Review,on,the,Rise,of,Emerging,Political,Parties,in,Africa

Wang Xuejun

Since the beginning of the 21st century, a number of influential new political parties have emerged in many African countries, posing different degrees of impact and challenges to the established party political system, making it an important phenomenon worthy of attention in African party politics in recent years.

The new political parties that emerged in African countries around the turn of the 21st century can be generally categorized into three types according to their status in relation to government power: the first type refers to those quickly became the main opposition party upon establishment; the second type became the ruling party after several elections; and the third type initially emerged as an opposition party but eventually became a coalition party.

The first type of parties, the emerging parties that quickly become the main opposition party after their establishment, are most common. They are represented by the Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa, the Rally for Democracy and Progress and the Independent Patriots for Change in Namibia, the Party of Patriots of Senegal, the National Unity Platform in Uganda, the Citizens Coalition for Change in Zimbabwe and the Umbrella for Democratic Change in Botswana.

The Party of Patriots of Senegal, for example, was founded in January 2014 by a number of young political amateurs from the public service or private sector, including Ousman Sonko. In 2017, this party contested in the National Assembly elections and its leader Sonko was elected to the parliament. The party then campaigned the 2019 presidential elections, its candidate Sonko ranking third with 15.67% of the vote. As Seck, the leader of the second-placed Nation (Rewmi) Party chose to join the government after the general election, many voters saw Sonko as the standard-bearer of the leaders of the opposition.

The second type of emerging parties includes the Patriotic Front and United Party for National Development in Zambia, the Alliance for Republic (Alliance Pour la République) in Senegal, the All Progressives Congress in Nigeria and the Seychelles Democratic Alliance (Liny on Demokratik Seselwa).

The history of the Zambian Patriotic Front (PF) and United Party for National Development (UPND) is most typical. During the 20 years from 1991 to 2011, the political party landscape in Zambia evolved into one where the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) had stayed in power for a long time. However, at the end of its second electoral cycle in power, two new parties emerged. One was the UPND and the other was PF. The PF, which split from the ruling MMD in 2001, began its rise to become Zambia’s largest opposition party in 2006 and defeated MMD to become the ruling party in the 2011 general election. The UPND was founded in 1998. In its political debut in 2001 presidential election, the party became the largest opposition party in Zambia with its candidate Mazoka narrowly lost by 1.9% to the ruling MMD, although later lagging behind the strongly emergent Patriotic Front. After six elections, the UPND leader Hichilema eventually won in the August 2021 presidential election, and the UPND succeeded the Patriotic Front which had been in power for ten years as the new ruling party in Zambia.

The third type of political parties are the emergent parties that develop into participatory parties after their founding. In African countries, a large number of small parties do not aim to run for office, but rather to seek patronage from ruling parties. There are only a limited number of parties that have been able to remain in opposition for a long time to counter balance the ruling party and fight for power, and an even smaller number of emerging parties to become the ruling party. Consequently, Africa’s long-term ruling parties either govern alone or dominate stable governing coalitions, such as the ANC-led Tripartite Alliance in South Africa. Rarely do ruling parties incorporate emerging parties as participants in coalition governments. Only in countries where the shift from a long-term one-party dominance to a competitive multi-party system is going on, as in the case of the Alliance of Progressive Forces (Alliance des Forces de Progrès) in Senegal.

The rise of emergent political parties in Africa has been influenced by both the structural changes of societies in Africa, and long-accumulated socio-political and economic problems as well as evolution of contradictions within long-term ruling parties.

First, rapid urbanization and rejuvenation of population have provided the social basis for emergent political parties. Urbanization and rejuvenation are two important trends that have characterized Africa’s development since the beginning of the 21st century. The new generation of young people, who do not feel the historical legitimacy that the longterm ruling parties have gained from liberation movements, worry about unemployment and poverty, and yearn for change and improvement in their living conditions. New political parties that can capture and take advantage of the desire for change of young people are often supported by them. The emerging political parties in Africa since the 21st century have often emerged rapidly as a powerful response to the voices and needs of young people. The UPND has a dedicated youth unit and one of its main functions is how to respond to the voices of young people. It was the focus of the leaders of the new party on the youth and their social concerns that enabled it to rise quickly after its establishment.

Members and supporters of the United Party for National Development celebrate victory in Lusaka, Zambia.

Malema, Economic Freedom Fighters leader, speaks at a press conference following the results of the local elections in South Africa late in 2021.

Local residents after looting incidents in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, South Africa, July 15, 2021.

