presidential elections - The African Mirror

May

2024

Chad prepares to vote in a coup-hit region, wary allies look on

CHAD will hold presidential elections on Monday, making it the first in a string of coup-hit states across Central and West Africa to use the ballot box to try to emerge from years of military rule. Opposition groups have already cried foul. The candidate widely expected to win is Mahamat Idriss Deby - the man who seized power the day rebels shot and killed his long-ruling father, Idriss Deby, in April 2021. But Chad's Western allies have largely stayed quiet and kept watch - hoping, analysts say, that at the very least, the vote will deliver a relatively stable state in a region hit by militant…

May

2024

By MAHAMAT RAMADANE and PORTIA CROWE

Chad prepares to vote in a coup-hit region, wary allies look on

NEWS

CHAD will hold presidential elections, making it the first in a string of coup-hit states across Central and West Africa to use the ballot box to try to emerge from years of military rule. Opposition groups have already cried foul. The candidate widely expected to win is Mahamat Idriss Deby - the man who seized power the day rebels shot and killed his long-ruling father, Idriss Deby, in April 2021. But Chad's Western allies have largely stayed quiet and kept watch - hoping, analysts say, that at the very least, the vote will deliver a relatively stable state in a region hit by militant violence where…

Apr

2024

By FADIMA KONTAO

Mali political parties request elections after junta shuns transition promise

NEWS

POLITICAL parties in Mali have requested a time frame for presidential elections after the ruling junta failed to organise polls within a promised 24-month transition back to democracy. Mali has been under military rule since August 2020, the first of eight coups in West and Central Africa over four years, including in its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger. Regional blocs have been trying to negotiate transitions but the interim governments are dragging their feet. Mali's current junta seized power in a second 2021 coup and later promised to take 24 months from March 2022 to restore civilian rule, with a start date…

Feb

2024

By DOUGLAS YATES

Macky Sall throws Senegal’s democratic credentials into doubt

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SENEGAL’S President Macky Sall announced in early February that presidential elections, originally scheduled for 25 February, would be postponed indefinitely. The announcement has raised fears of popular protests, violent repression, a once democratic president transforming into an authoritarian ruler – and possibly even another coup d’état in West Africa. DOUGLAS YATES, Professor of Political Science, American Graduate School in Paris (AGS) There has been a flurry of coups in the region since 2020 – Mali in August that year followed by a second in 2021. Guinea also saw a coup that year and Burkina Faso a year later. In July…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

Sierra Leone court orders opposition leader’s arrest for suspected graft

NEWS

SIERRA Leone's Court of Appeal has ordered the arrest of the opposition candidate who was runner-up in presidential elections this year for suspected corruption linked to the sale of government shares in a mining company, it said in a statement. Samuel Kamara was the candidate for the opposition All People's Congress Party (APC) in 2018 and in June. He was indicted in 2021 for alleged graft involving a separate matter when he was foreign minister. The trial is ongoing and he denies wrongdoing. The Court of Appeal on Tuesday ordered Kamara to be arrested and handed over to the anti-corruption commission for…

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

Black November: remembering Uganda’s massacre of the opposition three years on

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NOVEMBER marks a sombre anniversary in Uganda’s recent political history. In 2020, the East African country’s leading opposition politician, Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, was arrested. He was on the campaign trail ahead of the 2021 presidential elections. LUKE MELCHIORRE, Associate Professor, Political Science and Global Studies, Universidad de los Andes Mass demonstrations demanding the release of the popular musician-turned-presidential candidate broke out in and around the capital, Kampala. Over two days, security agents of the regime of Yoweri Museveni – in power since 1986 – cracked down on the protests. They fired live ammunition into crowds of protesters, killing…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Mali sets date for delayed vote, saying it’s true to its word on democracy

NEWS

MALI'S military government set a new date for a delayed constitutional referendum meant to pave the way for presidential elections next year. The vote, initially scheduled for March 19, is the first in a series of polls meant to restore democracy in the West African country after two military takeovers since August 2020. It was delayed days before that date to give electoral management authorities more time to set up in all of Mali's 19 administrative regions. Government spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga announced on state television on Friday that the referendum would now take place on June 18. He added that the new…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Senegalese police fire tear gas as Dakar braces for more protests

NEWS

DIADIE BA and BATE FELIX SENEGAL'S security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse opposition supporters who attempted to gather in the capital Dakar for the first of three days of planned opposition protests over a libel trial of one of its leaders. Shops and banks closed early on Wednesday as the West African nation braced for fresh protests over a court case that has fuelled tension and violence ahead of presidential elections next year. Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko is due in court on Thursday for a hearing in a libel case brought by the tourism minister, who…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

How to poll 93 million voters – the challenge of pulling off Nigeria’s presidential elections

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NIGERIA's registered voters, which the Independent National Electoral Commission has put at 93.5 million, are expected to come out in their numbers in what will be Africa’s biggest election this year. They will be electing the president and members of the National Assembly on 25 February and governors and members of the State Houses of Assembly on 11 March. Author EMMANUEL REMI AIYEDE, Professor of Political Institutions, Governance and Public Policy, University of Ibadan To vote in the elections, Nigerian citizens must be at least 18 years old and must have collected their permanent voter’s card by 5 February. The…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Mali could delay post-coup elections

NEWS

MALI could push back presidential and legislative elections from late February to avoid their validity being contested, its prime minister handling a post-coup transition said. Mali's progress back to democracy following the August 2020 overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is being closely monitored in a region that has experienced four coups in 13 months, two of them in Mali. Under pressure from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional bloc, Mali's new military leaders agreed to an 18-month transition that would culminate with presidential and legislative elections on Feb. 27, 2022. But in an interview with…