The world’s attention has been riveted in 2008, by election crises in Africa, first Kenya, and now Zimbabwe. In both cases, challenges remain in converting electoral victory to political power. Can a victorious opposition come to power in the face of an obstinate incumbent? This question is particularly relevant when the incumbent regime controls the coercive apparatus of the state and the opposition only has the ballot in its corner. In the battle of the ballot vs. the bullet, can there ever be a fair match?

Historically the answer has been no. But new developments on the democratic front in Africa in the last decade have strengthened election support and monitoring by key regional bodies, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU). In 2004, SADC adopted ‘Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections’ aimed at ‘enhancing the transparency and credibility of elections and democratic governance as well as ensuring the acceptance of election results by contesting parties”. The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance adopted by the AU in 2007 to, among other things, ‘promote the holding of regular free and fair elections to institutionalize legitimate authority of representative government as well as democratic change of government”, consolidated gains on the electoral front. These developments have strengthened the electoral process on the continent, creating the space for opposition parties to compete fairly. At a minimum, international supervision through these protocols compels sitting governments to desist from outright repression and undemocratic practices.