The first large-scale election observation was of Zimbabwe’s 1980 independence elections. Since then, election observation has become a regular worldwide feature and many international organisations, official agencies, and non-governmental organisations field observation teams. They all use similar methodologies, largely derived from the original 1980 model. A third of a century later, it may be time […]
The central thesis of this article is that the electoral process in Botswana belies the oft-cited claim that the country is a haven of democracy. Botswana has held ten successive elections since 1965, yet the same party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), has been returned to power without fail. At a glance, and taking these […]
In many African countries releasing election results means simply revealing the winners and losers and publicising their percentage of the national vote. This norm makes it very difficult for researchers interested in studying African elections to collect detailed election data and for citizens to evaluate the validity of the results. This article describes the difficulties […]
There is no doubt that a free and fair election is a sine qua non for electoral democracy, but not every election fulfils these criteria. Against this premise this paper attempts to explore theoretical postulations vis-à-vis elections. With brief introductory remarks emphasising the importance of elections to democratic sustenance and consolidation, the paper proceeds to […]
This paper argues that democracy can better facilitate and promote development when it is transformed from the institutional level, where it was at the time of transition, to the substantive level, where it is more likely to yield the ‘dividends of democracy’ and become more relevant to the lives of ordinary citizens. This transformative process […]
