Africans go all in on civic participation
Starting next month, sub-Saharan Africa heads into a busy voting season for the remainder of 2025. Nine countries, home to nearly 174 million people, are scheduled to hold elections. While that鈥檚 a sign of progress, it doesn鈥檛 present the whole picture.
Last year, the continent held nearly twice as many elections, during which nations such as Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, and South Africa saw smooth transfers of power. But, says the agency Human Rights Watch, much of the other balloting was 鈥渇arcical鈥� and 鈥渇raudulent.鈥�
Yet, despite the uneven track record, Africans demonstrate an impressively high level of civic engagement. They show a 鈥渞esolve ... to engage, to organise, to build, to vote, and generally to speak out,鈥� according to Amina Oyagbola, a Nigerian businesswoman, lawyer, and chair of the Afrobarometer research network.
And this resolve, she wrote in the recent African Insights 2025 report, is 鈥渙ur greatest hope for securing democratic, accountable, and inclusive governance across the African continent.鈥�
鈥淎lmost everyone gets involved,鈥� the report says succinctly, based on interviews with more than 53,000 individuals in 39 countries.
A full 94% of respondents were involved in at least one form of civic participation, with the average engaging in three to four types. About one-third (35%) attended a campaign rally prior to the last election, and 72% voted. (The voting rate in the 2024 United States presidential election was 65%.)
In addition, Africans also pursue transparency and transformation beyond the ballot box. Compared with other areas of the world, the study found, 鈥淎fricans lead the way 鈥� by wide margins 鈥� in working together for change.鈥� This reflects long-standing traditions of collective decision-making. Attendance at community meetings is 48% (it鈥檚 26% in Latin America). And 42% join with others to raise an issue (as compared with 12%鈥�17% in other regions).
Such regular participation strengthens democracy, says Kenya-based political analyst Nanjala Nyabola. 鈥淓lections then become the culmination of four or five years of regular exercises of democracy, not a separate process,鈥� she wrote in Al Jazeera in May.
Even accounting for regional differences and degrees of political dysfunction, the data is encouraging for good governance. Concepts of democracy and civic voice are not confined to educated, urban elites, but are more widespread. Participation levels for women and young people (below 35 years of age) could be higher. But overall, poor, less-educated citizens as well as rural residents are actively engaged.
As individuals across Africa continue to invest their time and thought in institutions that affect daily life, they have the potential to remake governments and societies.
