In many cases, campaigning will move from the streets to the airwaves or social media,
making it more important than ever for countries to have a free press. But places with
crooked leaders tend to muzzle their journalists. In the Republic of Congo, President
Denis Sassou Nguesso is likely to win another term despite having been in power for 35
years. In the absence of rallies, Mr Nguesso will not have trouble broadcasting his
campaign: several television channels and radio stations are owned by his cronies.
The opposition, however, will struggle. In recent years, journalists have been threatened
for inviting Mr Nguesso’s rivals to express their views or criticising him. And if
opposition activists seem to be gaining traction on social media, the government can
simply turn off the internet, as it did during the last election.
Campaigning on social media will be tricky in Uganda, too, as new rules oblige all
bloggers to register with a government regulator. In Benin, which is due to hold a
presidential election in early 2021, residents may be too scared to post their views on
Twitter or Facebook. In December 2019 a journalist was jailed for 18 months for
tweeting quotes from a local prosecutor. He was accused of spreading false information.
President Patrice Talon faces little opposition anyway—three of his key rivals are in
exile after being threatened with prison sentences.
Other African leaders have used covid-19 as a reason to postpone elections altogether.
In June 2020 Idriss Déby Itno, Chad’s president, delayed an election, which was
originally scheduled for 2015, for the fifth time. Previous excuses include having
insufficient funds, and the threat of attacks by Boko Haram, a jihadist group. (In
Ethiopia, where covid-19 cases tripled in two weeks, the decision to postpone a general
election for at least nine months is slightly more reasonable.)
Organising fair elections during a pandemic is tricky. It will be made trickier still by
scheming incumbents who will do anything to win. Sadly, many of them will triumph in
2021.
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