Last year was perhaps the most electorally-charged year in West Africa’s nearly six decades of independence. Numerous local, legislative and national elections were held peacefully and conclusively in no fewer than seven states: Benin, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea and Niger. Breaking with the cycle of violent coups-d’états and state captures, the region has finally embarked on a new path of political aggiornamento based on the principle of free, fair and transparent elections...