The UN Office in Burundi (BNUB) has welcomed the agreement signed by
the Burundi government, the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) and political parties in that country for credible conduct of
2015 elections. The UN Office remark is contained in a statement issued by diplomatic sources in Bujumbura on Thursday. The statement quoted the BNUB as commending political stakeholders in
Burundi for reaching the agreement, signed by about 40 political
parties.
It said “the BNUB encourages the signatories to pursue the path of
dialogue and to fully comply with the code of conduct at all stages of
the electoral process for free, transparent, credible, inclusive and
peaceful elections in 2015.’’ The BNUB urged stakeholders to caution their supporters, especially
young people to respect civil and political rights and to reject
violence as a means of political expression. There are 12,000 polling stations scattered in 3,800 centres and 4.2 million potential voters.
Meanwhile, it is not known when the 60 million dollars earmarked for the financing of the elections would be disbursed.
Source: Sundiata Post
Friday, June 13, 2014
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Pledges and boycotts in Mauritania polls
President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz will face four rival candidates in
Mauritania’s 21 June elections, which are being boycotted by the main
opposition coalition on grounds that they are a sham and its supporters
claiming that the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Cheikh Sidi Ahmed Ould Babamine, the head of the 17-member opposition
National Forum for Democracy and Unity (FNDU) has denounced the
elections as a “masquerade”. Thousands of Mauritanians heeded opposition
calls for a demonstration against the elections on June 4, flocking
onto the streets of the capital, Nouakchott. “We want to see free, transparent and consensual elections to allow
for a peaceful change at the top,” argued Jemli Mansour, president of
the opposition Islamic Party, Tawassoul, and now the second strongest
party in the country since its strong showing in the November 2013
municipal and legislative elections.
The case for standing
The only woman candidate, Lalla Mariam Mint Moulaye Idriss, says real transparency in the elections is not possible. “The role of the tribal chiefs and the political and social reality of this country transcend any political programmes or ideologies,” she said. While stressing that she understands the opposition’s rationale for boycotting, she warned that it could lead to a “breakdown even more serious than the one witnessed in Mauritania in 2008, and that is not what the country needs.” Mauritania descended into a long period of political infighting that led up to the August 2008 military overthrow of President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
Another candidate, Ibrahima Moctar Sarr, of the Alliance for Justice and Democracy/Movement for Renewal (AJD/MR), makes no apologies for standing. “We also have our doubts about the transparency of this election, because the state-backed system in place is racist, feudal and endorses slavery,” Moctar acknowledged. “But we are going to compete all the same because it is necessary to play the political game, so at least we can hammer home our message at the national level.”
To vote or not to vote?
“Why vote when you already know the result in advance? What credibility do you think the other candidates will have when Aziz’s triumph is announced?” argued Messaoud Ould Abderahmane, a market trader in the capital and supporter of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UFD).
But others are keen to vote. Boubacar, a young salesman for a company selling electrical goods, said: “I will vote. It is the only kind of leverage that I can have on the destiny of my country even if my input is derisory on a national scale. I am simply doing my duty.” Boubacar has little enthusiasm for the candidates. “I think I will cast a blank vote because I don’t see anyone on the ballot paper that can bring about the kind of structural changes that this country needs, particularly in sorting out once and for all the question of cohabitation between Black Mauritanians and Moors.”
Questions on ethnicity will not go away
The complex history of race relations in Mauritania figures strongly in the programmes of at least two of the presidential candidates, who are addressing a subject often considered taboo. Since independence in 1960 and particularly since the 1984 coup, the military and the administrative authorities have been dominated by the Moors to the detriment of ‘Black Mauritanians’. In 1989, land ownership issues around the Senegal River Valley triggered inter-ethnic violence in both Senegal and Mauritania, with thousands of Black Mauritanians forced into exile. Veteran anti-slavery campaigner Birame Ould Abeid is amongst the candidates, his programme dwelling insistently on the historic grievances of the Haratines.
