REGIONS
George Okore
Time is running out on Kenya’s electoral commission
With only 165 days left to go before Kenya’s general election, questions abound as to whether the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the country’s elections management body, will be able to meet the August 8 election deadline. On January 16, the IEBC began the second and last mass voter registration exercise. The process, which […]
The Election Network
The trouble with DR Congo’s elections
Joseph Kabila, son of long time rebel, former AFDL leader and president of the Democratic Republic of Congo Laurent-Désiré Kabila, took over the presidency after the assassination of his father in 2001. He was elected as president in 2006. In 2011, he was elected for a second term. Kabila’s second term expired on November 2016 […]
The Election Network
What to expect from Ecuador’s presidential elections
Ecuadorians head to the polls today to vote in the first round of the presidential elections. Incumbent Rafael Correa is reluctantly standing down after serving the country for a decade. Former Correa ally and vice-president Lenin Moreno is a popular political figure in Ecuador. He became paraplegic after being shot in the back in 1998. […]
Kenne Mwikya
Kenya’s high stakes elections risks a repeat of 2007/2008 bloodshed
In 2007, Sheila* was a teenager but was old enough to know that something in Kenya’s political psyche was amiss. That year counts as the worst year in her life, she lost both her parents to Kenya’s election violence, which took place in late 2007 and early 2008. “My parents were hacked to death because […]
The Election Network
Trump critic, Frank-Walter Steinmeier is Germany’s new president
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a social democrat is Germany’s new president. He was elected by a vast majority of the parliamentary assembly, receiving 931 out of 1,253 votes. His predecessor Joachim Gauck did not seek a fresh term. Steinmeier served as vice chancellor and foreign minister under Chancellor Angela Merkel. Although the presidential election was won in […]
The Election Network
Turkmenistan’s incumbent president wins fresh seven-year term
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov won the presidential elections with 98 percent of the vote in a weakly contested election, election officials revealed on Monday. The former dentist and health minister beat out seven token opponents following a 97 percent turnout at the polls. Voting is mandatory in Turkmenistan. Last year Berdymukhamedov signed off on constitutional […]
The Election Network
Meet Somalia’s new President, ex-Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo
Members of parliament elected ex-Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo as Somalia’s 9th President after the second round of the elections and many hours of deliberations, defeating the incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in a surprise result and tight race. The election was held amid tight security at the heavily guarded airport base in capital city […]