This essay considers major landmarks in the development of a norm on democracy in Africa and the elevation of democratic participation into a standard of continental significance. There are at least two - potentially contradictory - reasons why this is important. First, it calls into question suggestions that governmental legitimacy is an exclusively local matter. Second, this transition may also raise complicated questions regarding democratic deficit when regional institutions are seen to insert themselves into domestic political processes or to oversee them. While regional institutions can no longer abdicate jurisdiction in disputes over governmental legitimacy,¹ they may nevertheless suffer constraints as to the scope of remedies that they can offer in such situations. The trajectory of a continental law of democracy for Africa could depend on how it navigates these tensions.