Everyone relates 2020 to the Covid-19 pandemic and how it caused the closure of countries and economies. However, politics never came to a halt. As we all can vividly remember, the United States of America took to the polls during this period. Here is a summary of East African countries’ 2020 elections.
East African countries also made their political decisions during this pandemic period. Among the countries that held their elections include Tanzania, Burundi, Seychelles, Malawi, and the Tigray State of Ethiopia. Well, let’s have a summary of how it went down.
Magufuli retained Tanzania’s top seat with a landslide.
Incumbent President John Magufuli got 84% of the total votes. Tundu Lisu, an exiled lawmaker, and Magufuli’s main opponent, managed to secure only 13% of the votes. Out of the 29 million registered voters, only 15 million voted.
Lisu wasn’t satisfied with the election results, but Tanzania’s electoral law doesn’t provide room for appealing against announced results.
On the side of East Africa’s team of observers led by Burundi’s former president, Sylvester Ntibantunganya, the elections were free and fair.
On the contrary, the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) outlined in its report that they observed oppression of the opposition, which altered the election’s credibility.
Lissu has since gone back to exile in Belgium, while Magufuli is now serving his second term.
Burundi’s Nkurunziza replaced
President Nkurunziza was replaced from the country’s top position on the May 20 elections, which he did not contest. Nkurunziza had been at the helm of the country’s politics, and in 2018, he announced he would not vie. His party CNDD-FDD nominated Evariste Ndayishimye for the presidential race.
Ndayishimye clinched the top seat with 71.45% of the votes. His close competitor, who had previously contested against Nkurunziza, Agathon Rwasa of the National Congress for Liberty, managed only 25.15% of the votes.
The voter turnout was 87.71% of the 5,113,418 registered voters.
It’s goodbye to Malawi’s Mutharika.
Last year’s poll gave President Mutharika his second term in office was nullified, and fresh polls were held on June 23.
The rerun of the elections saw President Mutharika ousted by his opponent Lazarus Chakwera. The latter attained 58.87 percent, equivalent to 2.6 million votes, of the total votes, guaranteeing him his first term in office.
According to the results, out of a total of 6.8 million registered voters, only 4.4 million voted.
Mutharika termed the June 23 elections as the worst election in the country’s history and did not reflect the will of the majority. But, for the “love he had for his country,” he urged Malawians to maintain peace.
Historical win in Seychelles
The October Seychelle’s presidential polls saw the opposition take power for the first time since 1977. President Danny Faure’s 43.5 % was not enough to guarantee him a win against the Anglican priest Wavel Ramkalawn who got 54.9% of the votes.
This was the sixth time Ramkalawn was vying for the seat, and fortunately for him, this time he outsmarted Faure, who had been in the office from 2016.
Ramkalawan gave a conciliatory victory speech saying there were no winners or losers in the hotly contested Elections.
Defiant Tigray heads to polls despite lockdown.
Ethiopia postponed its much-awaited elections due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a decision that displeased most opposition parties. The country was also in lockdown.
The Northern State of Ethiopia, Tigray, instead took to the polls, putting them on the federal’s government radar. The repercussion of their defiance is currently being witnessed in the ongoing war between the federal government and the Tigray state.
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