Africa and Western Asia

Representation

Restrictions on political party freedoms remained the most prominent trend. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Chad, criminal proceedings were used to target the leaders of major opposition parties, with former President Joseph Kabila (DRC) sentenced to death and Succès Masra (Chad) to 20 years in prison. Key opposition candidates were excluded from elections in Tanzania and Cameroon, and a High Court decision rendering presidential candidate Anicet-Georges Dologuélé stateless briefly looked set to do the same in the Central African Republic (CAR), before being reversed by the Constitutional Council. Party bans continued to be employed by some African governments, with three opposition parties suspended in Guinea and 12 in the DRC.

Elected Government was also an area of negative change, with coups d'état installing military juntas in Guinea-Bissau and Madagascar (nine African countries have now experienced military takeovers of government since 2020). A subsequent attempted coup d'état in Benin heightened concerns of further contagion. Also damaging have been constitutional changes that are set to consolidate dynastic systems in Chad and Djibouti by removing presidential term and age limits, respectively.

Rights

Events in the second half of 2025 underscored the precariousness of freedoms of expression and the press in Africa and Western Asia. These included a nationwide ban on WhatsApp calls in Sudan and a prolonged internet shutdown on the Equatoguinean island of Annobón. In Israel, the arrest of two military lawyers who had leaked a video showing Israeli soldiers abusing a Palestinian prisoner raised concerns about whistleblower protections. Elsewhere, perceived government critics were targeted in a variety of repressive actions, including physical attacks on their person and property (Zimbabwe), citizenship revocations (Chad), the closure of media outlets (Guinea-Bissau) and arrests and prosecutions under cybercrime and other restrictive legislation (Jordan, Mali, Niger).   

Social Group Equality performance in the regions was negatively impacted by conflict and insecurity, which continue to erode social cohesion. This was particularly extreme in Israel and Gaza, where a UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide. It was also reflected in the Israeli Supreme Court’s finding that Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons had been deprived of adequate nutrition and in discriminatory draft legislation that would exclusively impose mandatory death sentences on Palestinians in certain circumstances. There were positive developments too, however, with both Oman and Qatar enacting legislation strengthening disability rights. 

Access to Justice has also been an area of positive change, with several countries taking steps to address historical injustices, including reopening inquests into the deaths of anti-Apartheid leaders (South Africa) and appointing new judges to investigate past political assassinations (Lebanon). Noteworthy, too, were the courts established by Cabo Verde to address persistent capacity shortfalls within its judicial system. 

Rule of Law

Personal Integrity and Security were negatively impacted by the regions’ armed conflicts, which have continued to kill people in large numbers (DRC, Palestine and Sudan), including via assassination (Yemen), and subject them to sexual violence (Sudan), abductions (Mali and Nigeria) and other harms. Yet violence was not restricted to conflict zones. In Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe[BB6] and elsewhere, political actors were victims of coercion by state and non-state actors, including protesters, politicians and other members of political parties and civil society organisations. 

Positively, the fight against corruption saw advances in the DRC and Gabon, where convictions were secured against senior political figures for large-scale graft, and in Lesotho and Senegal, where legal reforms strengthened their anti-corruption frameworks. However, the subsequent dissolution of  Lesotho’s asset-recovery body, after it reported alleged government corruption, represented a notable setback.    

Participation

There were 17 national elections in Africa and Western Asia between July and December 2025  - seven presidential and ten legislative, including indirect elections in Gabon and Syria. The average voter turnout in the direct elections was 64.6 per cent. Egypt's Senate election saw a particularly low turnout of 17.1 per cent, whereas the CAR, Iraq and Malawi all experienced significant increases in voter participation.

Beyond elections, youth-led protest remained an important trend in Africa, with Gen Z movements mobilising in Madagascar and Morocco in response to service delivery failures. Youth were also at the forefront of demonstrations over the disputed elections in Tanzania and Cameroon, the cost of living in Iran and fuel price rises in Angola. Yet in each one of these instances, the protests were met with extreme police violence that left dozens (and in the cases of Tanzania and Iran, potentially thousands) of demonstrators dead, underscoring the threat that repressive policing poses to this form of civic engagement.