insert_link South Africa Over 26 million South Africans get a social grant. Fear of losing the payment used to be a reason to vote for the ANC, but no longer – study By Leila Patel, University of Johannesburg and Yolanda Sadie, University of Johannesburg Social grants to reduce poverty feature prominently in the campaign promises of political parties in South Africa’s 2024 national and provincial general elections, set for 29 May. The country’s social grants system is one of the largest in Africa in terms of number of beneficiaries. Research shows that this has helped reduce poverty. […] todayMay 15, 2024 13
insert_link Africa Tanzania’s political parties have few women in leadership and candidate lists: some solutions By Victoria Melkisedeck Lihiru, The Open University of Tanzania Tanzania, in keeping with global political trends, reserves 30% of seats in parliament for women. These so-called special seats were introduced with multiparty politics in 1992, in response to the low numbers of women elected to positions of power. There were only eight elected female parliamentarians after the first multiparty elections in 1995. Ten years later, 17 […] todayMay 14, 2024 14
insert_link Namibia Electoral Commission of Namibia announces voter registration dates Namibia is poised for a pivotal democratic moment as it prepares for presidential and National Assembly elections slated for November 27, 2024. Voter registration is set to take place between June 3 and August 1, with all eligible Namibians expected to register afresh to participate in the upcoming elections. The nomination of independent candidates is expected to take place on October 14, while the nomination court for political parties is […] todayMay 6, 2024 93
insert_link Africa Chad’s election outcome already seems set: 4 things Mahamat Déby has done to stay in power By Helga Dickow, University of Freiburg Chad’s presidential election campaigns officially kicked off on Sunday 14 April 2024 in the capital city, N'Djamena. Transitional president Mahamat Idriss Déby held a large meeting on the Place de la Nation directly in front of the presidential palace. In attendance were members of the government, the military and various political parties, identifiable, in the blistering heat, by their different […] todayApril 24, 2024 9
insert_link Business / Economics South Africa’s electricity crisis: what political parties say in their election manifestos about solving it By Hartmut Winkler, University of Johannesburg South Africa is in the middle of a deep electricity crisis. In 2023 the public, many of whom are voters, experienced the worst loadshedding to date, losing power for an average of five hours a day. The power shortages were largely due to excessive breakdowns in the country’s coal power plant fleet, which generates over 80% of South Africa’s electricity, combined […] todayMarch 28, 2024 18
insert_link Business / Economics How politicians can draw fairer election districts − the same way parents make kids fairly split a piece of cake Unchecked, politicians are likely to try to grab as much electoral power as they can. Fabrice LEROUGE/ONOKY via Getty Images Benjamin Schneer, Harvard Kennedy School; Kevin DeLuca, Yale University, and Maxwell Palmer, Boston University Redistricting – the process of determining the boundaries of election districts in which people vote – is a key element of politics that has more of an effect than people might realize. One Republican political consultant […] todayFebruary 21, 2024 17
insert_link Opinion Pieces 200 million voters, 820,000 polling stations and 10,000 candidates: Indonesia’s massive election, by the numbers By Stephen Sherlock, Australian National University Indonesians are going to the polls to elect a new president on Wednesday. There are three candidates running, alongside their vice presidential candidates. According to opinion polls, the favourite is Prabowo Subianto, leader of the Greater Indonesia Party (Gerindra), a populist and nationalist party he founded in 2008. A former army general, Prabowo has already stood unsuccessfully for president twice before. He […] todayFebruary 14, 2024 8
insert_link World Pakistan’s political parties in coalition government talks Pakistan's political parties are continuing attempts to form a coalition government after last week's general election. Bilawal Bhutto, a former Foreign Minister, has called for a central executive meeting of HIS PPP party to plan its next move. todayFebruary 12, 2024 23
insert_link World Coalition talks collapse in the Netherlands In the Netherlands, talks to form a new coalition government after recent elections have collapsed. That's after the New Social Contract party - which had been holding talks with far-right politician Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom - pulled out. todayFebruary 7, 2024 29