Idasa concerns over vote buying

Democracy institute Idasa has expressed concern over vote buying and the improper use of state resources to influence voters in the upcoming local government election. Idasa’s monitoring has turned up a number of instances of interference and intimidation. Read more here.

Can the world do something to make sure Zimbabwe pulls off a successful election?

African democracy institute Idasa says yes. Analyst Bryan Sims from Idasa’s States in Transition Observatory considers four threats to Zimbabwe’s transition and the likely political scenarios. Read the full analysis here.

What the rush, Mugabe?

African democracy institute Idasa identifies the political and social factors affecting Zanu PF’s “rushed” election strategy that could further destabilise politics in the country. Read more here.

Once again, more questions than answers from Zuma’s State of Nation address, says idasa.

We want more detail, especially on local government’s pending elections. See Idasa’s response here.

What are people thinking in 20 African countries?

 Visit www.afrobarometer.org for the latest results of the Afrobarometer surveys, which record ordinary citizens’ attitudes to democracy in their own countries. This is the fourth round of surveys, and the website includes country reports and selected working/briefing papers on a variety of subjects, including democracy, elections and ethnicity.

What did they spend? Party Funding and Campaigns in SA …

By: Judith February With the elections over and the African National Congress celebrating its victory, it is clear that, along with the people, the money has also spoken. Estimates put the ANC’s election spending at between R200million and R400m. No one can be sure of the actual amount, given the lack of transparency in the [...]

Archbishop Calls for Calm During Elections

The Election Monitoring Network released a statement to the press today – see the video of the Archbishop delivering the statement here – http://www.zoopy.com/idasa More at www.electionmonitoringnetwork.org

Opposition Politics – Turnout is Key

This brief discusses the landscape of opposition politics and explains some of the issues that may affect the opposition’s performance in election 2009, with regards to possible shifts of electoral support to the opposition. Read more about the socio-economic landscape and disaffected voters, fragmentation within the opposition, race and class, the style of opposition politics [...]

Are food parcels being abused to manipulate voters?

By Christi van der Westhuizen www.electionmonitoringnetwork.org ‘‘I‘m going to make sure that if you advertise (sic) an article about my name on the newspaper I will deal with you… If you go to the paper with that thing you’re going to deal with the consequences thereafter… I am not threatening you, you are threatening yourself. [...]

Locals Work Together to Keep the Peace – Bitou

Kwanokuthula community in Bitou municipality (Plettenberg Bay) has seen political tensions simmering in the lead up to the election. The Election Monitoring Network (EMN) deployed monitors there to provide a visible presence of civil society within the politically tense communities. As part of the process of this deployment EMN met with different stakeholders including the [...]