Elections are markers of important democratic milestones in countries and a way of shaping countries’ democracies.
A number of African nations held key elections this past year and this offered a major news source.
From historical nullification of presidential results in Kenya to delayed run-off in Liberia, 2017 saw a share of dramatic processes in the elections front.
Political risk to businesses and potential investors became also a theme throughout the year.
Here are the key elections that took place in Africa:
- Somalia, February 8
The Somalia vote was supposed to have taken place in 2016 but was postponed so many times and finally February was the month authorities chose to hold the elections.
A total number of 275 Somali MPs and 54 senators met in a hangar at the main airport in the Somali capital of Mogadishu to pick a president.
The city had braced for trouble after the al-Shabaab militant group vowed to disrupt the elections. Security officials ordered all cars off Mogadishu’s roads and the airport remained closed.
A total of 24 candidates were vying for Somalia’s top job; most of them are not based in Somalia.
The MPs and Senators had a task of either replacing the then president Hassan Sheikh Mohammed with the other candidates or retaining him since he was seeking rre-election. They opted to replace him.
Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo defeated incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud by 184 votes to 97 after three rounds of voting.
- Rwanda, August 4
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame was seeking a third seven-year-term as leader of “the land of a thousand hills”.
Kagame won the 2010 election which was Rwanda’s second election with 93% of the vote.
Under Kagame’s rule, the country’s economy has grown and poverty has declined and in the 2017 poll, his campaign focused on the fact that Rwandans are able to vote in a safe environment, whereas in the past, politics have deeply divided the country.
The electoral commission was accused of wasting money by holding the polls since Paul Kagame was widely expected to win another term.
And winning he did sealing a landslide victory in the poll. He won by securing 98.6 percent of the cast ballots.
A constitutional amendment in 2015 could possibly allow Kagame to stay in power until 2034.
- Kenya, August 8
Kenyans went into the polls to vote for president of the country as well as governors, senators, MPs and members of county assemblies (MCAs).
The 2017 Kenyan elections were the most competitive poll in the country’s history and in the lead up to the August 8 elections there were intense calls by the opposition for reforms.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had been accused by the opposition of planning to give the incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta victory but they assured all those participating that it wa going to be a level playing field for all participants.
President Uhuru Kenyatta who was seeking a second and final mandate was battling it out with veteran politician Raila Odinga of the NASA Coalition. There were other 6 candidates who were passed to contest in the presidential race: Mohamed Abduba Dida, John Ekuru Longoggy Aukot, Shakhalaga Khwa Jirongo, Japhet Kavinga Kaluyu, Michael Wainaina Mwaura, and Joseph William Nthiga Nyagah.
In the August 8 poll, Kenyatta garnered 8,203, 290 votes, which is 54.27percent of the total votes cast, giving him a sure win over the second runner up, Odinga, leader of the opposition party, NASA who got 6, 762,224 votes which is 44.74 percent of the total votes cast ahead of the other 6 Presidential candidates.
Raila Odinga, who disputed the results calling them technology doctored results, then filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Kenya stating that results from more than a third of polling stations were “fatally flawed”, in some cases because of irregularities in electronic transmission of paper results forms.
The Supreme Court nullified the result of the August 8 presidential poll saying the electoral board committed “irregularities and illegalities” therefore harming the integrity of the election.
The court ordered another presidential election to be held within 60 days.
This was the first time in Kenya’s history for a sitting President to defend his seat against a united opposition.
What followed after the court order were petitions after petitions by applicants seeking clarification of certain aspects in regards to the repeat election being filed at the Supreme Court.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission announced an October 17 date before postponing it to October 26.
The opposition presented to the electoral commission an 11-point irreducible minimums that the polls body was to meet before the repeat election. These minimums were not achieved and thus the opposition withdrew from the October 26th poll.
The opposition candidate urged his supporters to not participate in the poll. He also asked his supporters to stay out of the way of police.
Election was delayed in some opposition strongholds as youths burnt street barricades, heeding an election boycott by their leader.
Protests by opposition supporters were reported from several parts of the country and particularly in capital Nairobi’s Kibra constituency. Our reporters Robert Nagila and Oliver Jarvis were covering these protests and took in an amount of teargas while doing so.
