According to the Afrobarometer survey, the legitimacy and standard of the high-stakes races will be paramount in a year filled with 23 African national elections throughout the continent.
According to the report, 75% of Africans think that elections are the best method for selecting presidents, and over 60% of people support elections in every country questioned, except for Lesotho (44%).
“And while only 32% of Tunisians and 34% of Basotho agree, nearly two-thirds (64%) of Africans want multiparty competition to ensure that voters have real choices in who governs them,” the report stated.
It added “But as we have seen, weakening support for elections – a decline of 8 percentage points over the past decade – is one of the troubling trends in popular commitment to democratic norms and practices.
23 African countries to hold elections this year
“This may reflect some disillusionment after too many elections marred by low quality, disputes, and/or violence, or a recognition that elections by themselves don’t guarantee accountable governance or reliable public services. Citizens’ assessment of their most recent national elections as largely free and fair is down by 7 points since 2011/2013, from 66% to 59%.
“And fewer than half of Africans think their countries’ elections ensure that members of Parliament (MPs) represent the views of voters (42%) or enable voters to remove leaders who fail to do what the people want (45%) (Figure 13). Moreover, only four in 10 citizens (39%) say they trust their national electoral commission’somewhat’ or ‘a lot,’ while 57% express little or no trust.”