February 21, 2022
A weekly review of news and analysis of elections in Africa, usually posted on Mondays and occasionally updated throughout the week. For a full electoral calendar and interactive map, click here.
Taxis in Mogadishu, Somalia. Photo credit: Wikimedia/AMISOM Public Information (CC0)
Upcoming Africa Elections
Somalia, Indirect Legislative Elections: Due, Indirect Presidential Election: By February 25, 2022 (tentative – preceded by indirect legislative elections)
Somalia does not hold direct elections, but rather holds indirect elections in a clan-based system. Currently, parties have agreed to complete the process by February 25, 2022, delayed from February 8, 2021, but are unlikely to meet the deadline. The term of President Mohamed “Farmaajo” has expired, leaving Somalia in a political and constitutional crisis. In April 2021, Farmaajo sought to extend his term for two years, but parliament voted to reject the extension.
An ongoing conflict between Farmaajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble and continual election delays are exacerbating the country’s instability. Legislative election are underway, but proceeding slowly, and will unlikely be complete in time to meet the February 25 deadline for the presidential election.
Somalia’s strategic location means that instability has impact beyond its borders. More
Abdulaziz Osman, Voice of America (February 19, 2022): Two Pre-Election Attacks in Somalia Kill at Least 15, Injure Dozens
Duncan Miriri, Reuters (February 18, 2022): Exclusive: Voting delays risk starving Somalia of budget funds, says IMF
UN News (February 15, 2022): Somalia: Elections must be finalized amid worsening drought, Security Council hears
Kenya General Elections: August 9, 2022
Kenya is due to hold general elections on August 9, 2022. The last elections, in August 2017, were disputed, and the presidential poll was re-run in October 2017. President Uhuru Kenyatta won re-election after opposition leader Raila Odinga encouraged his supporters to boycott the re-run. Kenyan politics is highly polarized with a strong ethnic component, although the major candidates have not thus far made ethnicity central to their campaigns.
Because of the crises in neighboring Ethiopia and Somalia, Kenya plays an important role in the region. In addition, Kenya has been an important partner to the United States and other countries on counterterrorism.
Gabrielle Lynch, Justin Willis, and Nic Cheeseman, The Conversation (February 21, 2022): Fears of election rigging may fuel further abuses in Kenya: democracy could be the loser
Reuters (February 15, 2022): Lawyer denies bribing witnesses at collapsed ICC trial of Kenyan vice-president
Angola Presidential and Legislative Elections: August 2022
Angola holds presidential and legislative elections in August 2022. The country has not to date held free elections. The People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), a former armed group, has been in power since since independence in 1975. For 38 years, the MPLA’s José Eduardo Dos Santos ruled Angola with an iron fist. His regime engaged in rampant corruption and kleptocracy. Dos Santos’s successor, João Lourenço, has enacted some reforms and sought to curtail corruption, but many issues remain. Moreover, local elections (the country’s first) have been delayed repeatedly, at times sparking protests. The political climate remains tense.
MPLA’s vote share has been steadily decreasing with each successive election: it received 81 percent of the vote in 2008, 72 percent in 2012, and 61 percent in 2017. For the upcoming elections, the three main opposition parties will back a single presidential candidate: Adalberto Costa Junior, leader of UNITA, the main opposition party.
Angola is one of the biggest oil producers in Africa. More
Eduardo Campos Lima, National Catholic Register (February 21, 2022): Catholic bishops in Angola emerge as fearless critics of country’s ruling party
Nigeria General Elections: February 18, 2023
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, holds general elections on February 18, 2023, but some states are due to hold gubernatorial elections before that, including Ekiti and Osun states in 2022.
In addition, potential 2023 candidates have already begun jockeying for position. Since the return to civilian rule, vote-rigging and violence have plagued elections. While the 2015 polls – which handed the opposition its first-ever victory – were considered credible, international and Nigerian observers found that the 2019 polls fell short. The country is in the midst of several security crises.
Ruth Olurounbi, Bloomberg (February 21, 2022): Nigerian Presidency Says Vote Law Under Review as Protests Loom
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, BBC (February 19, 2022): Letter from Africa: Nigeria’s electioneering and the role of stomachs
South Sudan Elections: By March 2023 (planned)
South Sudan plans to hold elections by March 2023, the first since independence in 2011. Salva Kiir had been president of the semi-autonomous region while it was still part of Sudan, and he remained in office following independence. The legislature’s mandate expired in 2015 (it had been elected in 2010, before independence), and has been extended several times. Additional election delays are possible.
