Wafula Chebukati, former head of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), has blamed election-related military coups in Africa on a shortage of observers to oversee the process.
On Monday, Kenya's former election commission chief tweeted that coups in Africa undermine democratic advances.
The avalanche of election related military coups in Africa disrupts democratic gains. In most of these elections, Observers were excluded from the electoral process.
Election Observers are necessary as they contribute towards transparency & accountability of an election outcome.
— Wafula Chebukati EGH (@WChebukati) August 31, 2023Did you read this?
Chebukati's remarks come after a military coup in Gabon, which occurred just hours after Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared the winner of the presidential elections.
Army officers appeared on television to declare that they had taken power and nullified the results of Saturday's election, which Bonda's faction said was illegitimate. Bongo had been announced as the winner after getting 64.27% of the vote.
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The army said that Gen Brice Oligui Nguema, the chief of the presidential guard, would assume command.
The coup in Gabon followed nearly a month after a similar episode in Niger, where the presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, and their commander, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, declared himself the leader of a new military junta.
Burkina Faso's military installation was likewise seized by the military on January 23, 2022, under the direction of Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
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President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was said to have been detained, and the military declared Kaboré overthrown.
Sudan, Kenya's neighbor, declared a state of emergency on October 25, 2021, after army officer Abdel Fattah al-Burhan kidnapped and imprisoned at least five state officials in unidentified places.
On September 6, 2021, the Guinean armed forces kidnapped the country's 83-year-old President Alpha Condé.
