Election Season: Africa

New Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy El-Ayyat

After a tumultuous period following Hosni Mubarak's ouster during the Spring Arab Uprising, Egypt eventually held successful but tense elections that saw the rise to power of little unknown, and by far an unlikely, candidate Mohamed Morsy El-Ayyat of Muslim Brotherhood. He narrowly beat Ahmed Mohamed Shafik Zaki garning  51.73% of the vote, compared to Shafik's 48.27%.

Success in the Egyptian elections followed by smooth transition was an instrumental benchmark for upcoming elections elsewhere in Africa. For sure, in many presidential elections in the continent, voting is a mere formality with the outcome of the elections long determined even before the votes are cast. Voting is only done to formalize the whole process and hoodwink the larger populace into think that they elected a government to power. As some of the strong men in the continent say, they ascended to power by bullet and it would take much more than a piece of paper (ballot) to send them packing.

Some of the countries due to hold elections on the continent either this year or earlier next year include: Ghana in December, Madagascar later in 2012, Kenya in March 2013, Togo October 2012, Sierra Leone November 2012, Zimbabwe March  2013 and Somalia later this month. Ghana, by far is the most stable of all these countries as far as elections are held. Madagascar, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Somalia remain highly volatile due to past election skirmishes. Somalia is the most volatile of all having not had an efficient and stable government in 20 years and the threats of the terror gang Al - Shabaab makes it all more complicated.

John Dramani Mahama after being sworn in

Kenya slipped into the category of the volatile nations thanks to the greatly and hotly contested 2007 General Elections results. However, 5 years later, some of the information that has come to the fore would greet the majority of the Kenyan population with awe! In the coming weeks, I will give you a detailed account of the so called 'stolen election'.

Whereas a successful and accepted election is by no means and account a measure of how well entrenched democracy is in a nation, it is essential for its continued growth and stability both socially and economically. And what happens in one corner of Africa cannot be viewed on account of isolation since it forms a basis of conduct elsewhere in the continent. We can only hope that the smooth and peaceful handover of power from a ruling military council in Egypt to a civilian president coupled by the exemplary  transition in Ghana after the sudden death of President John Evans  Fifii Atta Mills will be replicated elsewhere on the continent.