It’s a good time to be an incumbent: the case of Kenya, Rwanda and DRC
What you need to know:
Rwanda’s Paul Kagame comfortably won his third term in office with his detractors and critics arguing that there was no point of holding an election because the winner was already known before the votes were cast.
That is entirely missing the point and reduces the issue of democracy in Africa to a question of scheduled elections. Much of what happens prior to such “unnecessary” elections is important as well. One need not look far than the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the incumbent is hanging onto to power courtesy of among other reasons claiming that his country is “unprepared” to hold elections.
