The October 2015 elections  are determinant in future of the concerned countries.

World attention is focused on Africa where major elections with varying but converging stakes will take place in October 2015. Citizens of the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea and Tanzania gathering momentum to vote their leaders in the presidential, legislative and local government elections that will chart they way forward in  furthering democratic culture, peace, stability  and economic development.

Central African Republic

The October 18, 2015 presidential and legislative is probably the most awaited. This is because is the successful conduct of the election will mark the end of the transition period with President Catherine Samba-Panza at the helm. The elections will be a logical implementing of the Bangui Peace and Reconciliation Forum that besides other actors brought together representatives of belligerent rival anti-Balaka and Seleka armed groups whose fighting since March 2013 threw the country into lawlessness, instability and near collapse with public administration inexistent in many part.  

The international community anxiously awaits the outcome of the October polls considering that peace is being maintained in the Central African Republic by the United Nations Multidimensional Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA)  that within its one-year mandate has to ensure that lasting peace and start of economic development returns to the country.

Burkina Faso

The stakes of the October 11, 2015 presidential election in Burkina Faso are almost identical to those in the Central African Republic in the sense that elections in both countries will mark the end transition periods. The transition period in Burkina Faso, headed by President Michel Kafando has however, smoother void of clashes.

The election with 16 candidates running for the presidency is expected to signal the final eclipse of the reign of Blaise Compaoré who resigned on October 31, 2014 due to overwhelming pressure from street demonstrations. The different candidates in the election are aspiring to get the country back to the rails of democracy, respect of human rights and economic development.

Tanzania

Electors in Tanzania will on October 25,  2015 to decide which of the eight candidates will be the country’s president and also decide which of the parties will dominate the National Assembly and local governments. It will be an occasion for Tanzanians to confirm their adherence to change, respect for constitution and democratic culture as outgoing President Jakaya Kikwete stepped down after his maximum two terms.

The main stake for the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party whose presidential candidate is Works Minister John Magufuli, will be to maintain its dominance of the country’s political scene. The seven opposition candidates will want to dethrone the Chama Cha Mapinduzi to introduce change at the helm of the State considering that CCM has been in power since the restoration of multiparty system in 1992.

Guinea

The major stake in Guinea’s presidential election of October 11, 2015 will be another hot contest between incumbent President Alpha Condé and his main challenger Cellou Dalein Diallo.  President Condé defeated Dalein Diallo in the 2010 presidential election in the second round by a narrow margin of 52.5 per cent of the votes cast.

The elections will surely spark fireworks considering that Cellou Dalein Diallo has already formed a coalition with 10 other opposition parties to vote a single opposition candidate who will get to the second round of the polls.  The eight candidate on the starting line of the poll are said to be from all regions of Guinea thereby posing the problem of hegemony for a particular candidate.

Côte d’Ivoire

The October 25, 2015 presidential election in Côte d’Ivoire draws greater attention from the fact that 33 candidates are vying for the post of President of the Republic. The main stake of the election is the return to lasting peace and stability to the country that was torn part after the 2010 post –election violence.

Incumbent Alassane Ouattara first term of office that ends with the October polls has been turbulent as former President Laurent Gbagbo and some of his supporters are the International Criminal Court in The Hague to be tried for crimes against humanity committed after the 2010 election. The wish of the population will be to have peaceful, transparent elections whose results will be accepted for the reconciliation process, return to stability and economic growth to become reality.