The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on political dynamics, as it did on other aspects of human life. The outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 almost brought the world to a standstill. This was mainly due to pandemic mitigation measures put in place, including social distancing. These actions greatly affected all levels of human interaction – […]
Periodic, free, fair, and credible elections are one of the undisputed principles
of liberal democracy. Kenya embraced multiparty democracy at independence
in 1963 and has since used periodic elections as a means of selecting leaders to
office. Focusing on Kenya’s national election held on 8 August 2017, this paper
evaluates the fundamental requirements for a free, fair, and credible election. To
this end, the paper assesses Kenya’s electoral legal framework and its application
during the 2017 national elections. In addition, the paper uses primary data by
Afrobarometer to explore public opinion on the performance of the Independent
Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), political parties, and the media
towards free, fair, and credible elections. This study finds that despite some
institutional challenges, Kenya’s 2017 national elections were conducted
under a comprehensive electoral legal framework and met the threshold of free,
fair, and credible as affirmed by the citizenry through Afrobarometer’s public
opinion survey. The positive assessment of universally accepted electoral practice
indicators by most of the people affirms that, notable challenges notwithstanding,
Kenya’s 2017 national elections were free, fair, and credible, thus endorsing the
legitimacy and authority of elected leaders. This argument is cognisant of the
election outcome as a fundamental factor in shaping public perception of freeness
and fairness in the electoral process.
The results of Ghana’s 2012 and 2020 elections were challenged in the nation’s
Supreme Court. Even though the court processes in both cases did not alter
the election results, they nevertheless exposed monumental flaws in the
electoral processes. The flaws in the 2012 electoral processes were exposed at
the Supreme Court and featured in the final judgment of the court in a manner
that allowed the Electoral Commission to initiate moves towards electoral
reforms. However, the challenges of the 2020 elections, though exposed at the
courts, were never featured in the final judgment of the Supreme Court. This
paper discusses the implications of the 2020 election petition for the future of
electoral reforms in Ghana. It argues that the rigid application of the letter
of the law by the Supreme Court and the relegation to the background of the
thorny issues of electoral challenges in the 2020 elections, would render the
quest for further electoral reforms difficult. This would then make the future
of any attempt to fine-tune the electoral processes quite bleak.
Local journalists working together in Mozambique have overcome many of the limitations of international and domestic election observation. In a system developed during three pairs of municipal and national elections (2003-4, 2008-9, 2013-4), journalists from community radio and other local media reported to a national daily newsletter on registration, campaigning, voting and counting while continuing […]
After their independence most African countries adopted constitutions that enshrine democracy and the right to vote and stand for public office. These political rights are important tools for ensuring democracy as they enable citizens to participate in both constituting and having a say in their own government. Despite entrenching these rights in their constitutions, many […]
Voting time in any democracy always involves rigorous politicking. The electioneering exercise in developed democracies tends to have less tension in the polity than in many developing democracies which do witness some hitches, mainly in issues of procedure and security. However, these problems reduce with every subsequent election. Nigeria’s 2015 general elections were no exception […]
This paper examines youth engagement in the conduct of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria, against a backdrop of historical experiences. Discounting the doom youth theory of youth bulge, youth in crisis or lumpen youth culture, the article illustrates a paradigm shift in youth engagement in the conduct of elections. Youth engagement in the 2015 […]
This paper analyses typical situations which exist before and after an election. First, the incumbent and his or her challenger make choices that affect the election results. Second, the election itself determines who wins. Third, the loser may or may not accept defeat. If the defeat is not accepted, either a standoff or a coalition […]
Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election has been a landmark in the country’s political history. As the fifth round of elections since the restoration of constitutional rule in 1999, it not only resulted in an alternation of power for the first time in the democratic history of Africa’s largest democracy, but its outcome is widely acknowledged as […]
