LOCAL ELECTIONS AND REFERENDUM: An illusion or steps for democracy… [Archives:2001/11/Focus]

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
By Sharif Akram
Achieving democracy and trying to make it work is not an easy task. The democratic countries of today have worked hard for it. In France for instance, it took 200 hundred years to stabilize a republican democratic system. Compared with others, we are a baby democracy, trying to walk on our own two feet. Considering the environment that we are in, our route to achieve democracy is even harder, and there are internal and external obstacles, and interest circles that will be extremely delighted about the dark future of Yemeni democracy.
We have to be thankful to our leaders for organizing the local elections, for it really paves the way for the emancipation of ordinary people, to give them the chance to govern themselves.
For the constitutional amendments, I strongly believe that constitutions are for the people, and they can be changed in the interest of the people and the country. But changing the constitution should not create unequal opportunities, it should not change the balance of power of the institutions of the state, it should not lead the country to an illusionist democracy, in which the people are just the audience. Democracy is like an interactive play, in which all parts of the cast perform, in perfect harmony with the audience.
Constitutions, States, Governments, Parliaments are for the people, they are not higher than the people, they are there because of the people, they are there to serve the people in accordance with the will of the people…
During the last elections, many sad and unwanted events took place in many parts of the country. I have many questions, which need many answers…
First, why did our wise leaders rush into local elections, which are a complicated task even in stable democracies?
Why didn’t anyone listen to the advice of the International NGOs and donor countries that said, “there is not enough time to hold local elections and you should postpone them”?
Why did we organize everything at the last moment and face lots of problems during the elections?
Were all these killings and armed conflicts needed in order to win a chair in the local council? And actually, what is the real meaning of that chair? Will it really put us, the people, inside the decision making process in local authorities? Or will it be only a puppet council whose sole role will be justifying the decisions taken by the appointed governor or director?
Why did irregularities and fraud claims appear? Weren’t the financial resources and media of the state enough for the ruling party to win the elections?
Why were soldiers taken from certain districts to vote in other parts of the country towards the end of the voting process?
Why did the ally of the main party, create such a big fuss after the elections? What went wrong? Why did they reject the results immediately after the elections? Why did they take their step back?
Now, and two weeks after the elections, why aren’t we able to know the exact results for the local council elections at district and governorate levels?
We are still waiting for the answers.

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