#Nov8AfricanEdition: Africans lampoon the US elections
October 27, 2016
How should the US go about solving the current power struggle in the country? According to one Twitter user, it's no big problem for an experienced political power broker like Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe suggests that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump should share power in order to avoid a political crisis.
Because of the developing situation in the US, South Sudan is now evacuating its citizens from the United States because of pre-election violence. African journalists are being denied entry visas and African election observers are refusing to give the polls a clean bill of health.
Both of these tweets are of course satire. They are just two of the many tweets trending under the hashtag #Nov8AfricanEdition.
Nigerian Amara Nwankpa is the man behind the hashtag. The one-time election observer knows first-hand the scandals, obstacles and difficulties surrounding elections in many African countries.
None other than the Republican Party nominee Donald Trump inspired him to create the hashtag. Trump has publicly hinted that the polls may be rigged and suggested that he won't recognize the final results if he does not come in first.
A large number of Africans, especially Nigerians, have tweeted using the hashtag, including prominent satirist Elnathan John. There is also the likes of Ryan Cummings, a well-known commentator on security issues in West Africa.
Most of them were reacting to how Western journalists and experts comment about and cover African elections. For many, it was an amusing way to turn the tables on the West in regards to democratic elections.
"It sounded like what we hear in Africa - in Nigeria in particular - about elections," Nwankpa told DW. "To have these issues as part of the public debate in the US just amuses us."
But the hashtag also has its critics. This tweet is from Joe Abah, a public servant in the Office of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
But Amara Nwankpa still likes his idea. "This is satire and I believe everybody gets that," he said. "But the reality in Africa is a little worse than satire. In reality, we need to have more transparency and more integrity during our elections and nobody can hide that."