3 - National Exercises

Summary

This chapter traces the history of election organization in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda. It identifies a common pattern of technical and institutional elaboration, driven by a desire to produce procedurally perfect elections through the combination of new technologies and more professional personnel. The chapter argues that this elaboration has come at a significant financial cost, but that it has had some effect in shaping the subjectivities of those involved as electoral officials and of voters. Yet this determined attempt to promote civic virtue through electoral performance – which has attracted much support from donors - has always been challenged by forms of patrimonial claims-making that persistently intrude into the imagined order of the electoral process. Intimidation and bribery, as well as pursuit of particular interest, drive malpractice; logistical failures and errors encourage the suspicion that others may not follow the rules. Ghana, Kenya and Uganda may seem to offer different stories: Ghana’s Electoral Commission attracts international praise, while Uganda’s has been heavily criticised. Yet that difference may be overstated: there is widespread suspicion of the electoral management bodies in all three countries. The production of citizens and state through electoral performance may be powerful, but it is very far from unquestioned.