Funny African elections: A family of three can form a political party

　　Elections in African countries are varied, and the solutions are even unimaginable. “The elections that I saw in Guinea-Bissau were an eye-opener, as funny as watching a funny skit show. The people who participated in the elections sang and danced like a festival. said the diplomat stationed in Africa.
　　The keywords of African elections used to be disorder, fraud, violence and conflict. What is the truth? Tian Guangfeng, a Chinese diplomat in Africa (successfully served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste), in his book “Into Africa: The World Through the Eyes of a Diplomat” describes the African elections he personally experienced.
　　
　　There are all kinds of things, and there are all kinds of surprises. The elections of
　　 African countries are all kinds of things, and the solutions used are beyond imagination.
　　 The elections I witnessed in Guinea-Bissau were an eye-opener, as comical as watching a funny skit show and making people laugh out loud.
　　People who participated in the election activities sang and danced like a festival. The candidate stepped on the cow that had just been killed and fell to the ground, held a bottle of beer and a can of Coke above his head with both hands, and shouted into the air: “Beef! Beer! Coca-Cola! Come on!” Good food!” It seems that he has persisted there for a long time, and his voice is a little hoarse.
　　 People passing by quickly surrounded him, and the candidate shouted with great excitement that if he was elected, he would definitely give people more beef.
　　 The candidates were still talking endlessly, but the onlookers had already lost their patience. They pulled out the butcher knives they had prepared in advance and rushed towards the fallen cow.
　　 After a while of hacking, the cow was cut up, and several boxes of beer and Coke beside the cow disappeared.
　　 At this time, the candidate who was giving a speech stood there in a daze, at a loss.
　　 The voters who participated in the rally were full of joy and walked away happily carrying the bloody beef. Before they got home, the beer and Coke were exhausted. Whether they voted for the beef-supplied candidate is another matter. Because they started to go to other places to see what other candidates would provide them with food or supplies.
　　 This is because there is no local cultural gene of “eating people with soft mouths and short hands”.
　　
　　A family of three can form a political party
　　 Another phenomenon is also very interesting. Every time there is an election in the local area, there are as many candidates as a cow, and political parties spring up like mushrooms, increasing every day.
　　In Guinea-Bissau, a family of three can form a political party. No matter which party you talk to, there is no party that does not say its party will win. Even the political party formed by the family of three will insist that their family’s political party will win, and there is no suspense.
　　 Therefore, under normal circumstances, I will not take the initiative to ask which political party has the possibility of winning, but only ask which political party will win the second place in the election. If the majority of political parties agree that a certain party will come second in a future election, it is almost certain that that party will win.
　　 The fact is also the same. During the several elections in Guinea-Bissau, I used this method to understand the results.
　　 However, African countries have different customs, folk customs, and national characters, so I cannot completely copy them in this way.
　　Why there will always be
　　 riots The compatriots in Abuja minimized going out during the Nigerian presidential primary election and strengthened self-protection.
　　 Obviously, reminding the local Chinese to pay attention to safety is because they are worried about riots or other uncontrollable events during the primary election, so as not to affect innocent people. So why are there always riots in general elections (primaries) in Africa?
　　 In fact, the riots caused by elections around the world are basically similar, especially in countries with multi-party systems, riots are prone to occur when the regime is handed over, and the inability to smoothly hand over power is the direct cause of the riots.
　　 After careful study, there are mainly the following reasons.
　　 The loser does not accept the result and refuses to concede defeat In Africa, the most influential is the 2011 Nigerian presidential election. The results of the Nigerian presidential election were officially announced on the evening of April 18 of that year, and then President Goodluck Jonathan won the election with an absolute advantage. However, Jonathan’s main rival, Progressive Change Congress Party candidate Muhammad Buhari did not accept the election results, believing that there was fraud in the election. Afterwards, some criminals organized riots in many areas in the north, causing a large number of casualties.
　　 Ethnic and religious factors will cause dissatisfaction with the election results. In some countries, the president is rotated according to the region (almost by default), and the division of political parties, ethnic groups, and religions is based on the region. Once it should have been the opposition party’s turn to come to power by default, but the ruling party is re-elected, then the opposition party will definitely not let it go, and will not compromise on matters related to its own ethnicity and religion. Especially in Africa, the power of religion is very strong.
　　 Unbalanced regional economic development, such as the relatively large economic gap between North and South Nigeria. Nigeria is a country with a large population in Africa and the country with the largest oil production. The main commercial trade is concentrated in the southern coastal area. The economic situation in northern regions such as Kano is relatively poor. If the previous president cannot represent the interests of the region, riots will easily occur.
　　 A typical example of systematic fraud in elections is Gabon, Africa. On August 31, 2016, Gabonese opposition leader Jean Ping lost the presidential election against Gabonese Democratic Party candidate and current President Bongo. The opposition believed that the election was suspected of fraud, took to the streets to protest and clashed with the police.
　　 In short, foreign elections are a large-scale event that burns money. Especially when the national economy is relatively weak, the living standards of the people in some African countries are low, the unemployment rate is high, and they have lost confidence in the country and society. It is very easy to have conflicts and contradictions.