Electoral participation and household food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa

This paper analyses the impact of household food insecurity on electoral participation in 30 sub-Sahara African countries with the aid of micro-level data drawn from the sixth round of the Afrobarometer survey. Estimates from logistic regression indicate that being food insecure reduces the likelihood of electoral participation by 7%. Notably, results from the endogenous binary-variable regression, which controlled for potential reverse causality, confirm that household food insecurity is a crucial driver of voter turnout in sub-Saharan Africa. Further analysis reveals that voting behaviour was much higher and statistically significant amongst voters who were intermittently food insecure than those that were always food insecure. Finally, it appears that turnout at national elections depends mostly on the severity of food insecurity. Therefore, it can be argued that the implementation of policies aimed at stemming household food insecurity could play an essential role in increasing voter turnout.