This overview provides an introduction to a study on The Political Cost of AIDS in Africa conducted by the South African democracy institute Idasa, and its research partners in different countries in Africa. It provides comprehensive empirical evidence of the impact HIV/AIDS is having on politics and the electoral process and demonstrates that the fledgling multi-party democracies in parts of the continent are being undermined by sickness, incapacity and premature deaths among elected leaders as well as within the electorate. The culmination of three years of exploratory research, the study shows how AIDS is interwoven with the continent's ambitions for deepening democracy. It is also available is an expanded companion volume, which provides the details of the study's research findings in separate chapters on Namibia, Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa, Senegal and Zambia.