Waakhe Simon Wudu, AFP (February 22, 2022): South Sudanese disillusioned by lumbering peace process
David Mayen, The East African (February 16, 2022): Peace monitors in S. Sudan urge parties to implement proposed laws
Daniel Akech Thiong, African Arguments (February 16, 2022): The pawn who became king: How has Salva Kiir stayed at the top so long?
Zimbabwe General Elections: July 2023 (due)
Zimbabwe is due to hold elections in 2023. These will be the second since the 2017 coup that led to the fall of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s longtime dictator, who left a legacy of gross economic mismanagement and political repression. However, democracy continues to face many challenges in Zimbabwe, and the current president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, continues to govern in an authoritarian, repressive manner.
Farai Mutsaka, AP (February 20, 2022): Thousands hail Zimbabwe opposition leader at new party rally
Columbus Mavhunga, Voice of America (February 20, 2022): Zimbabwe’s Main Opposition Party Holds Rally Under Conditions Set by Police
Lenin Ndebele, News24 (February 19, 2022): Police brutality, political violence and flawed voters roll ahead of Zimbabwe by-elections
Sudan General Elections: By 2024 (due – unclear following coup)
Sudan plans to hold general elections by 2024, the culmination of a five-year transition to democracy that began with the July 2019 removal of dictator Omar al-Bashir following several months of protests. Al-Bashir was removed in a military coup, and a junta ruled briefly, but entered into an agreement with the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), a wide-ranging coalition of opposition groups, to transition the country to democracy. Civil servant and diplomat Abdalla Hamdok became prime minister.
However, another coup in October 2021 returned Sudan to military rule. Hamdok resigned. Protests continue and the country’s political future remains uncertain.
Hamza Hendawi, The Nationaql UAE (February 21, 2022): Stalemate in Sudan as protests against military rule continue
Samy Magdy, AP (February 14, 2022): Ex-Sudan official detained as 2 killed in anti-coup protests
Burkina Faso Elections: TBD, following coup
Burkina Faso is due to hold local elections in May 2022, but delays are likely due to the growing security crisis and recent coup.
On January 24, 2022, a group of soldiers detained President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, dissolved the legislature, and declared that a military junta would control the country moving forward. Subsequently, coup leader Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was sworn in as president.
This coup (which follows coups in nearby Guinea, Chad, and Mali) plunges the country’s political future into even greater uncertainty. Burkina Faso avoided an earlier coup attempt, and some analysts believed that a successful coup was only a matter of time given simmering discontent with Kabore’s handling of the jihadist threat and other issues.
Captain Sidsore Kaber Ouedraogo of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration (the name the junta has given itself) says new elections will take place in the future, but has not specified a date. More
Sam Mednick, AP (February 16, 2022): Burkina Faso junta leader inaugurated as nation’s president
Mali Presidential and Legislative Elections: Delayed to December 2025
Mali had set presidential and legislative elections for February 27, 2022, following the August 2020 coup, but the interim government has proposed a delay to December 2025, sparking a backlash from neighboring countries and the international community.
In the coup, soldiers removed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (who has since died at age 76, having been in poor health for years), dissolved parliament (which had just been elected in April, in elections marred by fraud and intimidation) and established a transitional government.
AFP (February 21, 2022): Mali parliament approves five-year democratic transition plan: The 121-seat army-dominated interim parliament voted to allow the military government to rule for up to five years.
Norimitsu Onishi, Ruth Maclean and Aurelien Breeden, New York Times (February 17, 2022): France Announces Troop Withdrawal From Mali After 9-Year Campaign
Guinea Elections: TBD, following coup
On September 5, 2021, Guinea’s president, Alpha Condé, fell in a military coup. Guinea’s political future remains uncertain, but regional and international bodies, as well as Guinean civil society and political groups, have urged elections.
Condé was re-elected in October 2020 amid violence. He sought and won a controversial third term, and for the third time, faced off against opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo. Both candidates claimed they won, but election officials declared Condé the winner. However, Diallo challenged the results, alleging fraud and prompting street protests leading to at least 10 deaths. The government arrested a number of opposition members following the election. More
Miriam Frost and Louis Metcalfe, African Arguments (February 17, 2022): Guinea must put justice at the heart of its transition: The September coup was domestically popular. The junta can build on this and send a signal to the region by prioritising accountability.
