“We Advocate for Effective Participation, because There’s No Democracy without Citizen Engagement”

CIVICUS speaks with Abdou Aziz Cissé, advocacy officer at AfricTivistes, about the state of democracy in Africa and the role of civil society in this year of many elections.

AfricTivistes is a pan-African civil society organisation (CSO) that promotes and defends democratic values, human rights and good governance through civic tech. It aims to empower African citizens to become active in building their societies and holding their governments accountable.

What’s your assessment of the electoral year in Africa so far?

Africa will see elections in 19 countries during the year, each with its economic, political and social challenges.

In many countries, elections have been preceded or accompanied by tensions , due to increased electoral competition or contested electoral processes. In other countries, such as Senegal , elections have been preceded or followed by protests and socio-political developments , with young people and civil society playing an active role.

In all these elections, young people and women have expressed a strong desire to be included in political institutions. In the run-up to the December 2024 election in Ghana, for example, mobilisation for youth and women’s participation continues, although structural challenges remain.

The loss of public trust in electoral institutions is a notable trend overall. Allegations of electoral fraud , manipulation and political interference were major obstacles to the credibility of the results in several countries, including Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritania, Rwanda and Tunisia. And we can expect further challenges in future general elections, as has happened in Mozambique.

On the whole, this year of elections has seen a mix of advances and setbacks, and has been rich in lessons , particularly in terms of participation, inclusiveness and transparency. Elections remain an opportunity to strengthen multiparty systems and restore constitutional order in countries that have experienced coups.

Is democracy in decline in Africa?

Democracy is in decline in many parts of the world, including Africa. Indicators of this decline include an increase in the number of authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes, restrictions on civil liberties, the narrowing of civic space and attacks on human rights and independent media. This can be explained by various factors, such as the rise of populism in the west, the fragility of institutions, the inefficiency of political systems and economic and social tensions exacerbated by crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Africa, countries such as Botswana , which will hold a parliamentary election on 30 October, Cabo Verde and Senegal continue to make progress towards democratic governance. But many others, particularly in West Africa, have experienced coups , and we have seen constitutional manipulation and disputed elections in many more, including Comoros, Mauritania and Tunisia.

Overall, there is a growing public distrust of political institutions and their ability to address economic and social challenges. The concentration of power in the hands of a few people or groups also limits participation, particularly by young people and women.

However, there are also ongoing efforts at democratic renewal, particularly by civil society, including citizens’ movements and movements of young people, who are getting increasingly involved in politics through the internet and civic technologies.

What is AfricTivistes and how do you work to defend democracy?

AfricTivistes is a pan-African organisation made up of bloggers, online activists and change agents from the African continent. Through our network, we defend democracy and human rights through advocacy, training and project implementation.

We are among the organisations calling for greater use of technology to make democracy more inclusive. Since our inception in 2015, we have been advocating for effective participation, because there’s no democracy without citizen engagement. Over the past three years, we have expanded our catalogue of strategies to promote participation through the production of documentary films and open source publications .

What’s the role of civil society in elections in Africa?

CSOs and activists play a crucial role in elections in Africa. They are involved at every stage of the electoral process, before, during and after voting. They lead neutral observation missions whose sole interest is the fair and transparent conduct of electoral processes and polls.

But for more than 20 years, CSOs have not confined themselves to the role of independent election observers. Faced with the rapid spread of disinformation, and in a context where this can influence voting behaviour, they are committed to verifying information and providing reliable, objective and impartial information.

The main role of civil society is therefore to raise awareness and educate people about their electoral rights, encouraging them to take an active part in elections, exercise their right to vote and express themselves.

Since 2006, civil society has also been involved in setting up effective digital voting systems. However, it was not until 2012 that civic tech initiatives appeared in most countries to promote participation, particularly in relation to elections. In 2012, it was Sunu2012 in Senegal, then in 2015 it was Benin Vote, in 2016 GambiaHasDecided and in 2017 NotTooYoungToRun in Nigeria, which sought to lower the voting age, and Senegal Vote, which has been monitoring Senegalese electoral processes ever since.

Finally, CSOs monitor results, help defuse tensions and can play a mediating role in post-election disputes or violence, as Ushahidi did in Kenya in 2007.

Despite their important contribution to strengthening electoral processes in Africa, civic initiatives are often subject to repression. The example of I Watch and Mourakiboun during the recent presidential election in Tunisia is a case in point.

What civil society initiatives around elections has your mapping identified?

In recent years, elections in Africa have faced several dysfunctions and tensions, often leading to crises. In this context, we’ve started to build a database of initiatives and their areas of intervention throughout the electoral cycle.

To date, we have registered more than 30 such initiatives, reflecting a strong commitment to electoral integrity, from election observation to voter education, combating disinformation and promoting the participation of excluded groups.

These include Takara2021, which dissected candidates’ manifestos in live sessions ahead of the 2020 presidential election in Niger. The initiative reached more than 20,000 people through its social media platforms and engaged more than 800 in the discussion. In doing so, it contributed to Niger’s first democratic transition.

My non-exhaustive list also includes Your Vote Counts in Cameroon, Congo Témoin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Enhancing Students’ Participation in Electoral Processes in Uganda. All these initiatives have been successful and demonstrate the relevance of participation in transparent elections. We will be featuring them on our platform in the coming months to showcase their important work.

What support do African democracy activists need from the international community?

At AfricTivistes, we emphasise partnership and solidarity between African and international CSOs and movements in the current context of democratic backsliding. It was in this spirit that we organised the Building Solidarity conference in July with Yiaga Africa, based in Nigeria, and more recently the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa ( FIFAfrica24 ) with Cipesa, based in Uganda.

The aim was to reflect on how to build solidarity, which requires that a channel of communication be opened to overcome differences and disagreements. But we also need to think about the conditions for solidarity. African activists and CSOs often have limited resources. They need more stable funding to support their projects and build partnerships.

In many African countries, democracy activists face threats – often aimed at censoring them and restricting the exercise of their fundamental freedoms – along with harassment and arrest. International support for their protection is needed, as is support for the establishment of activist residences in several cities across the continent. The Y’en A Marre movement has built one in Dakar, Senegal, to house democracy activists who face danger in their countries.

Activists need to be able to participate in international events, conferences and forums to take their concerns to an international level. By helping them do so, the international community would provide a platform to weave networks of solidarity across borders.

Get in touch with AfricTivistes through its website or Facebook page, and follow @afric_tivistes and @frican_excellency on Instagram and @AFRICTIVISTES and @AbdouJCisse on Twitter.