By Mazhun Idris
This year will go down in the African political landscape as a mixed bag. Of the more than a dozen countries scheduled to hold presidential polls between January and December 2023, voting took place in eight and leaders elected.
However, the military immediately threw out Gabon's elected government, and Sierra Leone has been rocked by political instability, capped by a failed coup.
Five others — Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, and Burkina Faso — failed to hold elections or had to postpone them.
TRT Afrika looks back at how the eight nations voted and what followed.
Nigeria: Decisive mandate
Eighteen parties fielded candidates as Africa's largest democracy went to its quadrennial polls on February 25 to choose a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who had completed his mandated two terms.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress won. Two of the three candidates of major opposition parties — Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party and the Labour Party's Peter Obi — challenged the results in court.
On May 29, Tinubu was inaugurated as president in the fourth civilian power transfer since Nigeria returned to the democratic path in 1999.
On October 26, Nigeria's Supreme Court upheld his victory and dismissed claims of irregularities filed by the opposition candidates.
Sierra Leone: Post-poll turmoil
On June 24, the West African country went to the hustings, its fifth since the end of a civil war in 2002. The incumbent, President Julius Maada Bio, secured 56% of the votes to win a second five-year term in office.
Samuel Kamara of the opposition All People’s Congress was second with 41%. On June 27, the country’s election commission stamped the victory of Bio, who secured just a per cent more than the required 55 to avoid a second round of voting. Kamara, though, rejected the tally.
However, Sierra Leone has been hit by political instability since June, culminating in a failed coup in November. The regional body, ECOWAS, is rallying behind Bio to safeguard democracy.
Zimbabwe elections
On August 23, Zimbabwe voted in its second national election since the coup that ended Robert Mugabe’s regime in 2017. President Emmerson Mnangagwa contested again after completing his first tenure.
Standing for ZANU-PF, the party that ruled the country since its independence in 1980, Mnangagwa won 52.6% of the votes, defeating his challenger Nelson Chamisa (44%).
On September 4, Mnangagwa was sworn into office. Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change rejected the polls as "flawed", though it didn't challenge the results in court.
Gabon: Things fall apart
The Bongo family had ruled this oil-rich Central African nation for 56 years. Ali Bongo, the son of patriarch Omar Bongo, contested the August 26 presidential polls and won it with 64% of the votes, according to the electoral commission.
But things started unravelling within hours after the results were declared. A band of military officers announced on television that they had seized power and placed Ali under house arrest.
On August 30, General Brice Oligui Nguema, head of the presidential guards, was named Gabon’s new military ruler, even as the coup was widely condemned for adding to the recent spate of military putsches that had been truncating the tenures of elected governments in several African countries.
On November 13, following international pressure, the junta issued a transition timetable, which set the date for general elections in August 2025. A new constitution is scheduled to be presented and endorsed then.
Liberia: An icon bows out
On October 10, Liberia voted as incumbent president George Weah sought a second term of six years. The former football icon took the lead in the first round but fell short of the mark needed to clinch a straight victory.
A November 14 runoff pitted the incumbent and his closest rival, Joseph Boakai, a former Vice President. In a show of his democratic credentials and respect for electoral sanctity, Weah conceded defeat after the tightly contested repoll was called in Boakai’s favour.
Madagascar: Boycott and low turnout
The island nation voted on November 16 to choose between incumbent president Andry Rajoelina (49) and other candidates in an election largely boycotted by the opposition. The turnout stood at 46.35%, the lowest in its history.
Rajoelina polled 58.96% of the votes and defeated a dozen candidates, 10 of whom had shunned the process, though their names had been included on the ballot. On December 1, the High Constitutional Court dismissed various challenges to the provisional results and affirmed Rajoelina’s third presidential term.
Egypt: El-Sisi re-elected
On December 1, election booths were opened in 121 nations for the diaspora to vote in the presidential elections later held in Egypt between December 10 and 12.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has clinched a third consecutive term, ahead of opposition’s Farid Zahran, Abdel-Sanad Yamama and Hazem Omar. The results were announced on December 18.
DR Congo awaits elections results
Concluding the 2023 calendar of presidential elections in the continent, the people of Africa’s fourth-most populous nation are casting their ballots on December 20. Incumbent Felix Tshisekedi (60) is seeking another term.
There are more than 20 opposition candidates jostling to oust Tshisekedi. The incumbent is leading, according to provisional results.
