By Chris Olaoluwa Ògúnmọ́dẹdé Can Nigeria’s #EndSARS protests evolve into a force that can restructure electoral politics? Or will the protests, which culminated with the state opening fire on its own citizens in Lagos, simply become a dramatic, but ineffective interlude, to the status quo? If recent electoral contests held in Lagos, Imo, Bayelsa, Plateau …
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By Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim More than 13 African countries are scheduled to hold or have already held, parliamentary or presidential elections in 2021. Reflective of the democratic backsliding observed on the continent in recent years, more than a third of these polls are likely to be little more than political theatre – aimed at garnering …
Read more “Insecurity and Covid-19: Threats to Electoral Democracy in Africa”
By Ayisha Osori Until the late 1980s, Liberia’s constitution was the only one in Africa to provide clarity for presidential term limits. Without these limits, political succession was a major source of instability on the continent, with many countries dominated by a single leader who insisted on his – and it was always him – …
In Nigeria’s 2015 election, Cambridge Analytica (CA) spread targeted disinformation to suppress opposition votes and allegedly released sensitive medical and financial information about then opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari. In 2018, the Nigerian government formed a committee to investigate, amongst others, CA’s 2015 activities and promised criminal prosecutions if necessary. However, two years on, there has …
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By Kojo Asante Parliamentary elections were scheduled in as many as 16 African countries in 2020 but due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic four of these polls were postponed. In 2021, a further ten countries are scheduled to hold legislative votes. Despite the frequency of these elections, rarely do they attract significant …
Read more “It is time to start taking West Africa’s legislative contests more seriously”
By Su Muhereza and Eshban Kwesiga Despite their frequency and venerated place in the functioning of democracies, elections in East Africa are increasingly violent, plagued by coercion and widespread irregularities and tend to exacerbate existing socio-political tensions without resulting in meaningful political change, improved quality of governance or citizen participation. Recent polls in Rwanda, the …
Read more “The Futility of Elections: Rethinking Democracy in East Africa”
PRESS STATEMENT October 1, 2020 As Nigeria marks 60 years of independence today, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) congratulates fellow citizens on this milestone. Despite the myriad of challenges, which have hobbled the realisation of Nigeria’s very lofty potential, the CDD, has a message of hope. The Nigeria of our dreams is possible, …
Read more “Nigeria@60: In Unity, We Can Overcome Challenges of Nation Building”
Published twice (June and December) annually, Democracy and Development: Journal of West African Affairs is the flagship publication of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD). First conceived and launched in the late 1990s, the journal, after taking the West African development cosmos by storm, went into a yearslong hiatus in order to rethink its …