AFRINIC
Can AFRINIC still be trusted to govern Africa’s IP resources?
AFRINIC canceled its 2025 board election over one unverified proxy dispute, discarding valid votes and eroding trust in governance.
Headline
AFRINIC canceled its 2025 board election over one unverified proxy dispute, discarding valid votes and eroding trust in governance.
Context
In the hours before the final votes were tallied in AFRINIC ’s long-delayed board election on June 23, 2025, something extraordinary happened. AFRINIC ’s leadership, acting without judicial order or transparency, canceled the entire election. Their justification? A single disputed proxy vote.Not hundreds of fraudulent votes. Not a hacked system. Just one case — still unverified — in which a member reportedly claimed a proxy was submitted without consent. That one complaint, out of more than 800 total votes submitted, was used to justify nullifying an election that was years in the making and explicitly sanctioned by Mauritius’s Supreme Court.
Evidence
Pending intelligence enrichment.
Analysis
It is a decision so disproportionate, so detached from electoral norms, that it demands urgent scrutiny — not only from AFRINIC’s members, but from the global internet governance community. Also read: EXPOSED: The letter that reveals who was really benefitting from AFRINIC’s lawsuits Also read: Is the AFRINIC election process compliant with Mauritian corporate law? Proxy voting is a vital lifeline for AFRINIC’s many small and remote members, enabling their voices to be heard in governance decisions despite geographical and logistical barriers. For countless Internet Service Providers (ISPs) scattered across Africa’s vast and often underserved regions, proxy voting is not just a convenience—it is the only practical means of participating in crucial elections that shape the future of internet resource management on the continent. Yet, in the 2025 AFRINIC board election, hundreds of these legitimate proxy votes were summarily discarded due to the discovery of a single disputed proxy submission. One of the largest proxy agents, Number Resource Ltd, reported that by the time AFRINIC abruptly halted the election process, it had managed to cast only 20% of its allocated proxies.
Key Points
- AFRINIC annulled its 2025 board election over a single disputed proxy vote.
- The decision silenced small African ISPs and undermined trust in regional internet governance.
Actions
Pending intelligence enrichment.
