The historic election results last week in Nigeria drew worldwide praise and stirred hopes of a democratic domino effect on the rest of the continent. If an incumbent president could step down willingly, and power could be transferred peacefully from one party to another in Nigeria, with its history of military coups and deadly ethnic and religious rivalries, not to mention a raging Islamist insurgency, why wouldn’t the same happen elsewhere? In the last two decades, incumbents have lost elections and peacefully handed over power to the opposition in about 10 other African countries, mostly smaller nations like Senegal, Benin, Zambia and Malawi. To look at this new development and expectations from the rest of the continent, we are joined on the line by:
Japheth Omujuwa: Nigeria Blogger
Martine Ewi: Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies
Deprosa Muchena: Director: Amnesty International Southern Region
Richard Ioanya: [Polotica Analyst at the University of Pretoria
