Why do we congratulate the winners of undemocratic elections?
On January 14, 2021, Uganda held its general elections, a process that is supposed to be democratic. However, the Ugandan elections were marred with allegations of rigging by the long-time president, Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country since 1986. Museveni’s opponent, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine was intimidated through the use of the armed forces, which surrounded his home for days prior to and after the results of the election being announced. Bobi Wine was also prevented from leaving his home. The elections were also filled with allegations of voter intimidation which were hard to verify owing to the media blackout that was instituted during this period. The elections were seen as a struggle between the old and the young, with Museveni being twice the age of Bobi Wine. These elections depict a clear issue in most African countries, where older generations want to stay longer in power and deny younger generations the opportunity to lead, thus resulting in a vicious circle, where society is also led by the old, and the potential of the youth is wasted.
On the other hand, during the election period, social media was awash with pictures of a police force, engaged in violence towards civilians. The photos and videos were very graphic, as blood was seen spewed on the roads, as civilians were viciously beaten. However, all this turned out to be propaganda seeking to turn the global public against Yoweri Museveni.
After a long and tense election period, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was announced to be the winner of the elections, unsurprisingly. He will be serving his sixth presidential term. Many had been hopeful that Bobi wine would win the elections, but in a dictatorial regime, this was unlikely to happen.
However, what was surprising or unsurprising, depending on how you look at it, was that there was an outpour of congratulatory messages from African leaders. This is despite the ‘democratic’ election being filled with inconsistencies. I personally expected better from our leaders. The use of diplomacy of silence would have been preferred to congratulating Yoweri Museveni on his ‘win’. Were the congratulatory messages sent out of reciprocity? Maybe the leaders hope that they will be supported by their fellow leaders in the event that they win elections under questionable circumstances. Congratulating Museveni can be viewed to be equivalent to supporting dictatorship, intimidation of voters and opponents, and the use of power to stay in power. This, however, reminds me of a question that was posed by a lecturer on campus: “ Is democracy really suited for African nations?” Anyway, that’s a discussion for another day.
It can therefore be expected in the future that when another electoral process is conducted in a questionable manner on our continent, the leader who wins will get the support of his peers.