2024: The year of elections and lessons from the beautiful game

BY IBRAHIM FARUK

The year 2024 is not just an election year. It’s perhaps THE election year. Globally, more voters than ever in history will head to the polls as at least 64 countries (plus the European Union)—representing a combined population of about 49% of the people in the world—are meant to hold national elections, the results of which, for many, will prove consequential for years to come.

Not just an election year, 2024 is also arguably, the football year, with the African Cup of Nations, the European Championship, the Asian Cup and Copa America as well as the Olympic Games in Paris having been held. Similarly, the resumption of the national football leagues across Europe in August 2024 will further generate as much interest as elections in Africa and across the world.

In Africa alone, 19 countries will hold presidential or general elections in 2024. This makes 2024 a busy election year on a continent witnessing youth-led cultural and political movements that are redefining and reimagining Africa on young people’s terms. The elections that have been held in 2024 include competitive multiparty elections in countries such as Senegal and South Africa to perfunctory electoral exercises in countries such as Rwanda.

However, even before the first ballot was cast in Africa in 2024, the first ball was kicked at the Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON which was held between 13 Jan 2024 – 11 Feb 2024 in Cote d’Ivoire. While the tournament was in full swing, former President Macky Sall of Senegal (who were at that time AFCON title holders) announced on February 3 a postponement of the presidential election three weeks before its scheduled date. The Constitutional Council, Senegalese civil society and international actors deemed the postponement illegal and pushed back until a new election date was set for March 24.

There really are a lot of similarities between elections and football, such as candidate selection and player selection processes, political parties and teams, election management bodies and referees, as well as winners and losers on both sides. There are also lessons for African elections from the beautiful game of football.

The president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Patrick Motsepe, claimed that nearly 2 billion people watched the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2023. Over the 4 week period during which the tournament lasted, Africans from across the continent and in the diaspora as well as lovers of the beautiful game followed the tournament closely, usually while sitting close to their television sets and talking about it on social media.

However, in spite of all the attention generated by the tournament, low turnouts and attendance rates at stadiums remained a recurring theme across all AFCON editions – the latest one included. The stadiums, where all the action was happening, were mostly empty, and this is not the first time this scenario has played out.

Similarly, elections witness a lot of attention generated by citizens but low voter turnout at the polling stations on election day does not reflect the enthusiasm generated in the pre-election period. The reasons for low turnouts and attendance rates (as well as low voter turnout on election day) range from infrastructural issues to financial, political and socio-cultural. One of the major factors is the economic hardship currently prevalent in Africa and the world at large.

Meanwhile, regular citizens, who have no incentives other than having a good time are hardly present. The impact of social media in driving attention to elections or football tournaments cannot be ignored. This is quite evident in posts by political opposition or rival fans who enjoy online banter and sharing viral moments about campaigns gaffes or football knockouts. Low voter or fan turnouts are more indicative of the lack of national purpose or interest and point to the obstacles that hinder increased participation.

In 2017, the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) announced that it would move the finals from their traditional January – February slot to a June – July slot in a bid to avoid repeated disputes with European clubs forced to release players in the middle of the season. Passive watchers of the game were also quick to raise the question as to why the 2023 AFCON was held in 2024 instead of the 2023 calendar year. Although the tournament retained its original 2023 branding, it was moved to January – February 2024 upon Cote d’Ivoire’s request, in order to avoid the West and Central African tropical rain season, which typically reaches its peak around June – July. The lack of fidelity to the announcement of the new slot for the competition continues to raise questions about accountability within the Confederation among others.

In Mali, the military junta has again postponed the holding of elections to restore a civilian democratic government despite repeated assurances that it would do so. The latest broken promise was for it to hold presidential elections on February 4, 2024. If the junta had maintained fidelity to the election timelines, the elections would have been held while the tournament was ongoing. Similarly, a lack of fidelity to transition timelines in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger show that both military rulers and football administrators need to show fidelity to election transition timelines and tournament dates as an accountability measure for citizens and football fans.

Several of the world’s largest democracies, including the United States, Nigeria, and Brazil have experienced declines in democratic satisfaction, due to economic downturns, political scandals, poor governance and service delivery, and security crises.

Building resilient democracies will require investments by governments, civil society and citizens to institute democratic reforms, strengthen transparency and the rule of law, advance human rights and development, and deliver economic dividends.

A striking example of where investments deliver results in football comes from Cabo Verde, where the football association has maximized the use of the CAF subventions and invested in infrastructure, built new state-of-the-art training facilities across the country, improved existing ones and refurbished their headquarters and equipped them with the latest and modern facilities, the football association’s efforts are evidently yielding results. Since making their continental debut at the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2013 in South Africa, the Cabo Verdean Football Association (FCF) has been quietly working wonders. Cabo Verde reached the quarterfinals of AFCON 2023 and were rated as one of the best-performing sides at the tournament.

In conclusion, the major football tournaments have been played as well as the Olympics with winners emerging and as the major football leagues kick off, it is clear that football remains inextricably linked with the electoral and political pulse of the continent. From Cabo Verde’s investment in football to deliver results, to change in transition timelines in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger and a tournament characterized by increased attention but decreasing turnout, the beautiful game continues to serve as a mirror to broader societal concerns.

As the African continent prepares for more elections in 2024, the lessons from the beautiful game will continue to be a yardstick towards measuring democratic process and building resilience.

Ibrahim Faruk is the programme coordinator of the Africa Division with Yiaga Africa and is a member of the leadership and strategy team of the Not Too Young To Run Movement. He can be reached via [email protected], and tweets @IbrhmFaruk