How much does democracy really cost on the African continent? And above all, what are the concrete results? Every five to seven years, states and international donors spend tens of billions of CFA francs to organize presidential, legislative, or local elections. These often considerable costs spark heated controversy, particularly when they strain development budgets.
Examples abound across the continent. In Mali, the 2018 presidential and legislative elections cost nearly 50 billion CFA francs to re-elect a president who had been in office for five years. Three years later, he was overthrown in a coup, giving the impression that this colossal sum had gone up in smoke, as the institutions resulting from the election were swept away by governance crises. In Cameroon, the 2018 presidential election mobilized 54 billion CFA francs to re-elect a head of state who had been in power for over thirty-five years, with a National Assembly whose composition remained virtually unchanged.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the combined 2018 elections cost approximately $600 million, or nearly 350 billion CFA francs. According to calculations by former Congolese Prime Minister Matata Ponyo Mapon, this sum would have allowed for the construction of 400 kilometers of roads in a largely landlocked country, the development of two agro-industrial parks, the acquisition of five Airbus A319 aircraft and 4,000 new buses, and the building of more than 4,000 schools. Following the election, more than two years of political crisis and negotiations ensued before the elected president, Félix Tshisekedi, was able to truly assume power.
In Senegal, the 2024 presidential election cost the public treasury 14 billion CFA francs. This change of power, presented as a radical break with the past, two years later appears more like continuity than genuine transformation. In 2025, Côte d’Ivoire spent just over 82 million euros, or 54 billion CFA francs, to re-elect a president who had been in office for 15 years.
Between electoral illusions and the urgency of development
One observation runs through all these elections: the rate of political change rarely exceeds 10%. In most cases, those in power retain their positions. This reality raises questions about the very purpose of this expenditure: what is the point of investing tens of billions of CFA francs in elections whose outcome seems predetermined, and which, moreover, divide the population and too often lead to violence?
This situation reignites the fundamental debate between formal democracy and economic development. Faced with these repeated failures, a crucial question arises: was the democratic model imported in the early 1990s truly appropriate? Doesn’t the continent need a doctrine focused primarily on economic efficiency and meeting basic needs? It is becoming urgent to rethink, in light of African realities, a governance model closer to the people. Indeed, one can question the wisdom of imposing a complex institutional system on rural populations and the vast majority of them, a system poorly translated into local languages and whose contours remain unclear to them.
The social and economic indicators speak for themselves: poverty persists, youth are disillusioned, and security crises are intensifying. The economic situation has deteriorated across much of sub-Saharan Africa, which has nonetheless heavily funded an electoral democracy that has so far failed to deliver the expected development solutions.
⚡ Résumé expressgénéré par IA, vérifié par la rédaction
– Les élections en Afrique coûtent des dizaines de milliards de francs CFA, comme au Mali (50 milliards en 2018) ou en RDC (350 milliards en 2018), sans garantir des résultats durables.
– Le taux d’alternance politique dépasse rarement 10 %, les dirigeants en place étant souvent reconduits, ce qui remet en question l’efficacité de ces dépenses.
– Face à la persistance de la pauvreté et des crises sécuritaires, le modèle démocratique importé est critiqué pour son inadaptation aux réalités africaines et son manque de résultats en développement.
Auteur: Doudou Seydi
Publié le:Mercredi 22 Juillet 2026 à 12h08
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