ELECTIONS: A test and taste of democracy in Lakes state

By Victor Lugala

April 15, 2010 (RUMBEK) — Adhil Mathiang Del, a balding middle-aged man, did not sleep a wink on the night of 10 April. He bubbled with excitement as he waited for the crack of dawn. On the morning of 11 April, he was the early bird. Clean-clad, he walked briskly to Matangai polling station in Rumbek central and was the first voter in the queue. Without any hustle, the polling officer traced his name on the voters’ register. By around 9.15 AM local time he had cast his vote.

Like many of his compatriots in southern Sudan, this was Del’s first time to vote in an election. This was Sudan’s first multi-party election since 1986, and the first since the comprehensive peace agreement was signed in 2005..

“I’m now a happy man because I have fulfilled my democratic right,” said a smiling Del, as he cast a quick glance at the line of voters building up gradually.

At Matangai polling station there were three crooked queues of the early morning voters, mostly women, then men and the vulnerable. The latter queue comprised of pregnant women and the physically challenged.

James Mabor Kunglat, an ex-SPLA combatant was among the first voters in Rumbek town who exuded happiness and self-confidence: “I was an SPLA, but today my voting has made me an SPLM.”

Some of the problems witnessed in other parts of southern Sudan on the first day of polling were not uncommon in the eight counties of Lakes state. The most common problem was the misplacement of voters’ names. Some voters had to trek long distances in search of their names from one polling station to another. Others braved the scorching heat to cast their vote. For some, the general elections were a preliminary statement prior to the referendum in southern Sudan in 2011.

“I’m waiting for the referendum, and nobody must tamper with it!” said the sprightly Kunglat.

In the run up to the elections there were security concerns in Lakes state which has been a flash point in the last two years. Cases of cattle rustling have been rampant causing a wave of revenge killings. The many incidences of cattle raiding have been attributed to the possession of illegal firearms by civilians.
Although the immediate former governor of Lakes state, Daniel Awet Akot made disarmament one of the priorities of his five-year administration, not much was achieved to improve the situation.

Disarmament remains the biggest challenge of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) throughout southern Sudan. A botched disarmament exercise which resulted in the SPLA use of force in Cueibet County, 35 miles west of Rumbek town turned bloody when civilians engaged the army in running battles in February. About 28 people were killed, huts burned to ashes and property destroyed.

Ironically, the elections were conducted in a peaceful atmosphere as the care-taker governor, Telar Deng, had assured the people of the state two days prior to the elections. In his two-month interim administration, he is being credited for restoring relative calm in the counties of Cueibet, Yirol East and Yirol West, counties that have become notorious for communal violence among the larger cattle-owning Dinka ethnic group.

The Cueibet incident had a knock-on effect on the voter turnout. There were more women voters than men in most of the polling stations. The young men were said to be afraid to turn up at the polling stations because they didn’t want to be reminded of the forced disarmament, a fear that was not justified.

Most of the able-bodied young men had gone deep into the interior in search of water and pasture for their cattle. And some of these could not leave their animals unattended for fear of marauding bands of cattle rustlers who take advantage during such times. Moreover, walking to the town or trading centers where the polling stations were located meant walking for two days for some.

The Lakes state Director of police, Isaac Mayom has been a busy chief cop, visiting his uniformed men and women deployed in the polling stations to ensure that law and order is maintained, and to assure voters that they were in safe hands.

Another problem that might lead to many votes being disqualified is the lack of voter education during the campaigns. Southern Sudan has a population of more than 80 illiterate people. As a result some of the voters in the outskirts of Rumbek town had difficulty attaching meaning to the symbols although one obvious symbol was on the lips of many voters.

Some of the illiterate voters had to use finger prints instead of a tick or cross inside the circle of their preferred candidate. But even so, some people stamped their thumb prints on the foreheads of their favourite candidates. Some of them even voted for candidates who had boycotted the presidential race.

Among the voters who did not know how to read and write some could not tell the difference between party and candidate. They voted for people they knew or were related to them or hailed from their home area.

Due to poor colour separation some of the photos of the candidates on the ballot paper appeared different from the candidate’s original self. Some of them looked as if they had bleached faces, giving illiterate voters some doubt. Yet some of the candidates who in real life are easily identified by their trademark headgear or attire could not be identified by the village voters because they looked plain.

If numbers in democracy translate into real power then the women’s’ vote in Lakes state could have carried the day. Women turned up in big numbers in all the polling stations. Some of the breast-feeding mothers came with baby sitters to take care of their babies as they queued to vote. Some rare Dinka men also helped to baby-sit under a tree shade as they waited for their wives to vote.

It would be unfair to use international standards to compare southern Sudan with during these elections. That the elections were held at all without violence is a milestone in a nascent democracy. All the shortcomings that are characteristic of democratic elections in Africa, will serve as lessons in the4 nearest future.

As polls closed on Thursday, some of the party candidates are beginning to patronize some of the hotels in Rumbek town. There is feasting and the word beny (big man in Dinka) flies in the air every now and then to catch the attention of tomorrow’s honourable Member of Parliament or the cabinet minister in waiting.

And when all votes are counted and winners declared, voters like Adhil Mathiang Del and James Mabor Kunglat will find time to celebrate and brush shoulders with the leaders they elected into office, and to whisper into their ears that it is time for them to go to work and provide social services to the people as they promised during the campaigns.

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