Africa Elections Coming Up in 2022 and 2023
Somalia, Indirect Legislative Elections: Ongoing
Somalia Indirect Presidential Election: February 25, 2022 (Tentative, following numerous delays – additional delays possible)
Democratic Republic of the Congo Gubernatorial and Vice-Gubernatorial Elections: April 6, 2022
Gambia Legislative and Local Elections: April 9, 2022
Burkina Faso Local Elections: May 2022 (delays possible)
Nigeria, Gubernatorial Election in Ekiti State: June 18, 2022
Nigeria, Gubernatorial Election in Osun State: July 16, 2022
Republic of Congo Legislative Elections: July 2022 (due)
Senegal Legislative Elections: July 2022 (due)
Kenya Presidential and Legislative Elections: August 9, 2022
Angola Presidential and Legislative Elections: August 2022
Lesotho Parliamentary Elections: September 2022
Central African Republic Local Elections: September 2022 (due – delays possible)
Sao Tome and Principe Legislative Elections: October 2022 (due)
Somaliland Presidential Election: November 13, 2022
Equatorial Guinea Legislative and Local Elections: November 2022 (due)
Chad General Elections: By December 2022 (tentative, post-coup)
Nigeria General Elections: February 18, 2023
Djibouti Legislative Elections: February 2023
Nigeria Gubernatorial Elections in Most States: March 2023 (due)
South Sudan General Elections: By March 2023 (tentative)
Zimbabwe General Elections: July 2023
Eswatini Parliamentary Elections: August 2023 (due)
Gabon Presidential Election: August 2023 (due)
Mauritania Parliamentary Elections: September 2023 (due)
Gabon Legislative Elections: October 2023 (due)
Liberia Presidential and Legislative Elections: October 2023 (due)
Nigeria, Gubernatorial Elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States: November 2023 (due)
Madagascar Presidential Election: November 2023 (due)
Democratic Republic of the Congo Presidential and Legislative Elections: December 2023 (due)
Togo Legislative Elections: December 2023 (due)
Côte d’Ivoire Local Elections: 2023
Mali Presidential and Legislative Elections: TBD, following coup
Burkina Faso Elections: TBD, following coup
Guinea Elections: TBD, following coup
21votes does not necessarily agree with all of the opinions expressed in the linked articles; rather, our goal is to curate a wide range of voices. Furthermore, none of the individuals or organizations referenced have reviewed 21votes’ content. That is to say, their inclusion should not be taken to imply that they endorse us in any way. More on our approach here.
Africa This Week: February 21, 2022
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Last Updated: March 6, 2022 by 21votes
February 21, 2022
A weekly review of news and analysis of elections in Africa, usually posted on Mondays and occasionally updated throughout the week. For a full electoral calendar and interactive map, click here.
Upcoming Africa Elections
Somalia, Indirect Legislative Elections: Due, Indirect Presidential Election: By February 25, 2022 (tentative – preceded by indirect legislative elections)
Somalia does not hold direct elections, but rather holds indirect elections in a clan-based system. Currently, parties have agreed to complete the process by February 25, 2022, delayed from February 8, 2021, but are unlikely to meet the deadline. The term of President Mohamed “Farmaajo” has expired, leaving Somalia in a political and constitutional crisis. In April 2021, Farmaajo sought to extend his term for two years, but parliament voted to reject the extension.
An ongoing conflict between Farmaajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble and continual election delays are exacerbating the country’s instability. Legislative election are underway, but proceeding slowly, and will unlikely be complete in time to meet the February 25 deadline for the presidential election.
Somalia’s strategic location means that instability has impact beyond its borders. More
Abdulaziz Osman, Voice of America (February 19, 2022): Two Pre-Election Attacks in Somalia Kill at Least 15, Injure Dozens
Duncan Miriri, Reuters (February 18, 2022): Exclusive: Voting delays risk starving Somalia of budget funds, says IMF
UN News (February 15, 2022): Somalia: Elections must be finalized amid worsening drought, Security Council hears
Kenya General Elections: August 9, 2022
Kenya is due to hold general elections on August 9, 2022. The last elections, in August 2017, were disputed, and the presidential poll was re-run in October 2017. President Uhuru Kenyatta won re-election after opposition leader Raila Odinga encouraged his supporters to boycott the re-run. Kenyan politics is highly polarized with a strong ethnic component, although the major candidates have not thus far made ethnicity central to their campaigns.
Because of the crises in neighboring Ethiopia and Somalia, Kenya plays an important role in the region. In addition, Kenya has been an important partner to the United States and other countries on counterterrorism.
