Elections That Will Shape Africa in 2017
2016 was an election year for most African States. The continent witnessed 16 elections, and most of them were both free and transparent.
The first half of 2016 saw elections in Benin, the Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Niger and Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, the Gambia, Ghana, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Zambia.
Major surprises came from West Africa where Ghana and Gambia’s incumbents were defeated by the opposition.
Ghana’s Former foreign minister Nana Akuffo-Addo of the opposition New Patriotic Party was elected President on his third attempt, defeating incumbent President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress. He is going to be sworn in January 7, 2017.
In Gambia, the opposition candidate Adama Barrow defeated long-term incumbent Yahya Jammeh who has ruled for 22 years. However, Jammeh has clung to power and not ready to leave.
In Benin, businessman Patrice Talon defeated Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou after the incumbent President Thomas Boni Yayi was constitutionally barred from running for a third.
In the Central African Republic, former prime minister Faustin Archange Touadera won the presidential election defeating another former prime minister Anicet Georges Dologuele in the runoff, held on February 14 as no presidential candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the 2015 poll.
Azali Assoumani was elected president of Comoros.
In São Tomé and Príncipe, Evaristo Carvalho was announced president after the incumbent Manuel Pinto da Costa boycotted the second round.
However, other incumbent presidents: Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, Zambia’s Edgar Lungu, Chad’s Idriss Déby, Djibouti’ Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou and Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon all were re-elected.
On the other hand, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has pushed its presidential election to April 2018. The presidential election was originally scheduled for November 2016. The incumbent Joseph Kabila sought to extend his term to a third leading to protests that culminated into a dialogue.
2017 Elections in Africa
African Union:
The first major election will see the African Union (AU) get a new Chairperson replacing the outgoing Dr. Nkosazana Zuma during the Twenty- Eighth Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union with five candidates competing, namely Hon. Pelonomi Venson Moitoi (Botswana), Hon. Moussa Faki Mahamat (Chad), Hon. Agapito Mba Mokuy (Equatorial Guinea), Hon. Dr. Amina C. Mohammed (Kenya), Dr. Abdoulaye Bathily (Senegal).
During the 27th African Union summit meeting in Kigali, no outright winner was declared because non-attained the required 2/3 votes. Those who contested for the seat were: former Uganda vice president Specioza Wandira Kazibwe and Botswana Foreign Minister Pelonomi Venson Moitoi, and Equatorial Guinea Foreign Minister Agapito Mba Mokuy.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma still holds the position since her appointed in 2012.
Kenya:
The forthcoming August, 8 General Elections will mark the its 12th cycle of elections in Kenya since independence.
The polls will involve voting for the president senators, MPs, governors and ward representatives.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto through their newly revamped Jubilee are likely set to face off with the opposition led by their arch rival Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga if he will clinch the presidential ticket under the Coalition of Reforms and Democracy (CORD) which has Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetangula and Wiper Party’s Kalanzo Musyoka who are eyeing the seat.
The current leadership is tainted by corruption, rising debt and increased unemployment rate which the opposition is using to unseat it.
Currently, the country is grappling with how the electoral body will handle the elections after the National Assembly and Senate passed the controversial amendments to the Elections Law (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that empowers the IEBC to revert to manual system in the event of technical failure during the elections.
In the East and Central Africa region, Kenya is the biggest economy.
The Parliamentary Service Commission report, Parliamentary Budget Office Un