Nine countries will go to the polls this year, but most will be held amid violence and suppression.
Once again, the state of democracy on the continent will be tested as millions of Africans go to the polls this year to decide who will lead them for the next few years. The recent ruling by the Constitutional Court in Malawi annulling the results of the disputed 2019 presidential elections may offer a ray of hope to many of those who will be voting in 2020, in that the judiciary can be a final arbiter when there is evidence of electoral malpractice.
The February election in Togo was less encouraging, because it took place in an environment of tight restrictions on media, civil society and opposition groups, handing PresidentIn some of the countries having elections this year, the results will not only be determined by what happens on polling day, but will be affected by civic space restrictions that reduce the ability of citizens, the political opposition, civil society and journalists to participate fully in electoral processes.
Unfortunately, observers of the state of human rights and the political dynamics in Burundi will be quick to observe that the decision by the ruling National Council for the Defence of Democracy–Forces for the Defence of Democracy to nominate the secretary general of the party, Évariste Ndayishimiye, as its frontrunner for the elections is tantamount to replacing Nkurunziza with another version of himself.
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