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2026 journal of african elections v25n2 eisa transparent democratic governance in africa

Legal Obstacles to Women’s Participation in Local Democracy: Insights from Tanzania’s 2024 Local Elections

This article examines how Tanzania’s legal and institutional frameworks shape women’s participation in local democracy. Data from the 2019 local elections showed that women occupied only 2.1%, 6.7%, and 12% of elected village, hamlet, and street chairperson positions, respectively. These figures reflect women’s persistent structural exclusion at the lower levels of governance. Leveraging data from the 2024 local elections, the analysis adopts a feminist legal methodology. The aim is to show how law constructs gendered pathways that favour descriptive rather than substantive representation. Structural barriers are embedded in the quota design, the first-past-the-post electoral system, compulsory party sponsorship, the prohibition of independent candidacy, and restrictive age thresholds. Such barriers confine women to reserved seats and discourage their participation in competitive positions. Weak enforcement of electoral regulations, a lack of disaggregated data, and executive control over election administration further entrench women’s exclusion. The findings affirm the feminist legal theory-based argument that law reproduces patriarchal power through its design and implementation. Several steps are required to advance substantive gender equality in local governance, including transformative reforms, proportional electoral designs, intersectionality considerations, inclusive data architectures, and independent electoral oversight.

2026 journal of african elections v25n2 eisa transparent democratic governance in africa

Voting Behaviour and Identity Politics: Reflections on the 2024 National and Provincial Elections in South Africa

The 2024 National and Provincial Elections marked a pivotal moment in South Africa’s post-apartheid democracy, resulting in the African National Congress (ANC) losing its parliamentary majority for the first time. The shift in power dynamics necessitated coalition discussions and the possibility of a government of national unity, highlighting the intricate dynamics of voter behaviour. This article employs voter behaviour theory and document analysis to explore these complexities. The results reveal an intricate interplay of factors shaping electoral outcomes, with identity politics emerging as particularly salient. The emergence of new parties, such as uMkhonto weSizwe (MK Party), together with ethnically charged campaign rhetoric, highlighted the potential for ethno-populist appeals. Hence the elections underscore the importance of comprehending voter behaviour within the context of the loss of power by a dominant liberation movement to a breakaway faction, whose support ostensibly exhibited ethnic undertones. Rational choice considerations around socioeconomic issues and growing discontent with the ruling ANC also factored into voting decisions, indicating critical engagement by the electorate with political choices in 2024. Future elections will likely continue to reflect the complex interplay of identity, economic
concerns, and evolving political loyalties in South Africa’s maturing democracy.

2026 journal of african elections v25n2 eisa transparent democratic governance in africa

Uganda’s 2026 General Elections

Uganda’s January 2026 general elections were the seventh in a five-cycle that started in 1996 after the promulgation of a new constitution in 1995. Predictably, incumbent President Yoweri Museveni scored a landslide
victory, and his ruling National Resistance Movement party cemented its supermajority in the national legislature and claimed an overwhelming majority of local government positions. With widespread state repression and an uneven campaign environment, the opposition lost ground at all levels to the ruling president and party, who commanded vast incumbency advantages. This election cycle reflected a continuation of a deepening autocratic landscape. Opposition leaders and supporters were arrested, detained, and tortured. The internet, social media, and mobile money service were shut down two days before the polls, and on polling day, technical failures of biometric voter verification kits caused long delays in the start of voting. These issues, along with possible voter fatigue, combined to produc a historically low turnout, according to official results from the Electoral Commission. Museveni was re-elected for a new term, which will amount to 45 years of uninterrupted rule when it ends in 2031. Furthermore, at 81 years old, Museveni once again delayed the question of presidential succession, which is Uganda’s most important unresolved political question.

2026 journal of african elections v25n1 front cover eisa.pdf transparent democratic governance in africa

Political Funding Regimes and the Trajectory of Change

There is widespread agreement in the literature that, despite the financing of politics having existed for decades, the topic remains a complex research subject. Scholarly attention has mainly focused on how political contestants are financed, and the field is relatively new. This paper looks at political funding regimes, which refers to funding types and the […]

2026 journal of african elections v25n1 front cover eisa.pdf transparent democratic governance in africa

Strengthening Democratic Governance Through Transparent and Equitable Political Funding

This article examines the nexus between democracy, elections, and political funding. A conceptual and normative analysis is conducted to explore these connections and their implications. The results of the analysis are integrated into a matrix, which depicts relationships among variables related to political systems, electoral systems, and types of political funding. A second layer is added to the matrix to include additional variables, such as political parties’ ability to generate revenue, society’s ability to fund political and electoral activity, the state’s role in public funding, and the geographical distribution of voters. The discussion that follows the analysis illustrates how the matrix can be used in various contexts. It can assist in determining the nature of funding required for specific elections and what would be feasible and politically acceptable. The matrix focuses on predominantly conceptual and normative outcomes but offers opportunities for empirical testing through comparative studies or case studies.

