In September voters in Angola, Rwanda and Swaziland will go to the polls for a national election. In November Zambia and Cote d’Ivoire will follow suit, (though the situation in the Ivory Coast is up in the air), and Ghanaians will do the same in December. While the spate of elections might seem as cause for celebration, allAfrica reminds us that elections are a necessary but not sufficient condition for a democracy to succeed.