The dead: What would they have made of elections today?

Multipartism returned to Tanzania 30 years ago, in what was described as a ‘democratic wave’ sweeping through the continent at the time. During this time, we have come to be a country that is obsessed with elections. There are many people who did not get to see this era, passing on with the experience of elections held during the one-party state. What would these make of the current ‘competitive’ elections?

Tanzania became a one-party state after the elections of 1965. Between then and 1995 when the country held a multiparty general election, three decades had passed with five general elections in between. Since 1995, there have been six general elections in the country and a dizzying number of by-elections.

There are some things which would be very familiar to them. As was the case then, it is the case now, that the presidential vote cannot be contested in a court of law while it is not the case with the rest of posts down the ballot. There are still members of parliament from geographical constituencies even though these have multiplied from the days of the one-party state. What has disappeared are national and regional MPs. Otherwise the setup is relatively still the same.

They lived in a time when political competitors were from the same political party and a presidential candidate who ran unopposed. Would they understand the flourishing of candidates in today’s elections, from different political parties with more than one presidential candidate? What would they make of that? This ‘competitiveness’ of the multiparty era, would they see any similarity to the ‘competitiveness’ of the one-party era?

Would they understand the tensions that come with elections in the multiparty era? One-party state elections were held with no dangers or the possibility of the party in power being swept aside. There was no possibility of elections concluding with a majority of any party in parliament other than the ruling party. Would they understand that such tensions are part of the new reality?

Violence has come to be part of the reality in the multiparty era. Over the years there have been many reports of people losing limb or life in election-related violence. Would they make sense of people fleeing the country before elections or immediately after elections in anticipation of violence? Would they understand people losing limb or life over elections?

What of corruption? Not a single general election since 1995 has passed with allegations of corruption in different parts of the country on different levels of the election. Would they comprehend the idea of an individual who wants to ‘serve’ influencing or buying the outcome of an electoral contest so that they can serve? Would they understand the bizarre reality of elections being harvest time for the enterprising poor man and woman throughout the country?

That does not include the official price tag of holding elections in an economically struggling or outright poor country.

There is the money that pours into a country during elections for all sorts of purposes from providing civic education to voters to facilitating all sorts of observers. There is an entire industry based on this. Even though there are voters of the multiparty era who consider elections as a boon, they still get paltry sums compared to what is offered to or for these other groups. What would they make of it?

Would this make any sense to them?

The simple process of electing leaders has come to be a very difficult undertaking in the multiparty era. Would they attribute this to increased use of technologies in elections? Or perhaps they would be amused at the spectacle of our difficulties with this simple task? That a country goes into an election comes out on the other end almost in pieces?

Would they really understand any of this even though those of us living through these times struggle to make sense of it all?

There is a good chance that they may think they woke up in a wrong country. Would any of this scare them?