Let's stop pretending that polls and democracy work in Africa

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu takes oath of office during her inauguration in Dodoma on November 3, 2025. [AFP]

When Burkina Faso’s military ruler, Captain Ibrahim Traore announced the dissolution of the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission in July 2025, the reaction across Africa was one of outrage. Scholars, civil society groups and ordinary citizens saw it as an assault on democracy.

Yet perhaps our outrage is misplaced. Democracy in Africa, for far too long, has been for optics. Traore’s move, while brazen, only exposed what many leaders do under institutional disguise. We need only look at Tanzania to understand this.