{"id":159059,"date":"2017-02-21T09:54:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T07:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=159059"},"modified":"2017-02-21T12:13:08","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T10:13:08","slug":"why-opposition-parties-struggle-to-win-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/159059\/why-opposition-parties-struggle-to-win-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Why opposition parties struggle to win power"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last three decades there\u2019s been some progress towards institutionalising multiparty democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this elections in the region rarely result in changes of government<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A recent survey by Afrobarometer<\/a> \u2013 a non-partisan African research network \u2013 sheds some light on why this is the case.<\/p>\n

The survey, which involved 9 500 interviews conducted in 2014\/2015 in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, found widespread support for multiparty politics.<\/p>\n

But the results also show that opposition parties face major obstacles to winning majority support. These include the fact that they aren\u2019t trusted as much as governing parties and that very often they aren\u2019t seen as a viable alternative to the dominant ruling party.<\/p>\n

All five countries are governed by parties that emerged from liberation movements and have been in power for decades since independence. Although some of these incumbents have lost some electoral support in recent years, opposition support has not been high enough to unseat them.<\/p>\n

The trust question<\/h3>\n

The latest findings mirror the results of a survey in 36 African countries in 2014\/2015 which found that opposition parties had the lowest levels of popular trust<\/a> among 12 types of institutions and leaders. While trust in ruling parties was 46%, it was only 35% for opposition parties.<\/p>\n

This was an improvement over the situation more than a decade earlier when trust levels in opposition parties was much lower.<\/p>\n

Figure 1: Trust in opposition political parties<\/strong>| 5 countries in Southern Africa | 2014\/2015<\/p>\n

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Respondents were asked: How much do you trust each of the following, or haven\u2019t you heard enough about them to say: Opposition political parties? (Percentage who say \u2018somewhat\u2019 or \u2018a lot\u2019)<\/span> Afrobarometer<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Namibia and Mozambique levels of trust in opposition parties were found to be at the highest levels ever. But in Zimbabwe trust in the political opposition declined sharply after 2008\/2009. Similarly, the proportion of Zimbabweans who said they felt \u201cclose to\u201d an opposition party dropped from 45% in 2009 to 19% in 2014.<\/p>\n

This dramatic reversal of fortune provides an important lesson for opposition parties in the other four countries. First, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change<\/a>, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, was unable to leverage its role<\/a> in stabilising the country when it was part of the Government of National Unity (GNU).<\/p>\n

Secondly, infighting and increasing fractionalisation<\/a> may have further shaped public opinion about its viability as a party.<\/p>\n

Unequal<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s a much more lopsided distribution of power and resources for opposition parties in countries with dominant governing parties than for those in competitive party systems. This, coupled with a lack of governance experience, makes it difficult for opposition parties to be seen as credible alternatives.<\/p>\n

Take the example of Botswana. The Botswana Democratic Party, in power since independence in 1966, is the region\u2019s most enduring dominant party. It has even adopted the slogan \u201cThere is still<\/em> no alternative\u201d<\/a>. Although the party has been able to maintain a majority of parliamentary seats, its share of the popular vote declined<\/a> to 46.7% in 2014, the lowest level of any of the dominant parties in the region.<\/p>\n

Afrobarometer\u2019s 2014 survey, which took place a few months before the election, showed that 44% of Batswana agreed that the political opposition presented a viable alternative vision and plan for the country (Table 1, below).<\/p>\n

Table 1: Perceptions of opposition viability<\/strong> | 10 countries in southern African | 2014\/2015<\/p>\n

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Respondents were asked: Please tell me whether you agree or disagree with the following statement: The political opposition in [your country] presents a viable alternative vision and plan for the country? (Note: This question was not asked in Swaziland.)<\/span> Afrobarometer<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Botswana\u2019s \u201cwinner-takes-all\u201d electoral system, a large part of the opposition\u2019s success in the 2014 election was due to three parties forming a coalition – the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC)<\/a>. This reduced vote splitting. A recent decision to expand the coalition<\/a> to include the country\u2019s remaining major opposition party, the Botswana Congress Party, has led to speculation about the chance of an opposition electoral victory in 2019.<\/p>\n

Similarly, in South Africa, the opposition\u2019s strong showing<\/a> in the 2016 local elections has bolstered its optimism about its prospects in the 2019 national and provincial polls.<\/p>\n

This success suggests that confidence in the political opposition<\/a> may have grown since the 2015 Afrobarometer survey. It could also reflect widespread dissatisfaction with the governing African National Congress and political institutions<\/a>, leaders<\/a> and performance<\/a> on a range of key policy areas.<\/p>\n

But public dissatisfaction with government performance doesn\u2019t necessarily translate into perceptions that opposition parties could do a better job, as Figure 2 shows. This is particularly so in South Africa and Zimbabwe. While eight in 10 citizens in the two countries report poor government performance on their top policy priority (unemployment<\/a>, only 37% say that another political party could solve the problem.<\/p>\n

Figure 2: Poor government performance on most important problem and opposition ability to solve problem<\/strong> | 5 countries in southern Africa | 2014\/2015<\/p>\n

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Respondents were asked: In your opinion, what are the most important problems facing this country that government should address? – Thinking of the problem you mentioned first, in your opinion, how well or badly would you say the current government is handling this problem, or haven\u2019t you heard enough to say? (Percentage who say \u2018very badly\u2019 or \u2018fairly badly\u2019) – Thinking of the problem you mentioned first, in your opinion, is there any other political party that could do a better job in solving this problem? (% who say \u2018yes\u2019)<\/span> Afrobarometer<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Role of opposition parties<\/h3>\n

What role should opposition parties play?<\/p>\n

Only a minority of citizens in the five southern African countries with dominant parties agree that the opposition\u2019s primary role should be to<\/p>\n

monitor and criticise the government in order to hold it accountable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is true even among respondents who are opposition party supporters (Figure 3, below). In South Africa there\u2019s even been a decline since 2008\/2009 in support for opposition parties playing a \u201cwatchdog\u201d role.<\/p>\n

Figure 3: Support for opposition \u2018watchdog\u2019 role<\/strong>| 5 countries in southern African countries | 2008-2015<\/p>\n

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