Elections are the universally acceptable means for transition to new leadership or renewal of confidence in old leadership. From the days of drawing blades to kingdoms and handpicking, leadership has evolved broadly. In the world today, the norm is letting a people decide who governs them and for how long. To afford this system its credibility, countries have Election Management Bodies (EMBs) set up, tasked with organising, and seeing through the process. Smooth as it sounds, the unrolling has often come with more challenges than perceived, as the reality on the ground sometimes bears indelible marks on man’s cunningness.

Over the years focus has shifted from the different stakeholders to EMBs, which in the end, often have the final say. In countries like Kenya, Nigeria and recently, Senegal, the indispensable role played by EMBs has only further demonstrated this assertion. But like every other reputable institution, EMBs are faced with fast evolving times, diverse stakeholders and sometimes, very impatient and unforgiving electorates, warranting squeaky clean performance.

But winning this trust of stakeholders is not an election-day feat. It starts long before the first vote is cast. This truth echoed across the hall during the Expert Validation Meeting on Peer-to-Peer Learning and Data-Driven Approaches for Electoral Integrity in Africa, held in Addis Ababa from July 3 to4, 2025. Convened by the African Union and International IDEA, the gathering brought together electoral experts, regional networks, civil society, and policymakers to refine tools and methodologies that can strengthen the integrity of elections across the African continent.

The frameworks rightly emphasise transparency, learning, and institutional development as central pillars to the trust building process by EMBs. Stakeholders at the validation meeting were unanimous on a couple of aspects, including the uniqueness of different countries’ EMBs and electoral context. No two countries share the same digital, political, or legal environment. Peer learning must therefore begin with proper mapping to understand what exists, what works, and what doesn’t, before recommending solutions.

There was also strong advocacy for documenting not just activities, but experiences. A robust digital repository should capture the lived realities of electoral bodies: from misinformation crises to successful civic tech innovations. But this documentation alone isn’t enough. Accessibility, transparency, and privacy must be balanced to ensure data does not sit idle in the basements but  actually inform future reforms. 

Utilising data and shared experiences to improve the electoral process are just a piece of the pie. Another key element of the conversation, bordered on rethinking electoral communication in the digital age. Analysing Evidence-Based Communication in the Electoral Cycle, reveals promising strategies already in motion, providing a perfect learning and exchange opportunity for EMBs. Countries like South Africa and Kenya for instance, have developed annual reports and crisis communication plans to ensure they build credibility of their systems. Tools like Real411, Ripoti and PADRE too are helping counter digital disinformation and digital rights violations, and other EMBs lean toward regular media briefings, structured engagements with tech companies, and political party liaison committees to ensure all stakeholders are fed the correct information in a timely fashion. 

Today, the challenge has evolved from how EMBs communicate to whether stakeholders trust what they hear from the EMBs. If not employed in an accessible, understandable, and timely fashion, evidence-based communication loses its power. To truly engage today’s electorate, especially the digitally native Gen Z, EMBs must adapt to changing platforms, speak the language of their audiences, and invest in AI literacy to ensure technology serves rather than distorts the truth.

Digital rights cannot be a footnote

Unlike 10 years ago, terms and phrases like freedom of expression, access to information, protection from internet shutdowns, digital voter education, and platform accountability pop up way too often and have slowly crept into daily vocabulary. These are not future concerns but current realities in an age where every strata of society has a digital component. 

These recurring themes have remained prominent across the board, as recorded through Paradigm Initiative’s Digital Rights and Elections in Africa Monitor (DREAM) initiative, which has now been held in multiple African countries. From voter suppression campaigns on social media to data breaches and government-led internet blackouts, the digital battleground is fierce, and EMBs must wield a sword of integrity if they are to stay true to their mission. 

In addition to innovative communication strategies and peer-to-peer exchange, Paradigm Initiative (PIN), with its long-standing work on digital inclusion, underscores the importance and explicit visibility of digital rights and inclusion. Elections today carry heavier stakes than ever, but they also often come with a lot more challenges. From internet shutdowns to data breaches and lack of transparency, EMBs face a stark reality of the interconnectedness and interdependence of virtual and physical lives.

Staying ahead of the curve, therefore, requires proactive measures such as ensuring data protection and transparency from the get-go, integrating inclusive digital voter education platforms, building cybersecurity capacity, and ensuring responsible platform accountability with the respective stakeholders. The framework must reflect these realities, not as optional extras, but as core components of electoral integrity. PIN’s work through initiatives such as the Digital Rights in Africa Elections Monitor (DREAM), which provides a platform for conversations on digital rights around elections, and Ripoti, which crowdsources reports of digital rights violations, demonstrates the value of embedding digital safeguards into electoral planning from scratch.

The way forward: digitising democracy 

The move by the AU and partners like International IDEA to pilot these frameworks is an opportunity to shift from procedural credibility to people-centered legitimacy, and from offline administration to online accountability. This consists of: 

• A clear digital rights component in the peer learning framework, including EMB commitments to safeguard civic space online;
• Documentation of digital threats and wins (like PIN does through its Ripoti platform). Tracking these details is key to informing decision-making and targeting diverse audiences with evidence-based communication. 
• Inclusive digital participation. This entails going beyond providing ramps and braille ballots at the polling station. Inclusive tech platforms, online local-language voter education, and accessible digital tools are the way to go. 
• Ethical use of digital election tools, mainly as EMBs increasingly rely on technology for daily operations. From biometric voter registration to AI-driven content moderation, there is a need to have frank conversations about privacy, security, and accountability.

Establishing and respecting monitoring indicators for all these provides room for feedback and improvement for not just EMBs, but all other stakeholders in the electoral process. What gets measured gets managed. In the age of artificial intelligence, complex digital learning systems, and deepfakes, electoral integrity lies not just in how votes are counted, but in how stakeholders are seen, heard, protected, and respected offline and online.

The writer is a Communications Officer at Paradigm Initiative.