Democracy is a form of government in which the people have the authority to choose their governing legislators. The decisions on who is considered part of the people and how authorities or how power are delegated by the people have changed over time, in a different speed in different countries but they have included more and more of the inhabitants of all countries.

Cornerstones include freedom of assembly and speech, inclusiveness and equality, membership, consent, voting, right to life, and minority rights.

Africa as a continent has some of the worst democracies in the world with most African leaders changing the constitutions to hold power to death.

The country with the best democracy in the world is Norway followed by Iceland and Sweden. The first countries with the Best Democracies in Africa country comes in at 18th position worldwide, the democracy index is used to measure the level of democracy in countries and it is measured using several indicators such as electoral process and pluralism, political participation, the functioning of the government, political culture, and civil liberties just to mention a few. It is ranked from 0 to 10 with zero being the worst democracies and 10 being the best.

Here are the countries with the Best Democracies in Africa according to the democracy index report.

10 Madagascar

Madagascar was formerly known as the Republic of Malagasy until 1992 when it became a republic and since then the country has tried so hard to maintain its democratic nature.

Madagascar is a semi-presidential representative democratic multi-party republic, where the popularly elected president is the head of the state and selects a prime minister who recommends candidates to the president to form his cabinet of ministers.


According to the constitution, executive powers exist by the government while legislative power is vested in the ministerial cabinet, the senate, and the national assembly. Although in reality this two latter

bodies have very little power or legislative role.

The constitution establishes independent executive, legislative and judicial branches and mandates a popularly elected president limited to three to five-year terms. The public directly elects the president and the 127 members of the national assembly to five-year terms, all 33 members of the Senate serve six-year terms with 22 senators elected by local officials and 11 appointed by the president.

Democracy Index: 5.64

The last national assembly election was held on 20th December 2013.

9. Senegal

Senegal is located in the western part of Africa with a population of about 16 million people. Senegal is one of the most peaceful countries in Africa.

Currently, Senegal has a quasi-democratic political culture. One of the more successful post-colonial democratic transitions in Africa.



Local administrators are appointed and held accountable by the president marabout religious leaders of the various Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal have also exercised a strong political influence in the country, especially during wade’s presidency.

Democracy Index: 5.81

Senegal is currently the 9th best democracy in Africa and the 82nd position in the world.

8. Namibia

Namibia comes in at number eighth in Africa and sixty-five worldwide.

Namibia is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic.
the president of Namibia is elected to a five-year term and is both the head of state and the head of government. All the members of the government are individually and collectively responsible to the legislature.

Namibia is located in the southern part of Africa with a population of over 2 million people. It ranks amongst the most peaceful and visited countries in Africa.

Additional to the government political structure Namibia has a network of traditional leadership with currently 51 recognized traditional authorities and their leaders. These traditional leaders are interested in the allocation of communal land and the formulation of the traditional group’s customary laws.

Democracy Index: 6.43

7. Lesotho

Lesotho officially the Kingdom of Lesotho is an enclaved country within the border of South Africa.

It is by far the largest of the world’s independent states surrounded by the territory of another country with Vatican City and San Marino being the other two.

Politics of this Lesotho takes place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy whereby the prime minister of Lesotho is the head of government of a multi-party system.

Lesotho is one of the top countries with the Best Democracies in Africa. Executive power is exercised by the government while legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament; the senate and the national assembly. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature

Democracy Index:6.54

6. Ghana

Ghana is one of the most peaceful and visited countries in Africa.

Ghana is located in the western part of Africa with a population of about 31 million people.

Ghana is a unitary presidential constitutional democracy with a parliamentary multi-party system that is dominated by two parties, The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and The New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Ghana alternated between civilian and military government until January 1993 when the military government gave way to the fourth republic of Ghana after presidential and parliamentary elections in late 1992.

The 1992 constitution of ghana divides powers among commander-in-chief of the Ghana armed forces, the president of Ghana, the parliament, the parliament of Ghana, the cabinet, the cabinet of ghana, council, Ghanaian council of state, the judiciary of Ghana, and an independent judiciary.

The government of Ghana is elected by universal suffrage every four years. Presidential elections in ghana are usually very peaceful with very little or no opposition.

Democracy Index: 6.63.

5. Tunisia
Tunisia is a representative democracy in the republic with the president serving as head of state, a prime minister as head of government, a unicameral parliament in the civil law court system.

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