2023 Elections Monitoring
By: Rafaela Kieto
On 24 February 2023, the Republic of Djibouti held elections for the National Assembly, which were contested by two political parties, Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP) and Union for Democracy and Justice (UDJ. The UMP won 89.23% of the votes and 58 of the 65 parliamentary seats. The UDJ won the remaining votes and secured 7 seats in the National Assembly. In addition to the UMP and UDJ, two additional parties were interested in participating in the parliamentary elections - the Alliance of Movements for Democratic Alternation (AMAD) and the Center of Unified Democrats (CDU). However, the AMAD and CDU were rejected due to dual nationality and non-payment of deposit.
By: Vivian Nilsson – van Iperen
On January 29, 2023, the Republic of Tunisia held its run-off elections for the Assembly of People's Representatives. The first round took place on December 17, 2022. A total of 154 members were elected. Interest in the election was historically low, reportedly with around 11% of eligible voters participating in each round. Opposition parties and several civil society organisations boycotted the elections, referring to the political process as illegitimate due to the low turnout and denouncing the parliament’s lack of power.
By: Naomi Ndifon
On February 25th 2023, in what was arguably the most anticipated and fiercely competitive elections since the end of the military regime, Nigerians voted en masse for the President, Vice President, and members of its 10th National Assembly. Although preceded by hope, the polls were marked by reports of voter intimidation, voter disenfranchisement, vote rigging and electoral fraud. With a total of 8,794,726 votes, 70-year-old Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the victor of the 2023 Presidential elections, defying demands from the two main opposition parties for an election re-run and the immediate resignation of INEC chairman. Currently, there is a Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal headed by the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who aims to prove evidence of election fraud and thereby nullify the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
By: Jeptum Tuitoek
The Republic of Benin held its parliamentary election on 8th January 2023. The polls were conducted peacefully, and opposition parties, previously excluded in the 2019 elections, participated freely. The ruling party, Union Progressiste le Renouveau, emerged as the winner, garnering 53% of the votes. The Bloc Republicain and Les Démocrates’ parties received 28% each. The low voter turnout, reportedly at 37%, surprised many. At the time of publication, the official female voter turnout was unavailable.