No fewer than 13 African elections were scheduled to hold on the continent in 2020. Many were postponed, including the presidential elections in Ethiopia, which was moved by a year and has sparked tensions in the Horn of Africa.
Somalia, which should have held one-man-one-vote elections for the first time in history did not only take back the decision but moved the election to 2021 due to political instability mostly caused by the Islamist insurgency in the north of the country. Elections held in Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, and Tanzania where incumbents extended their term limits or got elected for a second term. The story in Seychelles is quite different as powers changed hands.
The year 2020 is coming to a close but elections on the continent are not over just yet. These are the African elections to watch as 2020 rounds off:
Burkina Faso
Presidential elections are scheduled to hold in Burkina Faso on 22 November 2020. Thirteen candidates, including the incumbent, will be running for the presidential seat. Experts warn that Jihadist invasion in the north of the country could threaten the security of the elections as well affect voter turnout.
Ghana
On December 7 2020, Ghanaians will vote to elect a new president and new legislators. This is the first time a major political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be fielding a female vice-presidential candidate. The recent resignation of Martin Amidu, a special prosecutor and anti-corruption crusader because “he does not feel that President Nana Akufo-Addo has done enough to safeguard the independence of his office” has made Ghana come under public scrutiny as polls draw near. This election will test the strength of Ghana’s institutions.
Niger
Presidential & National Assembly elections are due in Niger on December 27, 2020. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a second-round will be held on 21 February 2021
Local elections, which have been postponed multiple times since May 2016, will hold on December 13. The incumbent president, Mahamadou Issoufou, will not be running for office as the constitution of Niger Republic bans him from running for a third term. While Niger is widely described as an authoritarian state, experts expect the transitions to be transparent, peaceful and a chance for Niger to fully embrace democracy.
Central African Republic (CAR)
The Central African Republic will hold general elections on the 27th of December 2020. The incumbent, President Faustin-Archange Touadera announced his bid to run for office again, earlier in the year. In his first term, however, he struggled with curbing the communal violence and tension that has inundated most of the CAR. Fears that the elections could be violent linger. The UN has called on parties to employ dialogue for the national interest.
Somalia
While presidential elections in Somalia have been moved to 2021, the vote to the house of parliament will still hold in December. Members of Parliament in the Lower House, also known as the House of the People, will be elected through delegates nominated by clan elders (14,025 delegates from different regions in the country). While members of the upper house are elected by an electoral college of 51 people appointed by the 135 Traditional Elders
Most of the African elections which held this year presented a theme of violence and wide negligence for COVID-19 public health protocols. This was largely due to the attitudes of leaders of these For example, in Tanzania, president John Magufuli continued to shrug off warnings about the pandemic until his son was diagnosed with the virus. It remains to see if these upcoming votes uphold lessons from previously held elections.
