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Charles Onyango-Obbo @cobbo3 on x 551.7K followers
Created: 2025-07-22 15:17:56 UTC
When Giants Fell: The XX Biggest Opposition Wins in African Election History By end of 2025, there will have been at least XX elections in Africa, including Cameroon – where incumbent president, Paul Biya, aged 92, has been in office since 1982, making him one of the world's longest-serving leaders, with a tenure spanning over XX years – is seeking to extend his rule. Malawi will go to the polls on September 16, Tanzania in October, and Côte d'Ivoire in October, to name a few. In the theatre of African politics, as witnessed in Botswana late last year, nothing shakes the ground like an underdog beating the system, and sometimes, they do it by a landslide. 📣 African opposition doesn’t always win—but when it does, it can change everything. Here are XX of the most dramatic and historic moments when opposition forces defeated sitting presidents or ruling parties across Africa. X. MAURITIUS (2024) Navin Ramgoolam’s Alliance du Changement obliterated the ruling party, winning XXXX% of constituency seats and leaving incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth with nothing but concession speeches. A political wipeout for the ages. X. BOTSWANA (2024) After over half a century in power, the mighty Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) fell. Duma Boko’s Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) swept in with a XXXX% seat margin, ending the reign of President Mokgweetsi Masisi and the world’s longest-ruling democratic party. X. SOUTH AFRICA (1994) Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) didn’t just win power—it buried apartheid at the ballot box. With a XXXX% vote margin over F.W. de Klerk’s National Party, Mandela led the country into a new era of multiracial democracy. X. KENYA (2002) After four decades of KANU rule, Mwai Kibaki’s NARC thumped ruling party candidate Uhuru Kenyatta, who had been backed by outgoing strongman Daniel arap Moi. The XXXX% vote margin was more than a win—it was a generational exhale. X. MALAWI (2020 re-run) History was made when opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera won a re-run election ordered by the courts, defeating President Peter Mutharika by 17%. It was the first time in Africa that a court-overturned vote led to an opposition victory. X. SENEGAL (2024) Barely three weeks before the election, Bassirou Diomaye Faye was still in prison. Then he won—defeating government candidate Amadou Ba by an XXXX% vote margin, becoming Africa’s first jailed president-elect and PASTEF’s populist hero. X. SOMALIA (1967) In Africa’s earliest peaceful handover of power, President Aden Abdulle Osman lost a parliamentary vote to Abdirashid Ali Shermarke. The XXXX% margin in the National Assembly set a democratic precedent nearly forgotten in Somalia’s later turmoil. X. GHANA (2024) Former president John Mahama returned from the political wilderness to defeat Vice President Mahamudu Bawumiawith a XXXX% vote margin. The economy was the battlefield; voters chose familiar hands. X. NIGERIA (2015) In a country where incumbents once seemed immovable, former military ruler-turned-democrat Muhammadu Buhari broke the spell, defeating President Goodluck Jonathan with an XXX% vote margin. It was Nigeria’s first peaceful transfer of power via the ballot. XX. SIERRA LEONE (1967) Siaka Stevens and the All People’s Congress narrowly beat Albert Margai’s ruling SLPP by just XXX% of parliamentary seats. It may have been close, but it was sub-Saharan Africa’s first multiparty transition of power. #Africa #Elections #Democracy #OppositionWins
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Related Topics the worlds malawi cameroon