2026 journal of african elections v25n1 front cover eisa.pdf transparent democratic governance in africa

Regulating Political Finance in South Africa: A Public Perspective on the Political Finance Act and Its Implementation

South Africa’s Political Party Funding Act 6 of 2018 (PPFA) was enacted to promote transparency, accountability, and fair competition in the financing of political parties, with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) as the regulatory authority. The Act was amended in 2024 to include independent candidates and representatives and was accordingly renamed the Political Funding Act (PFA). The legislation regulates public and private funding, mandates the disclosure of large private donations, and places an annual limit on donations from a single donor to an individual recipient party or candidate. It also establishes the Multi-Party Democracy Fund (MPDF, ‘the Fund’), to which members of the public can contribute. The IEC administers the Fund and makes disbursements to all represented political parties and representatives in accordance with a formula established in terms of the Act. The IEC commissioned the HSRC to undertake a research study to examine the country’s evolving political funding regulatory framework. Drawing on a module of questions fielded as part of the HSRC’s 2024/25 South African Social Attitudes Survey, this article explores public opinion on the PFA and recent changes to South African political finance regulation. The article presents selected findings from the study, examining the public’s views on the institutional role and capacity requirements for ensuring effective oversight and enforcement. In addition, the underutilisation of the MPDF is explored, considering the potential for tax and other incentives to encourage private contributions to the Fund. The acceptability and adequacy of donation disclosure thresholds a reevaluated. Finally, consideration is given to whether South Africa should move from an income-based to an expenditure-based regulatory model to improve funding transparency.

2026 journal of african elections v25n1 front cover eisa.pdf transparent democratic governance in africa

Business Influence and Party Finance in South Africa: Analysing Corporate Support, Regulatory Dynamics, and Political Will as an Adaptive System

This article draws on complexity theory and political will analysis to examine business support for political parties in South Africa between 2021 and 2023. Using a systems dynamics approach adapted to qualitative documentary research, the study analyses budget documents, regulatory texts, disclosure reports, parliamentary records, and media reports. The aim is to establish how corporate political finance operates as a complex adaptive system, one that is characterised by emergent patterns, non-linear responses, and evolutionary dynamics. The analysis employs complexity concepts and political will indicators to identify three system attractors, namely, compliant minimalism, creative circumvention, and defiant opacity. These factors govern corporate political behaviour. The findings also indicate feedback loops between regulatory frameworks and adaptive corporate responses, including a diminishing oversight capacity loop driven by declining Independent Electoral Commission resources. Overall, the study shows how minor regulatory changes can trigger cascading effects, and how weak political will effectively enables phase transitions toward opacity. The documentary analysis methodology demonstrates that complexity theory and political will frameworks can be applied to archival materials to map human agency and the overall system’s dynamics.

2026 journal of african elections v25n1 front cover eisa.pdf transparent democratic governance in africa

Egalitarian and Libertarian Political Financing Models: Lessons from Ghana and Switzerland for South Africa

Money is essential to politics. Unregulated money, however, can enable political corruption, which justifies the need for regulation. Public funding of political parties can promote equal political opportunities in heterogeneous societies. Hence, it is necessary to fund politics partly from public resources. A country adopts a political financing philosophy depending on its political environment. This article compares two main global approaches to funding political parties to identify best practices for South Africa’s nascent public funding regime. The first is Ghana’s egalitarian model, which emphasises strict regulation of both public and private funding of political parties. The second is Switzerland’s strategy, which relies on private funding with minimal state regulation. This article examines how these two models impact democratic values. Comparative doctrinal research methods underpin this analysis. It reviews Ghana’s and Switzerland’s legal and institutional financing systems to evaluate how effectively they uphold democracy. The paper shows that Ghana’s strict regulation promotes democratic equality by providing political opportunities in a diverse society, although challenges remain regarding effective regulation. Switzerland’s approach preserves the independence of political parties but risks fostering a plutocracy. Considering South Africa’s post-apartheid context, its emerging political financing system could include aspects of both libertarian and egalitarian models; it could adopt a hybrid approach using technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence to overcome transitional democracy challenges. The paper therefore recommends that South Africa should adopt a hybrid public financing model. The reason is that neither Ghana’s egalitarian system nor Switzerland’s libertarian regime sufficiently address the democratic challenges related to political financing.

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