It happens to be a year of elections for Africa, as over 20 countries in the region are scheduled to hold elections this year. A few presidential elections have held in the first half of the year, while others are underway. Here’s a look at some of the major elections that have taken place in Africa this year and some common trends that ran through them.
Senegal
The presidential elections in Senegal held on the 24 February 2019, in which the incumbent president Macky Sall scored a 58% in the first round of elections. The President of Senegal is elected using the two-round system, where a candidate must receive over 50% of the vote to be elected in the first round. Only five candidates made it to the ballot paper; Madicke Niang, Issa Sall, Macky Sall, Idrissa Seck, and Ousmane Sanko. More than 6.6 million people were registered to vote in the election and 66% of that number turned up to cast their votes. Sall won in 13 of the country’s 14 regions. On 5 March 2019, the Constitutional Council confirmed the election results but the opposition candidates have rejected the results. However, instead of pursuing legal means to defend their position, the candidates have noted that a court challenge would be futile. Senegal has one of the fastest-growing economies on the continent and is considered to be one of the most stable democracies in Africa.
Nigeria
On February 23, 2019, Nigerians went to the poll to elect a leader, with over 70 candidates on the ballot. The incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress, won the election with 57% of the total vote. But, his victory has since been contested in court by the opposition, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party, former vice president and businessman. About 73 million people should have been able to vote but only a third of the electorate showed up at the polls due to several factors. According to BBC, the 2019 general election recorded the lowest turnout in Nigeria’s 20-year history as a democracy. Up to 50 people said to have lost their lives due to election violence and some officials reportedly received grievous bodily harm during the process.
Malawi
On 21 May 2019, the general elections in Malawi were held to elect the President, National Assembly and local government councillors. The incumbent, President Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), maintained his seat after winning the elections with a score of 38.67% of the votes against nine other candidates. This includes the vice President, Saulos Chilima, who left the DPP to contest under the United Transformation Movement. The results of the 2019 elections have been contested in court by the Lazarus-Chakwera- and Saulos-Chilima-led opposition groups. This has also resulted in nation-wide protests that started in May and have lasted till July 2019. Protesters in the country also called for the resignation of the Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission, Jane Ansah. Counter-protesters also held “I am Jane Ansah” protests, citing the call for her resignation as discrimination against her gender.
South Africa
On the 22nd of May 2019, an indirect presidential election was held following the general election which held on 8 May. Cyril Ramaphosa of African National Congress was the only candidate who was nominated for the presidency. He emerged winner after holding a majority of the parliament vote. The opposition had nothing for Ramaphosa but congratulations and goodwill.
Mauritania
Mauritania’s ruling party candidate Mohamed Ould Ghazouani won the presidential election which held on 22 June by a 52% score of the votes. The second round planned for 6 July will likely not hold seeing run-off elections are only held if no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the first round. The opposition rejected the results, saying it is “another army coup”. However, on the 1st of July 2019, Mauritania’s constitutional council confirmed Ghazouani as president and rejected the opposition’s challenge. Mauritania’s election body said that voter turnout was 62.66%. The election is the first in Mauritania’s coup-strewn history to transfer power successfully to a democratically elected president.
Togo
Togo’s ruling party, The Union for the Republic (UNIR), won the June 30 local elections, scoring up to 895 of the 1,490 municipal council (60%) seats in 114 municipalities across the country. The participation rate as estimated by the electoral body was 52.46%. Voting did not take place in three municipalities for “technical reasons”. But no dates have been announced for the elections in these three locations.
What was Common?
Except for President Ramaphosa who took over after Zuma’s resignation, and Mauritania’s Ghazouania the other elected presidents were incumbents. Also, aside from South Africa, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal had their elections contested by the opposition. If this is common practice for African countries, then we should expect similar challenges by oppositions in coming elections. But this also brings to mind questions about the transparency of the democratic systems in Africa, like in the case of Togo whose president has been ruling since 2005. However, in countries like Algeria (where citizens have been demanding accountability), it may not be over-ambitious to expect a South Africa experience at the end of that election tunnel.
