Public policy and election administration in Africa:a controlling or innovative environment

Exercising public authority in Africa has accountability challenges. While Election Management Bodies (EMBs) administer elections, local observers and international monitors play crucial roles in maintaining public trust. The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance handbook has categorised EMBs as independent, governmental or mixed. However, political calculations and cybersecurity in the information age mean that exercising political control over EMB data aggregation systems has become a new imperative while state of the art in elections cheating has shifted from manual to electronic means, so that exercising control over EMB electronic vote aggregation can ensure victory for the incumbent or defeat where the incumbent relinquishes or loses control (Amoah 2020a). This chapter discusses three further presidential polls, the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018, Malawi and Guinea-Bissau in 2019, which confirm this trend. Going forward, establishing international protocols to allow independent observers’ access to EMB central systems could resolve allegations of fraud or rigging and curate the role of international observers in public policy. It behoves the African Union to initiate a process with African and global experts to implement the requisite protocols.