GUEST: Pacifique Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase   

Since the end of the advent of colonial rule, Africa has been on a steady path of democratic growth and elections in Africa are seen as a major vehicle of democratisation. This is evidenced by regular and generally chronologically compliant elections that are held as a method of choosing and deploying leaders into public office. 

Despite the increasing role of elections in the choice of leaders by the people of the continent, the continent has also experienced a spike in unconstitutional changes of governments through coups, which poses a significant threat to democratic governance and the rule of law.

(Notable coups have taken place in what is now being identified as the Africa coup belt with Gabon, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Guinea, Chad and Mali experiencing successful and even somewhat popular coups. Some of the countries where coups took place had undergone elections, making researchers and analysts conclude that people have lost confidence in institutions set up to strengthen and defend democracy.)