March 20, 2016, was labeled ‘Super Sunday’ in Africa as elections took place in at least five countries on the continent. Voters in Benin, Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Niger, Senegal and the island of Zanzibar in Tanzania went to the polls for presidential elections and a referendum.
Some of the elections were a perfect example of democracy gone well, others were the exact opposite with intimidation, violence, and allegations of rigging reported. This reflected the varied political environment across the continent.
Benin and Cape Verde changed leaders peacefully, as they have done for decades, but voting in the Republic of Congo and elsewhere were mired with violence and repression.
In Benin, independent politician and cotton magnate Patrice Talon edged out the incumbent Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou, an investment banker, after the second round of voting.
Talon, who had been placed a close second by opinion polls in the West African nation, pulled a surprise win with over 65 percent of the votes, Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Zinsou conceded defeat before the final results had been called.
In Cape Verde, the opposition party, Movement for Democracy (MpD), won the parliamentary election for the first time in 15 years, according to IBTimes.
The tiny West African island nation is ranked as one of the most politically and economically stable nation in Africa by Freedom House. It is also considered one of the least corrupt nation on the continent by Transparency International.
A constitutional change in another West African nation, Senegal, brought positive changes, but creates a grey area for the presidency.
The country bucked a continent wide trend of extending terms limits for their leaders, by introducing two-term limits and cutting each term to five years from seven. The referendum was passed by a huge margin, allowing the new constitution to be adopted.
The constitutional change however only affect future presidents and leaves Macky Sall’s term unaffected.
Everything about Congo’s presidential election was wrong from the start.
First there was heavy crackdown on the opposition and independent media during the campaigns. Riot police were then deployed to quell riots by opposition supporters who claimed that the election had been rigged.
Communication networks including telephones, text messaging and internet service were cut off across the nation for “reasons of national security”, EurActive reported.
On election day, all drivers required special permits from government to be on the roads, which effectively made movement in the country impossible.
Finally, long standing President Sassou Nguesso, 72, who was running for a third term, was declared the winner.
In Niger, President Muhamadou Issoufou is expected to win the election with over 90 percent of the votes in the second round, having also secured a decisive lead in the first round.
His main opposition candidate, former Prime Minister Hama Amadou, was not present during the second round due to ill health.
Amadou and his wife were arrested during the campaigns for allegedly running ‘baby factories’, where women were forced to bear children who were then sold.
They denied the charges.
The lead-up to the election was also plagued with reports of violence between supporters of the government and the opposition.
In Tanzania’s semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar, the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Presidential candidate Mohamed Shein won a re-run of last October’s cancelled election by over 90 percent of the votes.
The opposition parties however boycotted the election dismissing it as “a waste of time”.
