At least nineteen African countries will go to the polls in 2024 to elect their national and regional leaders. Some observers have rightly called it the “Super Bowl of democracy” in Africa. However, how can a continent that has suffered decades of state capture (Report on the State of Democracy in the World – 2022) and democratic decline have free, fair, and participatory electoral processes for effective elections?Democratic passability? Technology would possibly be the answer.
Voter apathy is a risk to democracy
The threats to African democracy are manifold. An increasing number of African leaders continue to unilaterally replace their constitutions and legal frameworks in order to retain force. The past decade has also seen an increase in the number of authoritarian governments in West Africa, where transfers of force are characterized by coups and violent election-related protests. But more importantly, democracy in Africa is threatened by the development of voter apathy, low voter registration and low voter turnout, especially among young people.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and the following lockdowns, political mobilization and freedom of movement were affected, leading election officials to reflect on the effectiveness of the voting manual. Almost 14 African countries, including Botswana, Chad and Ethiopia, have postponed their elections according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. However, many other countries, such as South Africa, have revised their electoral methods to incorporate virtual technologies into electoral control and participation. This was done amid complaints from cyber-pessimists about the reliability of online generation in generating transparent voting results.
South Africa’s numerical attempt
South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), for example, invested millions to obtain 40,000 voter control devices (VMDs) to electronically determine the electorate while also fighting double voting and voter fraud in the 2021 local elections. In its official report on the elections, the IEC advocated the replacement of the old portable “zip-zip” machines in use since 1998 with new smart devices. The multifunctional VMD generation scans barcodes on IDs, records voter addresses, national voter list details from retail outlets, and transmits polling station knowledge in real time. -time to a central point.
Proponents of the virtual generation say that, with more than 40 million active web users, South Africa is the best place to test the adoption of VMD in election management. The uniqueness of municipal elections would also provide key lessons for other emerging democracies in Africa that are contemplating a similar path. This follows the IEC’s urgent request to the Constitutional Court on whether the elections deserve to be postponed or not.
What We Learned
Five key classes emerged. First, elections in South Africa have been declared free and fair through the IEC and foreign observers, suggesting that democratic practices are alive and well. This is a vital lesson for African countries to respect their judicial processes even in times of uncertainty such as the one realized by the pandemic.
Second, the use of Desjardins Securities has contributed to a non-violent solution of the factor of limited political mobilization and freedom of movement and association. This suggests that the VMDs have served their purpose of maintaining the credibility and integrity of the elections.
Third, the new generation presented serious challenges, in addition to the exclusion of approximately 100,000 more people from the voter rolls due to malfunctioning devices and some elements of human error. Poor internet connections were also reported at some polling stations. Democracy is devalued and the credibility of an election can be called into question if citizens are excluded from participating. However, the final results of the elections are not violent despite this anomaly.
Fourth, the 2021 South African elections highlighted the need for budgeting through African governments. According to the IEC report (2022), budget cuts worth R382 million in the monetary years 2020/21 and 2021/22 led to the cancellation of the planned voter registration. before the election.
Eventually, VMDs faced voter apathy, low registered voter turnout, and low voter turnout. This underscores the need for officials from the CIS and other African countries to find durable solutions. Roodt (2021) states that about 46% of the entire eligible electorate voted in South Africa in 2021, the lowest figure since the fall of apartheid. A crisis threatens African governments if patterns of non-participation in elections persist.
Where do we go from here?
The abandonment of traditional media in favor of virtual communication spaces has been shown to reduce voter apathy and increase voter turnout. Although South Africa maintains that it has not officially taken a position on e-voting, CIS officials nevertheless recognize the benefits of using virtual generation in elections. An expanded VMD program will be implemented in the upcoming 2024 national elections, adding additional security measures to combat disinformation and disinformation.
At the very least, African countries use classic and fashionable strategies to participate in an election, while also finding more effective tactics to digitize. A positive relationship between citizens, election officials, and the government is mandatory for a successful implementation of virtual generation. The disruptions of rising inequality in emerging countries require more investment of time and the strengthening of virtual policies to be fully resolved, if they are ever resolved.
Dr. Maxwell M. Maseko is a postdoctoral fellow at the Tayarisha Centre at the Wits School of Governance. Her studies focus on media and governance, the spaces of democracy, digitalization in the public sector, protests, and citizen participation.
Digital Afrikan is a journalism organization whose project is to drive virtual transformation in Africa. Visit us or call us at [email protected].
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