Zimbabwe and Gabon, two countries with a history of protracted political dominance by one ruling party, held elections this week. These elections come against a recent military coup in Niger in July 2023 and a string of other military coups and attempted coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Sierra Leone between 2020 to 2023.
In both countries voters are denied the right to make up their minds about who to support based on free and impartial information due to widespread media censorship and disinformation. The concerns about the restrictions on freedom of expression follow a worrying trend across Africa and threaten to undermine support for democracy on the continent, as they play a critical role in enabling the manipulation of elections in Africa.
So how did media (un)freedom undermine the credibility of elections in Gabon and Zimbabwe?
