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- Twenty-Four African countries to go for elections this year
- Out of the countries affected by COVID-19, nine have yet to go to the polls
The political fallout of the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus in the continent is relatively unexposed compared to the economic impact. The virus is sure to impact the core political processes, one of which is elections.
Twenty-Four African countries are gearing up for elections this year. Some elections are over, while the vast majority are yet to take place in the second half of 2020. Out of the countries affected by COVID-19, nine have yet to go to the polls. This group includes Egypt, which is most severely affected. Public gatherings in public spaces are integral part for election process while they are strictly forbidden to avoid further spread of the pandemic. However, political process like elections have to go on, unlike social programmes that can be deferred. Grant Masterson of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) points out that failing to hold an election has economic implications, but cancelling or postponing an election comes with the additional challenge of pushing a country into a constitutional crisis. Masterson explains that ‘constitutional crises’ occur when an election is not held within the required timeframe and a government remains operative in a ‘quasi-legal area’.
In order to avoid a constitutional crisis, Liberia went ahead with Senate elections in 2014 in spite of the Ebola outbreak.The decision was severely criticised as experts warned that moving men and material in a short span of time and mass gatherings at the poll carried a substantial risk of spreading the virus. Liberia adopted a number of precautionary measures at voting centres. These precautions included voters keeping a distance of three feet from one another’ while queuing, voting centres equipped with ‘chlorine hand-washing stations’ and instead of voters rolling their fingers ‘across an inkpad’, their fingers swabbed with blue ink.
Though recent electoral processes in Israel, UK, Iran etc give some tips to undertake elections Africa, has its own challenges. Using isolation tents similar to those used during recent elections in Israel would be too expensive. The number of polling stations needing to be set up in Tanzania and Ethiopia this year will number 68,000 and 60,000 respectively. Though remote voting is an option, postal voting may not be a desirable option for Africa. Digital voting’, could be a better alternative, based on ‘the levels of penetration of mobile devices’.
Nevertheless, the upcoming election process will be an uphill task for Africa. To ensure that its people exercise their democratic rights in an effective and risk-free environment Africa will need strong leadership and high levels of planning, close monitoring.
