How are social media and digital technology shaping elections? This question is more important than ever, yet few studies look at WhatsApp’s impact on the political landscape—even in Africa, where it is the dominant messaging platform. This article combines a case study of Nigeria’s 2019 elections with surveys and analysis from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Sierra Leone to show how social media are used by parties, candidates and voters. We conclude that WhatsApp is a disruptive technology that challenges existing hierarchies in ways that are simultaneously emancipatory and destructive, strengthening and undermining democratic consolidation at the same time.
About the Authors
Nic Cheeseman
Nic Cheeseman is professor of democracy at the University of Birmingham and founding director of its Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR). His most recent book is The Rise of Authoritarian Middle-Powers and What It Means for World Politics (2025), coauthored with Marie-Eve Desrosiers.
There is a growing sense today that democrats worldwide are in a race against time to prevent cyberspace from becoming an arena for surveillance, control, and manipulation.
Election officials made strides toward secure voter identification, and a two-party system appears to be emerging, but the 2019 elections revealed continuing problems with vote-buying and violence.
