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Throughout the world, electoral processes were originally designed and promoted as the leading tool of democracy. These processes now reflect complex power hierarchies and serve multiple or even contradictory goals. This article shows how handily politicians in Ethiopia and Uganda manage relationships with international stakeholders during the electoral process. One one hand, officials and politicians demonstrate some signs of democracy, such as organizing elections and convoking election observers. On the other hand, they use these ‘democratic’ resources to strengthen their control over the political sphere and to maintain power despite electoral term limits. In this, the tool that is supposed to open national political space actually helps close it.