Namibia still a ‘flawed democracy’
ELLANIE SMIT
Namibia has been ranked as one of the top ten most democratic countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but was still labelled as having a “flawed democracy”.
In the newly released Democracy Index 2018: Political Participation, Protest and Democracy, Namibia is ranked as the seventh most democratic country in sub-Saharan Africa and 69th globally among 167 countries worldwide.
It obtained an overall score of 6.25, based on the country’s electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of the government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.
Namibia scored the highest in the civil liberties category (7.94) and for political participation (6.67).
Its lowest scores were for electoral process and pluralism (5.67), political culture (5.63) and for a functioning government (5.36).
Namibia’s overall score dropped from 6.31 in 2017 to 6.25 last year. The country obtained its best score in 2006 (6.54), but since then its score has steadily decreased.
Mauritius topped the index in the sub-Saharan Africa region, followed by Cabo Verde, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho and Ghana.
Mauritius is also the only country in the region that was categorised as having a full democracy.
The poorest-performing country in the region was Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which had an “authoritarian democracy”.
The report said the state of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa has remained poor over the years.
“A concentration of authoritarian regimes continues to characterise the region, which contains seven of the 15 lowest ranked countries in the world. Although the regional average score in the index improved marginally in 2018 to 4.36 (up from 4.35 in 2017), developments across the region were decidedly mixed, with a relatively small number of significant improvements offsetting a wider trend of stagnation or deterioration across much of the continent,” the report said.
Only 12 out of the 44 countries in the region recorded any improvement in their overall score, nine worsened, and around half of the countries were unchanged.
According to the report there has, however, been a notable improvement in political participation in the region over the past five years, as elections have become more commonplace.
In 2018 the region’s average score for the category improved to 4.37 - up from 4.32 in 2017.
Meanwhile, the score for electoral process weakened slightly to 4.30 in 2018 - down from 4.31 in 2017.
“Although elections have become commonplace across much of the region, the regional score for electoral processes has been persistently low, reflecting a lack of genuine pluralism in most countries. This is also reflected in the fact that around 18 African presidents have been in power for over a decade, some of them since their countries gained independence.”
The regional score for political culture, which assesses the population’s perceptions of democracy, deteriorated to 5.24 in 2018 - from 5.27 in 2017.
The region’s average score for civil liberties also remained poor, relative to global standards, weighed down by continued attacks on the media and on freedom of expression by governments in several countries.
However, the region’s average score for civil liberties actually improved marginally in 2018, to an average of 4.51 - up from 4.5 in 2017.
According to the report, a global comparison suggests that sub-Saharan Africa remains a long way off from other regions in terms of the advancement of democracy.
Globally, Norway was ranked as the most democratic country in the world, while North Korea was ranked as the least democratic.
Namibia has been ranked as one of the top ten most democratic countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but was still labelled as having a “flawed democracy”.
In the newly released Democracy Index 2018: Political Participation, Protest and Democracy, Namibia is ranked as the seventh most democratic country in sub-Saharan Africa and 69th globally among 167 countries worldwide.
It obtained an overall score of 6.25, based on the country’s electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of the government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.
Namibia scored the highest in the civil liberties category (7.94) and for political participation (6.67).
Its lowest scores were for electoral process and pluralism (5.67), political culture (5.63) and for a functioning government (5.36).
Namibia’s overall score dropped from 6.31 in 2017 to 6.25 last year. The country obtained its best score in 2006 (6.54), but since then its score has steadily decreased.
Mauritius topped the index in the sub-Saharan Africa region, followed by Cabo Verde, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho and Ghana.
Mauritius is also the only country in the region that was categorised as having a full democracy.
The poorest-performing country in the region was Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which had an “authoritarian democracy”.
The report said the state of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa has remained poor over the years.
“A concentration of authoritarian regimes continues to characterise the region, which contains seven of the 15 lowest ranked countries in the world. Although the regional average score in the index improved marginally in 2018 to 4.36 (up from 4.35 in 2017), developments across the region were decidedly mixed, with a relatively small number of significant improvements offsetting a wider trend of stagnation or deterioration across much of the continent,” the report said.
Only 12 out of the 44 countries in the region recorded any improvement in their overall score, nine worsened, and around half of the countries were unchanged.
According to the report there has, however, been a notable improvement in political participation in the region over the past five years, as elections have become more commonplace.
In 2018 the region’s average score for the category improved to 4.37 - up from 4.32 in 2017.
Meanwhile, the score for electoral process weakened slightly to 4.30 in 2018 - down from 4.31 in 2017.
“Although elections have become commonplace across much of the region, the regional score for electoral processes has been persistently low, reflecting a lack of genuine pluralism in most countries. This is also reflected in the fact that around 18 African presidents have been in power for over a decade, some of them since their countries gained independence.”
The regional score for political culture, which assesses the population’s perceptions of democracy, deteriorated to 5.24 in 2018 - from 5.27 in 2017.
The region’s average score for civil liberties also remained poor, relative to global standards, weighed down by continued attacks on the media and on freedom of expression by governments in several countries.
However, the region’s average score for civil liberties actually improved marginally in 2018, to an average of 4.51 - up from 4.5 in 2017.
According to the report, a global comparison suggests that sub-Saharan Africa remains a long way off from other regions in terms of the advancement of democracy.
Globally, Norway was ranked as the most democratic country in the world, while North Korea was ranked as the least democratic.
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