Skip to content
British Broadcasting Corporation
  • Home
  • News
  • Football 2026
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Health
  • Culture
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Earth
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Live
The Documentary Podcast, The shutdown: Elections

The Documentary Podcast

The shutdown: Elections


Up next

The Documentary Podcast, Tough Love’ in San Francisco

Tough Love’ in San Francisco

The Documentary Podcast, World of Wisdom: Changing expectations

World of Wisdom: Changing expectations

The Documentary Podcast, Welcoming Ukraine's refugees

Welcoming Ukraine's refugees

The Documentary Podcast, Bougainville's long road to independence

Bougainville's long road to independence

The Documentary Podcast, The Shutdown: Conflict

The Shutdown: Conflict

The Documentary Podcast, The fate of Russia’s soldiers

The fate of Russia’s soldiers

The Documentary Podcast, Relationships with mothers

Relationships with mothers

The Documentary Podcast, Why are we having less sex?

Why are we having less sex?

The Documentary Podcast, Heartbeats, abortion and Texas

Heartbeats, abortion and Texas

The Documentary Podcast, Counting them in

Counting them in

The Documentary Podcast, World of Wisdom: Guilt

World of Wisdom: Guilt

The Documentary Podcast, Destroying Ukrainian history

Destroying Ukrainian history

The Documentary Podcast, The house that Viktor built

The house that Viktor built

The Documentary Podcast, Life's big questions

Life's big questions

The Documentary Podcast, Talking to Ukraine's children

Talking to Ukraine's children

The Documentary Podcast, A coastal town in fear of the sea

A coastal town in fear of the sea

The Documentary Podcast, Dying to hunt in France

Dying to hunt in France

The Documentary Podcast, The shadow of Algiers

The shadow of Algiers

The Documentary Podcast, Helping Ukrainians

Helping Ukrainians

The Documentary Podcast, Healing with fire on koala country

Healing with fire on koala country

The Documentary Podcast, Russia's unwelcome new exiles

Russia's unwelcome new exiles

The Documentary Podcast, Who killed my grandfather?

Who killed my grandfather?

The Documentary Podcast, Saving Ukraine's children

Saving Ukraine's children

The Documentary Podcast, Saving our species

Saving our species

The Documentary Podcast, Myanmar: Fighting the might of the junta

Myanmar: Fighting the might of the junta

The Documentary Podcast, Hidden Sport: Dambe boxing

Hidden Sport: Dambe boxing

The Documentary Podcast, Ingenious II

Ingenious II

The Documentary Podcast, Ukrainian journalists

Ukrainian journalists

The Documentary Podcast, Shifting Cultures: From paddock to plate

Shifting Cultures: From paddock to plate

The Documentary Podcast, The accordion wars of Lesotho

The accordion wars of Lesotho

9 March 2022

Available for over a year

National and regional elections have frequently coincided with internet shutdowns or disruption. Shutdowns can occur whilst polls are open, or are sometimes imposed in response to protests that follow election results. National elections were held on 12 August 2021 in Zambia, and part way through voting, access to WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter was blocked. We hear from young voters in Lusaka about how the social media blocks affected them.

See more episodes

Programme website


British Broadcasting Corporation
  • Home
  • News
  • Football 2026
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Health
  • Culture
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Earth
  • Sport
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Live
  • Weather
  • BBC Shop
  • BritBox

The BBC is in multiple languages

Read the BBC In your own language

BBC News Brasil
BBC News Mundo (Spanish)
BBC News မြန်မာ (Burmese)
BBC News 中文 (Chinese)
BBC News Indonesia
BBC News 코리아 (Korean)
BBC News ไทย (Thai)
BBC News Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
BBC News Azərbaycanca (Azeri)
BBC News Magyarul (Hungarian)
BBC News Кыргыз Кызматы (Kyrgyz)
BBC News Polska (Polish)
BBC News Русская служба (Russian)
BBC News na srpskom (Serbian)
BBC News Україна (Ukrainian)
BBC News O'zbek (Uzbek)
BBC News عربي (Arabic)
BBC News فارسی (Persian)
BBC News Türkçe (Turkish)
BBC News বাংলা (Bengali)
BBC News دری (Dari)
BBC News ગુજરાતી (Gujarati)
BBC News हिन्दी (Hindi)
BBC News मराठी (Marathi)
BBC News नेपाली (Nepali)
BBC News සිංහල (Sinhala)
BBC News ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Punjabi)
BBC News Afaan Oromoo
BBC News አማርኛ (Amharic)
BBC News Afrique (French)
BBC News Hausa
BBC News Gaelic NAIDHEACHDAN
BBC News Ìgbò
BBC News Japanese 日本語
BBC News Gahuza
BBC News Pidgin
BBC News Somali
BBC News Swahili
BBC News தமிழ் (Tamil)
BBC News తెలుగు (Telugu)
BBC News ትግርኛ (Tigrinya)
BBC News اردو (Urdu)
BBC News Yorùbá
BBC News World Service
Follow BBC on:
  • Terms of Use
  • Subscription Terms
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Contact the BBC
  • Advertise with us
  • Do not share or sell my info
  • BBC.com Help & FAQs
  • Content Index
  • Set Preferred Source

Copyright 2026 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.