Ugandan protesters call for an end to President Yoweri Museveni’s despotic rule.
Peter Busomoke/AFP via Getty Images
Trouble in Africa’s cities is due to the fact that electoral competition drives leaders to be biased towards rural areas.
Supporters of outgoing Senegalese President Macky Sall cheer during a rally ahead of presidential elections in 2019.
Seyllou/AFP via Getty Images
Africa is now formally free of colonial rule. Yet, the aim of remembering and furthering the fight for self determination remains relevant as ever.
Ugandan activist and writer Stella Nyanzi outside a Kampala court after a ruling in her favour against President Yoweri Museveni
Sumy Sadurni/AFP via GettyImages
When protesters strip naked to amplify their political voice, it is often a last resort within very restrictive regimes.
President Pierre Nkurunziza campaigning for the presidency in 2015.
Spencer Platt/GettyImages
Will President Pierre Nkurunziza peacefully relinquish office after the May poll?
Sudan’s new prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok. He recently survived an assassination attempt.
Wikimedia Commons
Omar al-Bashir may be gone but Sudan still has a way to go before it enjoys a functioning democracy.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari at a campaign rally ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Stefan Heunis/AFP via Getty Images
One year after the 2019 general elections in Nigeria, courts and not the electorate, are busy deciding actual winners of the polls.
Electoral commission officers count votes after the polls were closed during the 2019 General elections.
Luis Tato/AFP via Getty Images
Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission recently deregistered some political parties, leading to debates over whether this was a step in the right direction.
Kenya’s Supreme Court upholds President Uhuru Kenyatta’s election victory following a re-run in 2017.
EFE-EPA/Daniel Irungu
By pushing their usually valid complaints onto the streets and the courts, opposition leaders deny governments the popular goodwill and international credibility they need to govern effectively.
Peter Mutharika during his inauguration as the President of Malawi last May. A court has annnulled his election.
Amos Gumulira/AFP via Getty Images
Will the same electoral commission, so heavily criticised in the court’s ruling, improve its capacity and arrange more credible elections?
A woman casts her ballot during Cameroon’s 2018 presidential elections.
Nic Bothma/EPA
Many believe that it is only a return to the country’s two-state federation that will end the conflict and break the impasse.
Omar al-Bashir may be gone but the freedom of the Sudanese people still hangs in the balance.
Morwan Ali/EPA-EFE
Despite the dismantling of Sudan’s ruling party, the country’s autocratic leanings still pose a threat to democracy.
The results of the Namibian election reflect growing discontent among voters with the way the country is being run.
EFE/EPA
For the first time since independence, Namibia’s ruling party has suffered electoral setbacks in the midst of economic and political crisis.
Peacekeeper with the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC
MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti
The independent strategic review, now before the Security Council, recognises many of the challenges ahead. But it appears overly sanguine about what can be achieved within a three-year period.
Namibian president Hage Geingob.
EPA/Siphiwe Sibeko
Namibia’s political stability so far has been vested in the dominance of Swapo. Those opposing its control face an uphill battle.
Mokgweetsi Masisi being sworn in as the elected President of Botswana by Chief Justice Terrence Rannowane. With him is his wife Neo.
Mmegi
The Khamas have dominated Botswana’s politics since the 1870s, but they are now a discredited, spent force.
Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s increasingly repressive government uses colonial-era laws to silence dissent.
EFE-EPA/ EPA/Phillipe Wojazer
The unstable authoritarian pathway that many post-colonial African states followed was facilitated by the way in which European empires undermined democratic elements within African societies.
Supporters of presidential candidate Filipe Nyusi’s Frelimo party on the last day of election campaigns in Maputo on October 12, 2019.
During the campaign, partisans of all political stripes were responsible for the violence. But Frelimo supporters were far more aggressive and violent.
Former Tunisian President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.
EFE-EPA/Stringer
Crony capitalism became firmly embedded under Ben Ali, benefiting his family and close friends.
A view of the General Assembly hall at the start of the 2019 Climate Action Summit.
EPA/Justin Lane
Africa has already felt the effects of Donald Trump’s climate change denialism. Recent events are also raising political issues of keen interest among the continent’s democrats.
Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s replacement as leader of Inkatha Freedom Party after 44 marked the end of an era.
GCIS/Flickr
The IFP’s constitution provides that the nomination of national office bearers be approved by the branches. But this was not done in the nomination of its new president.