Africa: Democratic elections 'vulnerable to digital threats', says Kofi Annan Commission
"Digital revolution, foreign manipulation threat to free and democratic elections", 26 January 2020
Elections in Africa are increasingly under threat of being influenced by the digital revolution. According to a new report by The Kofi Annan Commission released on January 23 in Davos, Switzerland, electoral integrity will be at risk in key elections around the world this year. This follows recent revelations that Cambridge Analytica had influenced Kenya’s 2013 and 2017 elections, as well as the last US elections and the UK referendum both held in 2016. The report warns that if action is not taken, electoral integrity will be at risk in key elections around the world this year, and particularly in Africa, which the report says is the most vulnerable to digital threats.
Laura Chinchilla, the department of Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age at the commission said that much of global attention has been on digital threats and foreign manipulation of elections afflicting Western countries and Africa. “For the first time, we take a particular look at the global south, where new democracies or those in transition are particularly vulnerable to digital threats but where promising democratic developments are also taking place,”...