Some 36 million Africans were called to express their vote in parliamentary and presidential consultations in 2008 held in 10 countries; 70 per cent of voters participated, compared to 36 per cent in 2007.

Elections in Ghana, the biggest country in terms of population that had an election, accounted for much of this result with a turnout of 70 per cent, while in Angola 98 per cent of voters went to the polls. Generally the outcomes were positive: Angola held its first democratic elections after the end of the war, and the second after independence. The electoral process was peaceful and international observers did not report any major irregularities. Rwanda, Zambia, Ghana conducted peaceful elections.

In Ghana, the opposition leader, John Atta-Mills, of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) won the poll, while, in Rwanda, women took 56 per cent of the total parliamentary seats, making this country‘s Chamber of Deputies the first in the world to have a female majority.

However, post-electoral violence plagued Zimbabwe, where the situation deteriorated leading to state-sanctioned violence directed towards opposition members. Elsewhere, incidents of violence triggered by the 2007 elections in Kenya and Nigeria continued into 2008.

In 2009 15 electoral consultations are expected, including the long-delayed elections in Côte d’Ivoire, and national elections in South Africa, where rising tensions during the electoral campaign resulted in the split of the major party. The first democratic elections for the presidency are also expected in Angola, although a constitutional reform might delay elections to 2010.