Gabrielle Lynch, Justin Willis, and Nic Cheeseman, The Conversation (February 21, 2022): Fears of election rigging may fuel further abuses in Kenya: democracy could be the loser
Reuters (February 15, 2022): Lawyer denies bribing witnesses at collapsed ICC trial of Kenyan vice-president
Angola Presidential and Legislative Elections: August 2022
Angola holds presidential and legislative elections in August 2022. The country has not to date held free elections. The People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), a former armed group, has been in power since since independence in 1975. For 38 years, the MPLA’s José Eduardo Dos Santos ruled Angola with an iron fist. His regime engaged in rampant corruption and kleptocracy. Dos Santos’s successor, João Lourenço, has enacted some reforms and sought to curtail corruption, but many issues remain. Moreover, local elections (the country’s first) have been delayed repeatedly, at times sparking protests. The political climate remains tense.
MPLA’s vote share has been steadily decreasing with each successive election: it received 81 percent of the vote in 2008, 72 percent in 2012, and 61 percent in 2017. For the upcoming elections, the three main opposition parties will back a single presidential candidate: Adalberto Costa Junior, leader of UNITA, the main opposition party.
Angola is one of the biggest oil producers in Africa. More
Eduardo Campos Lima, National Catholic Register (February 21, 2022): Catholic bishops in Angola emerge as fearless critics of country’s ruling party
Nigeria General Elections: February 18, 2023
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, holds general elections on February 18, 2023, but some states are due to hold gubernatorial elections before that, including Ekiti and Osun states in 2022.
In addition, potential 2023 candidates have already begun jockeying for position. Since the return to civilian rule, vote-rigging and violence have plagued elections. While the 2015 polls – which handed the opposition its first-ever victory – were considered credible, international and Nigerian observers found that the 2019 polls fell short. The country is in the midst of several security crises.
Ruth Olurounbi, Bloomberg (February 21, 2022): Nigerian Presidency Says Vote Law Under Review as Protests Loom
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, BBC (February 19, 2022): Letter from Africa: Nigeria’s electioneering and the role of stomachs
South Sudan Elections: By March 2023 (planned)
South Sudan plans to hold elections by March 2023, the first since independence in 2011. Salva Kiir had been president of the semi-autonomous region while it was still part of Sudan, and he remained in office following independence. The legislature’s mandate expired in 2015 (it had been elected in 2010, before independence), and has been extended several times. Additional election delays are possible.
Waakhe Simon Wudu, AFP (February 22, 2022): South Sudanese disillusioned by lumbering peace process
David Mayen, The East African (February 16, 2022): Peace monitors in S. Sudan urge parties to implement proposed laws
Daniel Akech Thiong, African Arguments (February 16, 2022): The pawn who became king: How has Salva Kiir stayed at the top so long?
Zimbabwe General Elections: July 2023 (due)
Zimbabwe is due to hold elections in 2023. These will be the second since the 2017 coup that led to the fall of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s longtime dictator, who left a legacy of gross economic mismanagement and political repression. However, democracy continues to face many challenges in Zimbabwe, and the current president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, continues to govern in an authoritarian, repressive manner.
Farai Mutsaka, AP (February 20, 2022): Thousands hail Zimbabwe opposition leader at new party rally
Columbus Mavhunga, Voice of America (February 20, 2022): Zimbabwe’s Main Opposition Party Holds Rally Under Conditions Set by Police
Lenin Ndebele, News24 (February 19, 2022): Police brutality, political violence and flawed voters roll ahead of Zimbabwe by-elections
Sudan General Elections: By 2024 (due – unclear following coup)
Sudan plans to hold general elections by 2024, the culmination of a five-year transition to democracy that began with the July 2019 removal of dictator Omar al-Bashir following several months of protests. Al-Bashir was removed in a military coup, and a junta ruled briefly, but entered into an agreement with the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), a wide-ranging coalition of opposition groups, to transition the country to democracy. Civil servant and diplomat Abdalla Hamdok became prime minister.
However, another coup in October 2021 returned Sudan to military rule. Hamdok resigned. Protests continue and the country’s political future remains uncertain.
Hamza Hendawi, The Nationaql UAE (February 21, 2022): Stalemate in Sudan as protests against military rule continue
Samy Magdy, AP (February 14, 2022): Ex-Sudan official detained as 2 killed in anti-coup protests
Burkina Faso Elections: TBD, following coup
Burkina Faso is due to hold local elections in May 2022, but delays are likely due to the growing security crisis and recent coup.
On January 24, 2022, a group of soldiers detained President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, dissolved the legislature, and declared that a military junta would control the country moving forward. Subsequently, coup leader Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was sworn in as president.
