Africa Up Close

Malians vote at a polling station in the Ecole de la République in Bamako, Mali, during the presidential election. Photo courtesy of the United Nations via Flickr Commons. 

It has been a few decades now since many African countries adopted multi-party democratic systems of governance. Some progress has been made while challenges remain, but there is evidence to show that the majority of Africa’s population prefer the democratic system of governance to other types of governance. Elections, considered the ‘heartbeat’ of democracies, have increasingly become popular across the continent, with many African countries now holding regular elections. In the year 2015, at least 22 African countries held presidential, legislative and or local level elections. This also included two referendums in Rwanda and the Republic of Congo. In 2016, the number was even higher, with not less than 26 countries in Africa going through one form of election or the other. While the increasing acceptance of regular democratic elections maybe positive for Africa’s democratization, it is the quality of these elections that have been of concern to many. Elections in Africa continue to be plagued by a range of challenges, such as inaccurate voter registers, voter identification problems, mistrust between political parties and of Election Management Bodies (EMBs), rejection of electoral results and outcomes, election-related violence, unequal playing field for political actors, weak election management bodies, and high political tension. Some of these challenges affect the overall credibility of elections and the acceptability of their outcomes.

Over the past few decades, the concept of decentralization has been closely associated with the development and governance discourse. Decentralization can be defined as the transfer of functions, resources and some amount of political and fiscal autonomy from central government to sub-national and local government structures. Across Africa, most countries have embraced the concept as a mechanism for promoting more inclusive and participatory governance and driving local development.

Political parties shape the nature of women’s participation in politics. Internal party policies, rules and structures, both formal and informal, can constrain or facilitate women’s participation in political processes. Being conscious of the fact that women constitute an important electoral constituency which cannot be ignored, many political parties around the globe have increasingly adopted measures intended to promote women’s participation in both internal and external political processes as well as to address issues affecting women. Such measures have included adopting gender quotas, providing financial assistance such as waiving candidate nomination fees for women, and helping with training and skills-building for women, among others.

Next year, the world will be marking 20 years of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which is the global framework for advancing gender equality and addressing issues affecting women and girls. Coincidentally, 2015 will also be the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have far-reaching impacts on the situation of the world’s women and girls. And as the world reviews progress on the twelve critical areas of concern outlined in the Beijing Declaration, women’s access to power and political participation will be an important issue for review. While there has been considerable progress in women’s political inclusion globally, with the proportion of female legislators in national parliaments for instance doubling between the period 1997 and 2014, women’s overall political participation is still at very low levels. The UN Women estimates that given the pace of progress witnessed over the last 15 years, it will take approximately 40 years more to attain gender parity in national parliaments.