democratisation, I believe that this Conference is both significant and very timely. This is because in the context of these processes, there are some issues which fall within the ambit of electoral management.
Conference must identify these, which will include electoral matters that contribute towards and those that combat democratic recession. From this must emerge proposals about institutional and policy reforms to position the EMBs correctly.
Given the Theme of our Conference – “Safeguarding Election Management Bodies in the Age of Global Democratic Recession’ – I believe that there are some key questions that must foreground the discussions during our Conference. For example:
● what are the key characteristics or indicators of democratic recession and how do these evolve and manifest themselves globally;
● what is the state of electoral democracy and election management among the A-WEB member countries;
● what are the implications for the electoral processes of a loss of trust in the political processes, of reduced confidence in democracy and of loss of faith in governance institutions;
● what is the impact of democratic recession on the performance of election management bodies, on public participation (including of citizens from vulnerable groups such as women, youth, people with disabilities and internally displaced persons), and on the integrity of elections; and,
● what institutional and policy reforms are required to safeguard election management bodies in the context of democratic recession?
Fellow delegates:
It goes without saying that nothing succeeds by default. The success of a democracy that delivers better lives for the majority of its people requires that deliberate steps are taken towards such attainment. One of these steps involves the processes by which the people are able to choose who should govern and how any mandate is given to or withdrawn from those who are elected.
Given their importance in this regard, I am convinced that the EMBs meeting at this A–WEB Conference, must formulate and communicate their collective views about the major issues which attend the challenge to ensure that the people shall govern, and therefore that the democratic recession must be defeated.
Director of Ceremonies and honoured delegates:
I wish the Conference fruitful deliberations and look forward to studying the rich outcomes of those deliberations, including the plan of action to deal with the identified challenges.
I was very happy when I was informed that after a very full day of deliberations, delegates will get the opportunity to explore this beautiful but dramatically varied city and visit various heritage sites.
Please take all that as an open invitation especially to our foreign guests to come back and see more of our country, both the beautiful and the not so beautiful.
Please accept my best wishes to all of us to have a good stay and a safe journey back to our different destinations.
Thank you.