This paper presents three key avenues through which organised crime infiltrates elections – election financing, the deployment of violence, and disinformation campaigns – and the impact on electoral integrity and thus on democracy. The author argues that to preserve the integrity of Africa’s elections, the mutually beneficial relationship between criminal actors, states and stateembedded actors must be directly addressed. If left unchecked, it will perpetuate democratic backsliding and rising criminality, further eroding democratic institutions.
About the author
Rumbi Matamba is an analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, working on assassinations in South Africa as part of the Observatory of Illicit Economies in East and Southern Africa, and conducting research on organised crime in Africa under the ENACT programme.
Image credit: ISS
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