Youths more accepting of military rule, survey finds

Four of Africa's youngest leaders are military rulers, and according to an Afrobarometer survey, young people on the continent expressed a greater willingness to tolerate them compared to older citizens. The report; African insights 2024: Democracy at risk – the people's perspective, says 56% of youths between 18 and 35-years-old accept military takeovers because they occur ‘when elected leaders abuse power for their ends’. News24 reports that their tolerance of military regimes is higher than those aged 55 years and above, of whom 47% accept military leaders. Sixty percent of the youth are dissatisfied with the way democracy is working in their countries and 40% believe that democratically elected leaders in their countries are corrupt. Their perceptions are the most negative compared to other age groups. The findings were based on more than 53 000 interviews in 39 countries. According to Afrobarometer, putschists appeal directly to what the youth demand from civilian governments. ‘The findings show that the youth rank unemployment and management of the economy as their top priorities for urgent government action, and large majorities see their governments as failing on these issues,’ it noted.