Democratic Governance Of Sustainable Elections Under Covid-19 Condition In Africa: Strategic Considerations And Implications

Abstract

The crisis due to Covid-19 has taken a toll which is devastating on the lives of human beings, healthy and economies worldwide, coming at a difficult time for democracy in Africa. The viral spread in Africa began with a range of varied reactions from declarations of state of emergency to lockdowns. While such responses are necessary in terms of public health, from a political perspective particularly in African countries mired with security and political turbulence as well as upcoming several elections this creates challenges. Society’s opportunity to remove or confirm representatives in elected positions within a timeframe which is defined constitutionally, is a principle of democratic standards and values. An election process is an event which is done communally by bringing people together contrary to the wisdom of preventive transmission measures of Covid-19 virus. Institutions of democracy must make informed functional decisions in this extraordinary time. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative methodology, secondary data was collected from research papers, expert reports and media subjected to a content analysis. The study investigated the governance of sustainable elections during the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa. It revealed that this pandemic seriously affects, voter turn-out, election campaigning and the polling process among others. The study provides strategic considerations and implications for election management bodies (EMBs), civil society and governments on the democratic governance of elections in the midst of the Covid-19 prevalence without compromising public health.