Why the Conservative MPs standing down at this election are a huge electoral threat to Rishi Sunak: Flickr/UK Parliament/Maria Unger , CC BY-NC-ND At the last count, 118 MPs have announced they will not contest July’s general election. The vast majority – more than 75 – are Conservatives (or former Conservatives who have been suspended …
A Labour landslide could make this the most disproportionate election since universal suffrage – time for electoral reform?: Flickr/UK Parliament, CC BY-NC-ND Polls ahead of the UK election not only point towards defeat for the government, but a veritable trouncing. With some showing below 20% support, the Conservatives have never polled worse. Some multiple regression …
Comment stabiliser le processus électoral au Sénégal ? Un expert préconise trois mécanismes: Tout a commencé avec la disqualification du candidat Karim Wade, fils de l’ancien président Abdoulaye Wade, à l’élection présidentielle du 25 février 2024. Son parti, le Parti démocratique sénégalais (PDS), avait demandé la mise en place d’une commission d’ enquête parlementaire sur …
North Korea: electoral reform prompts speculation that Kim Jong-un is grooming his daughter to succeed him: This year, unusually, North Korea allowed more than one candidate on the ballot for the recent local elections. Under new laws introduced in August this year, voters are now asked to choose between two candidates for North Korea’s local …
Economic Freedom Fighters became South Africa’s third largest political party in just 10 years. What’s behind its electoral success: South Africa is drawing nearer to a landmark national general election in 2024. Based on recent electoral trends and opinion polls, the governing African National Congress (ANC) is expected to drop below 50% of the national …
Nigeria’s elections were once again disputed in court, a stark reminder of a weak electoral system: Nigeria’s presidential election tribunal on 6 September affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the disputed February 2023 polls, dismissing the petitions of three political parties. The Labour Party had filed its petition on 21 March; the next day the …
Cyber-attacks against the UK Electoral Commission reveal an ongoing threat to democracy: TippaPatt / Shutterstock The revelations this month that data on 40 million UK voters had been exposed to hackers came as no surprise to many cybersecurity experts, who have long pointed out the vulnerability of democracies to malicious online interference. In this case, …
South Africa has changed its electoral law, but a much more serious overhaul is needed: Hundreds of people stand in line to vote in South Africa's first democratic election in April 1994. Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty Images South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed into law a change to the country’s electoral act to …
Liberal Democrats: why a coalition with Labour wouldn’t cause electoral annihilation like their deal with the Tories: Both Labour leader Keir Starmer and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey deny that there is any prospect of them forming a coalition government if the next election produces a hung parliament – despite that currently looking like a …
Namibia and South Africa’s ruling parties share a heroic history – but their 2024 electoral prospects look weak: Presidents Hage Geingob, left, and Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings in Tshwane. GCIS Namibian president Hage Geingob used his recent state visit to South Africa to also address a meeting of the national executive committee of …
Liz Truss: are the Conservatives facing an electoral meltdown?: The Conservative party is heading into its annual conference amid the catastrophic fallout from Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget. The decision to cut tax without a plan to pay for it caused a sharp fall in the value of the pound on currency markets, which reached an …
Why Labour will resist calls for electoral alliances, even when facing the prospect of a hung parliament: “We can’t work with them. We won’t work with them. No deal under any circumstances.” So said Labour leader Keir Starmer of the Scottish National Party during his 2022 party conference speech. Starmer was nixing any suggestion that …
A referendum on electoral reform in South Africa might stir up trouble: Voters in Johannesburg queue to vote in South Africa's May 2019 national elections. EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook After 28 years of democracy, South Africa is having to reform its political party-based electoral system to make it fairer and in line with the constitution, by allowing …
South Africa is in search of a fairer electoral system. But what’s been tabled is flawed: A woman votes in South Africa's November 2021 local elections. EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook South Africa is amending its electoral law to make it fairer by enabling citizens to contest provincial and national elections without being forced to join political parties. …
Kenya’s judiciary can break the cycle of electoral violence — if it’s independent: The Supreme Court of Kenya in Nairobi. John Ochieng/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Kenya is no stranger to highly contested elections, including those pervaded by political and ethnic violence. When there is no finality to elections, or if some parties refuse to …
Drivers of electoral violence in Kenya: red flags to watch out for: A man flees from teargas fired by anti-riot police in Nairobi after Kenya's 2017 elections. Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images Kenya’s National Cohesion and Integration Commission recently listed 23 counties that are considered potential violence hotspots ahead of the country’s August 2022 elections. …
Boris Johnson plans to take control of the independent Electoral Commission in another assault on democratic institutions: The prime minister, Boris Johnson, drew ire from across the political spectrum for trying to overhaul the rules that hold MPs to account during the recent Owen Paterson affair. Johnson whipped his MPs to support a parliamentary amendment …
South Africa in the news: South Africa’s Electoral Commission seeks to delay municipal vote: South Africa’s Electoral Commission said on Friday that it would seek to delay municipal elections scheduled for October, after an inquiry recommended that they be postponed because of the COVID-19 …: “South Africa” – BingNews South Africa vs British and Irish …