License: Creative Commons
Credit: What Kt Did
Source: Flickr
This event is the first meeting in an ODI series on ‘Elections, legitimacy and transitions: lessons from emerging democracies’. This timely event will look at two countries electoral trajectories: Kenya and Ghana.
'Yes, the Kenyan election is momentous and important... but social transformation and democratic consolidation is not instantaneous. This election is just the first step along what is bound to be a bumpy road to democracy.'
In this interview Alina Rocha Menocal, Research Fellow in the Politics and Governance programme at ODI, discusses the forthcoming elections in Kenya with Sarah Jenkins, Aberystwyth University.
Once again an election in Ghana seems to have gone off well. The country’s famed two-party electoral system appears in reasonable health. Incumbent president John Mahama has been voted back in, giving the National Democratic Congress (the Jerry Rawlings vehicle) a second term. Nana Akufo-Addo, the candidate of the New Patriotic Party (which backed two-time president John Kufuor), has been defeated despite attracting nearly 48% of votes.
The stakes for Sierra Leone are high in its forthcoming elections but the choice facing the electorate is remarkably uninspiring. Rumour has it if things go smoothly some donors will shift their classification of the country from ‘post-conflict’ to ‘low-income less-developed country’ – a big deal for peace and future prosperity.
As Barack Obama returns to the White House he might well reflect on what got him over the finishing line.
Hurricane Sandy has parked the issue of climate change on the lawn of the White House whether the candidates competing for the keys like it or not.
Venezuela held presidential elections on Sunday 7 October 2012. These elections were considered particularly momentous because there was an 80 per cent voter turnout and it was the most closely fought presidential contest since President Hugo Chávez came to power in 1998.
