The Coronavirus outbreak has disrupted elections in the Global North. In France, for example, fear of the virus was among the reasons cited for the near record-low turnout in Sunday’s second round of municipal elections. In the US, 16 states have delayed their primaries over contagion concerns.
If rich economies are struggling to uphold the electoral process, how are poorer countries faring? In Africa, five countries have gone ahead with elections, while twelve countries have postponed their elections. In a number of other countries, it remains unclear how authorities will deal with upcoming elections.
Mali, for example, has held legislative elections in April. The election has been marred by irregularities and violence fanned by jihadists in the north of the country. The leader of the opposition Soumaila Cisse had been kidnapped ahead of the first round of the election. The elections had been delayed several times and were initially scheduled to take place in 2018. Since the election, widespread protests have disrupted political live in Mali with the WEST African regional bloc ECOWAS calling on Mali to re-run some of its election. The example of Mali shows how some African countries that are already experiencing a host of difficulties are now confronted with yet another threat to their electoral process due to the Coronavirus.
Twelve countries in Africa have so far postponed their elections, including Nigeria, The Gambia and Kenya. In South Africa, the Electoral Court decided to go ahead with the Electoral Commission’s request to postpone the by-elections scheduled for March, April and May. South Africa accounts for almost half of confirmed Coronavirus cases on the continent.
A number of countries have yet to decide whether or not they will go ahead with their scheduled elections, among them population rich countries like Egypt.
The Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, a non-partisan non-profit organization, has issued guidelines how to hold elections under conditions of the pandemic. These include early voting to spread out the number of people at the polling places at any given time and mail-in ballots “if allowed in the jurisdiction.” The guidelines also urge to principles of inclusion, equality and accountability when deciding on whether to hold or to postpone an election.