2026 brings 11 African elections; four incumbents have ruled for over 15 years after sidestepping term limits
NAIROBI, April 30, 2026
Africa is entering one of its most consequential electoral years, with eleven countries scheduled to hold national votes in 2026, including two where leaders have been in power for more than four decades and are seeking to extend their grip on power despite deepening economic and security challenges.
In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled since 1986, and in the Republic of Congo, President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who has governed for a combined span of nearly five decades across two intervals, are both expected to seek fresh mandates that analysts say will be managed rather than contested. Both men sidestepped term limit restrictions at various points during their rule.
The elections, spread across Djibouti, Uganda, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Cabo Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Benin and others, vary widely in credibility. Roughly half are expected to be genuinely competitive, while outcomes in the remainder are seen as largely predetermined. In Benin, where only two candidates have been approved by the constitutional court after years of restrictions on political opposition, the playing field has been described by international observers as fundamentally tilted.
The elections unfold against a backdrop of weakened international norms, reduced Western engagement and growing influence from Russia, China and Gulf states across the continent. Chatham House’s Africa Programme warned in January that a divided African Union has “weakened its credibility at precisely the moment when coordinated regional action is most needed.” Security fragility also looms large: in several countries, Al-Shabaab, the M23, and Sahelian jihadist groups remain active in areas where elections are planned.
A digitally networked generation of young Africans is simultaneously reshaping political discourse, with youth-led mobilisations in Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Tanzania and Togo challenging governance failures and demanding accountability. Whether that energy translates into electoral change or provokes a further crackdown by entrenched governments is expected to be one of the defining political questions of 2026 on the continent.
