Category: Elections

Two scenarios for Venezuela as political stand-off accelerates economic implosion

     

The United States will bar two Venezuelan officials accused of human rights violations from traveling to the U.S. in its latest action to pressure Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro into stepping… Read more »

Why elections are not necessarily democratizing

     

In Malawi’s presidential election in May, incumbent President Peter Mutharika narrowly won reelection. February’s Senegalese election was quite different, with incumbent Macky Sall easily claiming victory. Although Malawians continue to… Read more »

Protest to politics? Lessons & narratives from Lebanon’s 2018 elections

     

Last year, elements of civil society ran against the established traditional political parties in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, drawing on the experience of the 2016 Beirut Madinati (“Beirut is my City”)… Read more »

Ukraine: potential for change – or will vested interests divert reform?

     

Now that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s new party, Servant of the People, has won a majority in Ukraine’s parliament, the potential for real change exists. But it comes with the risk… Read more »

Fostering open societies’ resilience to digital vulnerabilities

     

“They took your data. Then they took control.” The Great Hack, a new Netflix documentary exposes the dark underside of data exploitation through the personal odysseys of protagonists in the… Read more »

Renewal or revanche? Ukraine election starts a ‘test for benevolent populism’

     

Preliminary results in Ukraine’s parliamentary election suggest President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party is on course to win big as Ukrainians endorse his reform agenda. The Central Election Commission… Read more »

Democracy-focused cyber attacks targeting civil society

     

Election officials need more resources to address voting system security challenges, according to a new report from experts at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, Pitt Cyber,… Read more »

How China’s ‘malign influence’ is corroding democracies

     

The primaries for Taiwan’s forthcoming presidential election are highlighting fears over China’s political influence. Pro-Beijing media are being credited with populist Han Kuo-Yu’s victory to lead the opposition, The Financial… Read more »

Can civil society help ‘re-wire politics to Africa’s advantage’?

     

The European Union this week announced a Call for Proposals to Support Civil Society Initiatives to Promote Democracy and Human Rights in Equatorial Guinea. How timely. The authorities in Equatorial Guinea should immediately… Read more »