This coup (which follows coups in nearby Guinea, Chad, and Mali) plunges the country’s political future into even greater uncertainty. Burkina Faso avoided an earlier coup attempt, and some analysts believed that a successful coup was only a matter of time given simmering discontent with Kabore’s handling of the jihadist threat and other issues.
Captain Sidsore Kaber Ouedraogo of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration (the name the junta has given itself) says new elections will take place in the future, but has not specified a date. More
Sam Mednick, AP (February 16, 2022): Burkina Faso junta leader inaugurated as nation’s president
Mali Presidential and Legislative Elections: Delayed to December 2025
Mali had set presidential and legislative elections for February 27, 2022, following the August 2020 coup, but the interim government has proposed a delay to December 2025, sparking a backlash from neighboring countries and the international community.
In the coup, soldiers removed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (who has since died at age 76, having been in poor health for years), dissolved parliament (which had just been elected in April, in elections marred by fraud and intimidation) and established a transitional government.
AFP (February 21, 2022): Mali parliament approves five-year democratic transition plan: The 121-seat army-dominated interim parliament voted to allow the military government to rule for up to five years.
Norimitsu Onishi, Ruth Maclean and Aurelien Breeden, New York Times (February 17, 2022): France Announces Troop Withdrawal From Mali After 9-Year Campaign
Guinea Elections: TBD, following coup
On September 5, 2021, Guinea’s president, Alpha Condé, fell in a military coup. Guinea’s political future remains uncertain, but regional and international bodies, as well as Guinean civil society and political groups, have urged elections.
Condé was re-elected in October 2020 amid violence. He sought and won a controversial third term, and for the third time, faced off against opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo. Both candidates claimed they won, but election officials declared Condé the winner. However, Diallo challenged the results, alleging fraud and prompting street protests leading to at least 10 deaths. The government arrested a number of opposition members following the election. More
Miriam Frost and Louis Metcalfe, African Arguments (February 17, 2022): Guinea must put justice at the heart of its transition: The September coup was domestically popular. The junta can build on this and send a signal to the region by prioritising accountability.
Africa Elections Coming Up in 2022 and 2023
Somalia, Indirect Legislative Elections: Ongoing
Somalia Indirect Presidential Election: February 25, 2022 (Tentative, following numerous delays – additional delays possible)
Democratic Republic of the Congo Gubernatorial and Vice-Gubernatorial Elections: April 6, 2022
Gambia Legislative and Local Elections: April 9, 2022
Burkina Faso Local Elections: May 2022 (delays possible)
Nigeria, Gubernatorial Election in Ekiti State: June 18, 2022
Nigeria, Gubernatorial Election in Osun State: July 16, 2022
Republic of Congo Legislative Elections: July 2022 (due)
Senegal Legislative Elections: July 2022 (due)
Kenya Presidential and Legislative Elections: August 9, 2022
Angola Presidential and Legislative Elections: August 2022
Lesotho Parliamentary Elections: September 2022
Central African Republic Local Elections: September 2022 (due – delays possible)
Sao Tome and Principe Legislative Elections: October 2022 (due)
Somaliland Presidential Election: November 13, 2022
Equatorial Guinea Legislative and Local Elections: November 2022 (due)
Chad General Elections: By December 2022 (tentative, post-coup)
Nigeria General Elections: February 18, 2023
Djibouti Legislative Elections: February 2023
Nigeria Gubernatorial Elections in Most States: March 2023 (due)
South Sudan General Elections: By March 2023 (tentative)
Zimbabwe General Elections: July 2023
Eswatini Parliamentary Elections: August 2023 (due)
Gabon Presidential Election: August 2023 (due)
Mauritania Parliamentary Elections: September 2023 (due)
Gabon Legislative Elections: October 2023 (due)
Liberia Presidential and Legislative Elections: October 2023 (due)
Nigeria, Gubernatorial Elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States: November 2023 (due)
Madagascar Presidential Election: November 2023 (due)
Democratic Republic of the Congo Presidential and Legislative Elections: December 2023 (due)
Togo Legislative Elections: December 2023 (due)
Côte d’Ivoire Local Elections: 2023
Mali Presidential and Legislative Elections: TBD, following coup
Burkina Faso Elections: TBD, following coup
Guinea Elections: TBD, following coup
21votes does not necessarily agree with all of the opinions expressed in the linked articles; rather, our goal is to curate a wide range of voices. Furthermore, none of the individuals or organizations referenced have reviewed 21votes’ content. That is to say, their inclusion should not be taken to imply that they endorse us in any way. More on our approach here.
Category: This Week Tags: Angola, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Zimbabwe