Africans becoming open to military rule as demands for democracy weaken: Report

Africans are becoming less insistent on democracy and increasingly open to authoritarian forms of government, especially military rule, the latest Afrobarometer showed.

The report, based on 50,961 face-to-face interviews in 2024/2025, suggested that demand for democracy was declining in Africa, given increasingly negative citizen evaluations of government performance.

In a statement on Tuesday, Afrobarometer said its findings had consistently shown popular demand for democracy outstripping its perceived supply, laying bare a persistent gap between how Africans want to be governed and what their political regimes provide.

“But new data from 38 African countries reveal a shift: The gap between demand for and supply of democracy is narrowing, not because democratic performance has improved significantly, but because popular demand for democracy is weakening,” the organisation stated.

Its latest report showed that while a majority of Africans said they supported democracy, only about one-third expressed a full “demand for democracy,” meaning they preferred democracy over any other regime and also rejected three authoritarian alternatives.

It added, “Fewer than half of citizens describe their countries as democracies, and far fewer are satisfied with the way democracy works in their country.”

According to the survey, the majority preferred democracy (64%) and rejected three types of authoritarianism: one-person rule (79%), one-party rule (76%), and military rule (65%).

“But all four indicators of democratic support have weakened over the past decade, including an 11-percentage-point drop in opposition to military rule.

“Only slightly more than one-third (36%) of Africans express a full “demand for democracy,” meaning they prefer democracy over any other regime and also reject all three authoritarian alternatives. This share of “committed democrats” varies widely by country, from just 8% in Mali to 64% in Zambia,” it said.

According to the report, on average across 29 countries surveyed consistently over the past decade, demand for democracy declined by 10 percentage points, with drops as high as 37 points in Gabon.

The report also found that fewer than half of Africans considered their country a democracy (47%) and said they were satisfied with how democracy works in their country (38%).

“While demand for democracy still exceeds its perceived supply, the gap has narrowed from 11 to 4 percentage points since 2014/2015. Analysis of the data reveals that increasingly negative evaluations of government performance are a key factor associated with the decline in popular commitment to democracy,” the organisation said.