Foreign Policy outlines the methods of electoral theft and potential remedies:
From Abuja to Islamabad, autocratic regimes have become adept at manipulating “free and fair elections” to stay in power. Here’s how they do it
- Control the process
- Manipulate the media
- Keep out the observers
- Misreport results
- Foster incompetence and chaos
—and here is how to stop them...(continue reading)
- Resort to the crude stuff
CS Monitor reports:
Just a few weeks ago, Kenya remained an oasis of stability surrounded by nations at war. The tourist-friendly country is East Africa's economic engine, a hub for global trade, and a base for international humanitarian work. It has been a been a model of what other African countries could achieve if they worked hard, developed their economies, and embraced free democracy. So the explosion of violence that has left more than 750 people dead – including more than 100 in the past few days – and forced a quarter-million to flee their homes since the disputed Dec. 27 presidential election came as a shock to many. But under the placid surface, Kenya boils with deep ethnic resentment that some observers say has been ignored for too long.
New Zambia reports:
In 2003, as part of an anti-corruption program, Brazil’s federal government began to select municipalities at random to audit their expenditures of federally-transferred funds. The findings of these audits were then made publicly available and disseminated to media sources.Using a dataset of corruption constructed from the audit reports, the authors compare the electoral outcomes of municipalities audited before versus after the 2004 elections, with the same levels of reported corruption. They show that the release of the audit outcomes had a significant impact on incumbents’ electoral performance, and that these effects were more pronounced in municipalities where local radio was present to divulge the information.
Ryan Petersen writes:
Outside of the exceptional opportunities for investors in the country’s capital markets — which did little to soothe my fears as a traveler — I’d heard few reassuring stories about Lagos. Meanwhile, my imagination went to work on the news reports, rumors and exaggerated tourist tales I had heard, conjuring up images of an urban center descended into anarchy...In fact, throughout our week in the city, we were struck by how poorly we’d misimagined the place. At no point did we feel threatened in any way. Rather, we were welcomed warmly by everyone we met, from security guards and restaurant workers to private equity investors and government officials.In the end, it was this inviting stance toward foreigners that made our project such a success.
The FT writes about "The legacy of Suharto":
In the 1990s, World Bank staff used to tell a joke about two friendly government ministers, one from Indonesia, the other from Nigeria. Each enriched himself by taking bribes from a big road contract. The Indonesian took 20 per cent of the contract price, but the Nigerian boasted to his friend that he was even richer because his cut was 100 per cent. But in Nigeria, of course, there was no road.The purported moral of the joke was that Asian corruption was efficient whereas African corruption was not. Former allies and business associates of Suharto, the Indonesian ex-president who died on Sunday, want his legacy to be judged in this light. Suharto may have been corrupt and authoritarian during his 32 years in power, they say, but he oversaw political stability and economic growth that pulled millions of Indonesians out of poverty...It will be easier to end corruption if the crimes of the late Suharto, his relatives and associates are not swept under the carpet in a misguided attempt to burnish his legacy. Suharto was better than some of his African counterparts, but worse than his people deserved.
Founded by Peter Kehinde Aina "...The Negotiation & Conflict Management Group (NCMG) is an independent, non-profit and non-governmental, membership based, organisation in Nigeria, with Centres for dispute resolution, promoting awareness and providing services in negotiation, mediation and other Alternative Dispute Resolution techniques..."Its aims include:
Biopact reports:
Mozambique has only recently begun to understand that it is a 'biofuel superpower'. Its agro-ecological resources allow for the production of a wide range of efficient energy crops, including eucalyptus, grasses, starch crops like cassava, or sugarcane and jatropha. Analysts affiliated with the International Energy Agency estimate that the country can produce around 7 Exajoules of biofuels sustainably that is roughly 3.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day