The EconomistJuly 22nd 2017 471T
O BE a democracy takes more than free
elections. But no democracy can thrive
without them. In some places votes are
travesties, with incumbents sweeping the
board; in others, free elections are en-
trenched. It is places in between—where
multiparty elections are relatively new, the
result is uncertain and the incumbents’
willingness to accept defeat cannot be pre-
sumed—where there is most to play for.
Hope is strongest in various of sub-Sa-
haran Africa’s 48 countries. Not until 1991,
in Benin and then Zambia, did the region
see peaceful ejections of incumbent rulers
at the ballot box (the long-democratic is-
land of Mauritius excepted). Africa has
now had decent transitions via elections at
least 45 times. Plenty have slid back: in
Zambia last year Edgar Lungu, the incum-
bent, passed the winning 50% mark by a
suspiciously thin margin of 0.35%. His chal-
lenger, Hakainde Hichilema, was later
jailed after his car convoy failed to give
way to the president’s. But note recent big
successes. Elections in Nigeria in 2015 and
Ghana last year sawincumbentsfall. In
January a Gambian dictator had to accept
the voters’ will. In June Lesotho’s prime
minister more graciously bowed out.
Next up is Kenya, on August 8th. It is the
commercial, diplomatic and strategic hub
of east Africa, yet its post-colonial multi-
party elections, held only since 1992, have
been fraught. Post-election violence inpress thumb or finger on a tablet (shown
on next page). Up come matching names
and photographs. Officials in the polling
stations will adjudicate in case of glitches.
Votes are cast on printed ballot papers,
once an identity is confirmed. The presi-
dential resultmust be announced within
seven days. If no one wins more than 50%,
a run-off mustbe held within a month. (In
2013 suspicions rose when Uhuru Kenyatta
squeaked past that mark by a mere few
thousand votes, though he probably did
genuinely win the first round.)
Last time half of the much clunkier de-
vices in use failed to work on the day. With-
in a few hours most of their batteries had
run out; this time polling stations will have
spares. Kenya’s mobile-network providers
are co-operating; 3Gcovers only78% of the
country’s territory but 98% of the stations
are in range, says MrChiloba, and satellite
phones may serve the few that are not.
By July 2nd about half of the 120m bal-
lot papers for the six sets of elections (in-
cluding for governors of 47 counties and
for women’s special representation) had
been printed, though a last-minute snag
has arisen. On July 7th the high court ac-
cepted the main opposition party’s bid to
nullify the tender for printing the ballots
for the presidencyamid accusations that
the printing contract had been improperly
awarded. If the commission’s appeal fails,
a new printer will be needed in a hurry.
Each party and candidate will be enti-
tled to put agents in polling stations to
oversee the count, which will be transmit-
ted electronically and also manually to
one of 290 constituency stations. The su-
preme court hasdecided that, once the re-
sult has been declared there, it cannot be
changed at the counting headquarters. In
Kenya and elsewhere, much fiddling has
happened centrally. So this ruling is hugely2007 left at least 1,300 dead and 700,000
displaced. Thatpoll and the following one,
in 2013, are widely thought to have been
flawed. This time both Kenyans and for-
eigners are trying to ensure a fair contest.
Procedures for ensuring cleaner elections,
some using improved technology, will be
on trial. If they work well, hope for fragile
young democracies everywhere will be
boosted. Failure, meanwhile, would be felt
as a blow in Kenya and beyond.This year’s nail-biter
According to Ezra Chiloba, CEO of Kenya’s
Independent Electoral and Boundaries
Commission, preparations are far better
this time than last. Asubsidiary of Safran, a
French firm best known for aerospace
technology, has delivered 45,000 tablets to
check biometric voter identification at the
40,833 polling stations and to prevent mul-
tiple voting. Around 360,000 officials have
been hired and trained to staff them and
oversee the count. The voters’ register of
19.6m has been vetted byKPMG, an inter-
national auditor. No one claims it is per-
fect: births and deaths often go unrecorded
in Kenya’s remote places. “But if the voter
ID works it doesn’t matter how bad the vot-
ers’ roll is,” saysDon Bisson of the Carter
Centre, which is monitoring the elections.
“Dead people don’t have voter biomet-
rics,” says an official of the commission.
To prove their identities, voters mustSpreading democracyHow to unrig an election
NAIROBI
New methods and technology can make elections fairer. But it is still hard to
dislodge an incumbent who is determined to cheatInternational