Information and communication technology [ICT] has not resolved the crisis of electoral integrity in Africa, it has digitized it

Abstract

The push by international organizations and the donor community for the digitization of electoral systems in Africa has largely been framed within economic and normative rationalities both of which aim to improve transparency and efficiency in electoral governance, key instruments for electoral integrity. This paper focuses on the disjunction between the normative and economic promises of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in electoral governance and the politics of their practical application in Africa. Employing Policy Diffusion Theory (PDT) and interpretive qualitative methodology, the study uses Kenya and Nigeria to make this assessment. This study finds that for all its promises, ICT reform in places such as Kenya and Nigeria tend, on the contrast, to perpetuate rather than alleviate electoral malpractice and institutional weakness. The paper reveals the complexities and pitfalls of ICT adoption in electoral governance and concludes that there is need for aligning technological reforms with local political, institutional, and socio-cultural contexts for genuine democratic transformation in African elections. The paper recommends a dire need for reclaiming African ownership of electoral reforms through grounding ICT adoption in local consultations, reducing dependence on electoral aid or funding elections independently, insulating ICT procurement from elite capture, building credible electoral institutions, and fostering intra-African regional peer learning.