Secondly, the failure of longterm ruling parties to address socioeconomic governance issues has left room for the emergence of new political parties on social issues. There are two main kinds of problems facing economic and social governance in African countries. The first is the old problems left over or accumulated from the colonial period. The most important of these is the issue of land distribution. During the decolonization process, economic problems such as the inequitable distribution of land between black and white ethnic groups caused by colonial rule persisted after independence, despite the fact that the population took over the rule through armed struggle and negotiation, and that inter-ethnic reconciliation agreements were reached. The economic and social development of these African countries has not been satisfactory after independence. The economic situation of the general population, especially the chronical injustice of land distribution has not improved much. These have led to widespread discontent among the population. The second is the new contradictions and problems that have arisen with the development in Africa since the 1990s, namely the problem of uneven growth. Although African economies have maintained an average annual growth rate of roughly 5% since the mid-1990s and especially since the 21st century, this growth has been highly uneven. This has manifested itself in two ways: firstly, poverty has increased; secondly, economic growth has been accompanied by increased unemployment. The interplay of Africa’s old and new problems has led to growing discontent and disappointment among the population with the long-term ruling party, which in turn has provided the social ground for the emergence of new political parties.

Thirdly, bad governance and internal disunity within the ruling parties have provided political opportunities for the rise of new parties. The internal problems of Africa’s long-term ruling parties are mainly manifested in three areas. First, corruption among some of the officials. Some of the leading officials of longterm ruling parties in African countries are seriously corrupt, which can be seen in their embezzlement of national resources and international aid fund and trading in government and business interests. Secondly, the problems of bureaucracy. Many African countries have a low level of social integration, and the national identity in rural society is generally weak. The administrative inefficiency has become a common feature of many African countries. Third, party fragmentation caused by leadership succession and other factors. Leadership succession is a core issue that dominates the governance within political parties. In Zambia, the MMD, which had been in power for a long time, was twice divided and weakened by the issue of leadership succession, which was a major reason why the Patriotic Front won the presidential election in 2011.

The rise of many new political parties has profoundly affected the traditional political party landscape in some African countries. At the same time, there are obvious differences between the values and campaign strategies of emerging political parties and traditional political parties, which have led to unprecedented changes in party ideology and political agenda in some of the African countries.

Firstly, it has impacted or even changed the basic landscape of political parties in related countries. With the accumulation of electoral experience and the maturing of competitive strategies, some emerging parties have expanded their influence through party alliances, informal alliances based on personal relationships, as well as ethnic rally and populist social mobilization. All these have had important impact on the party landscape in some of the African countries. In some cases, they have disrupted the long-term rule by traditional political parties. They have either defeated the ruling parties in repeated electoral contests (such as in the cases of Zambia and Senegal) or ended the political landscape where traditional parties that had constantly ruled were defeated at one fell swoop after several opposition parties aligned and formed new parties (such as in the cases of Gambia in 2016, and Seychelles in 2020.). In other cases, although the governments haven’t been changed, the rise of a new party as an opposition party has received greater support and response from the electorate and weakened the dominance of the ruling party. This has manifested itself in two main ways: firstly, the ruling party’s support in the presidential election polls has dropped significantly. Secondly, the ruling party lost its majority advantage in the parliamentary elections.

Senegal holds 2022 National Assembly elections.

Secondly, it has contributed to changes in the local political landscape. The impact of the rise of new political parties on the political landscape of African countries is also evident in the changes in the leadership of local governments. Under the impact of the EFF and the Democratic Alliance in South Africa, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has not only seen a decline in support nationwide in recent years, but also gradually lost control in some of the metropolitan areas and provinces. The fact that some of the local governments are being led by new political parties not only weakens the ruling party’s control over local areas, but more importantly, the demonstration effect is likely to trigger a wider range of voters to support the new parties, thus gradually shaking the ruling party’s social foundations.

People line up for free lunch in Accra, Ghana.

Third, it will lead to changes in party ideology and political agenda. Compared to the long-term ruling parties, the emerging parties do not have the “incumbency advantage” to access state resources, nor do they have the realistic demands of maintaining the status quo or prioritizing stability, so they tend to seize on issues and ideologies that are ignored by the ruling parties but have a social base so as to attract public support. For example, the left-wing populist EFF has changed the ideological balance of party politics in South Africa, i.e., the ANC in the centre, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions on the left, and the Democratic Alliance and black conservatives on the right. It spurred the left-wing ideological inclination of the black people in the country while triggering off reaction of the white extremist parties. In this way, the political polarization in South Africa has been exacerbated. In addition, thanks to the calls by the EEF, the redistribution of land and mineral resources became a key agenda in South African electoral politics, and the ANC was prompted to push for discussions of the constitutional amendment to expropriate land without compensation.