Eventually, President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared winner of the October 26 repeat presidential election garnering 7,483,895 votes (98.26%).
- Angola, August 23
The former Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos stepped down as leader of the oil-rich nation after 38 years in power.
Dos Santos chose to remain as leader of the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party which had ruled Angola since it gained independence from Portuguese rule in 1975.
He endorsed his former defence minister and fellow veteran in the struggle for Angola’s independence from the Portuguese, Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco as the flag-bearer for the ruling party.
Five other candidates from the opposition were also seeking the country’s top job They included Isias Henrique Ngola Samakuva of UNITA, Abel Epalanga Chivukuvuku of the CASA-CE, Lucas Benghim Gonda of FNLA, Benedito Daniel of the PRS and Quintino Antonio Moreira of the APN.
The electoral commission announced the provisional results which showed that the ruling MPLA has won the election taking 61.10 percent of the votes counted compared with the opposition UNITA party’s 26.71 percent.
The main opposition UNITA rejected the outcome saying the numbers had not been gathered transparently and did not tally with their own count. They also said the vote counting process had flouted electoral laws.
“The process violated the law and the principles of democracy,” Claudio Silva, who sits on the electoral commission as a UNITA representative, told Reuters news agency.
Observers commended the country’s electoral commission for organizing elections that were largely incident free but were silent on events that took place after the polls closed on August 23. The voter turnout was 76.83%, marking an improvement from the 2012 elections which saw a turnout of 62.77%.
The ruling party had also secured 150 of the 220 senate seats giving them the two-thirds majority needed to pass any legislation without help from another party.
- Liberia, October 10
President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson’s time as Liberia’s president after 2 terms had finally come to an end.
Africa’s first female president was leaving office after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, dealing with the Ebola crisis, passing a Freedom of Information bill, and taking on the taxing effort of rebuilding a country ravaged by war.
The most notable candidates in the race included former international footballer George Weah who was running for the second time with a Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) party ticket and the country’s Vice President Joseph Boakai of the ruling Unity Party (UP).
Others in the race included Charles Brumskine of the Liberty Party, MacDella Cooper, a philantropist, Alexander B. Cummings, a business executive, Prince Johnson, a former rebel leader, Joseph Mills Jones, former Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia, Richard Miller, a businessman, Benoni Urey, another businessman, MacDonald A. Wento of the United People’s Party and Jeremiah Whapoe, a businessman.
George Weah emerged winner of the October 10 elections which were largely incident free. He garnered 38.4% of the vote against his closest rival’s 28.8% garnered by vice president Joseph Boakai.
But this was not enough for Weah to become president. A candidate, according to the country’s constitution, has to win with at least half of the votes cast to be declared president-elect. A run-off had to be called.
November 8 was the set date for the run-off. And just as the campaigns restarted, a court injunction filed by the 2nd runner up in the October 10 poll, Charles Brumskine halted the run off process until his petition had been heard and determined by the Supreme Court.
Brumskine called for a re-run of the entire presidential poll, arguing that the process had been marred with fraud and electoral malpractices including ballot stuffing and false voter registration cards, which brought into question the validity of the election outcome. Joseph Boakai of the Unity Party backed this petition.
These claims were however rejected by the country’s National Elections Commission (NEC) stating that the parties of the two candidates had failed to provide “indubitable evidence” that the vote was tainted.
The Supreme Court halted the run-off of the presidential election scheduled and on December 7 delivered its verdict.
The majority decision which was read by Justice Philip Banks contended that the petitioner had not provided adequate evidence to support claims of irregularities to an extent that would convince the court to call for a re-run of the election.
The Supreme Court then ordered the NEC to set a date for the re-run and cautioned to fully comply with the country’s electoral laws in conducting this election. The NEC set December 26 as the date for the re-run that would see CDC’s George Weah face off against Unity Party’s Joseph Boakai.
George Weah won the presidential vote pulling 61.5 per cent of the votes defeating Unity Party’s and former Vice President Joseph Boakai.
This poll marks Liberia’s first democratic transition since 1944.