Voters want food questions answered
In addition to ethnic problems, many voters are focused on their daily needs, particularly food. At the SOCIM market, where most Nouakchott residents buy their main food staples, consumers lament how high prices have risen over the past five years despite constant advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to control inflation. “The problem is with the traders who are not controlled and do what they want,” argues Binta Camara, a housewife doing her weekly shopping at the market. “It is total anarchy.” “If I had to put a question to all the candidates it would be about just how expensive life has become here; it is more and more difficult to eat well because prices have gone through the roof”. Sociologist at the University of Nouakchott and writer Cheikh Sass Bouh Kamara says the city residents are suffering. “Endemic poverty is on the rise in Nouakchott. The rural exodus is becoming more and more important. In the most populated districts of Nouakchott you are now seeing an acute food crisis you would not have had seven years ago.” Kamara blames the prices hikes on what he calls “a commercial oligarchy”.
Mauritania is among the world’s least developed food-deficit countries, ranked 155 out of 187 on the 2013 UNDP Human Development Index. Repeated droughts have slashed agricultural production. The World Food Programme estimates that between 20 and 30 percent of Mauritania’s population is severely food insecure. In Sélibabi, in south-eastern Mauritania, the concerns are even more straightforward. This is the lean season and food needs are severe. People here have little time for the pomp and expenditure associated with the elections. “Our children need to eat, our livestock need water,” argues Souleymane Diabira, who works for the state agricultural company SONIMEX.
Candidates and campaign promises
President Ould Abdel Aziz is standing for a second time. One of the main orchestrators of the 2008 coup against Abdallah, Abdel Aziz stood down as military leader to run for president in 2009. On that occasion, he used “the war against poverty” as the key campaign message. For 2014, he has switched his focus to youth and has been bringing this theme to the fore in debates and forums for several months, using the slogan: “a new impetus for Mauritania”. But youth unemployment remains a huge source of grievance. During his “meeting with the youth” organised several months ago, Abdel Aziz saw hundreds of young people coming in to take part in the debate, only to realize most were submitting their CVs.
Candidate Lalla Mariam Mint Moulaye Idriss, 57, who headed the Council of Administration at the state-owned Mauritanian Information Agency (AMI) right up until declaring her candidacy warns of “the growing impoverishment of the country and the rise in prices” and seeks the establishment of a stronger national identity and defusing inter-communal and tribal divisions. She has also called for a more diversified economy, with more emphasis on its agricultural and livestock resources and less on mining, “whose benefits Mauritanians do not see on their plates”. Sixty-one year old Bodiel Ould Houmeid of the Party for Democracy and Entente says he is the one to get Mauritania out of its crisis, pointing to his experience in government and public administration.
Known primarily as an anti-slavery campaigner and head of the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, is championing the cause of racial equality in the run up to the polls. Slavery was criminalized in Mauritania in 2007 but the law has been difficult to enforce. “Equality between Mauritanian citizens is at the heart of my engagement and my candidature,” he told IRIN. “Ahead of economic or political questions is the question of survival in a country where communities do not talk to each other, where state racism is at its peak, where slavery persists, where Blacks do not have the same rights as Moors”. While offering a blunt critique of Abdel Aziz’s record in office, AJD/MR candidate Ibrahima Moctar Sarr also raises arguments about race relations. “The question of cohabitation between Blacks and Moors can only be solved through democracy,” he argues.
A foregone conclusion?
It seems highly unlikely that any of the four other candidates will pose much of a challenge to the incumbent. “These elections are being played out in advance,” argued Ahmed Fall, a philosophy teacher at the Al Baraka School in Nouakchott. “Look around in the streets, from Nouakchott to Sélibabi, you will only see the posters of Aziz and the loud-speakers blaring out his name. Have you ever seen a ‘transparent election’ with a ‘credible opposition’ as the authorities would say is taking place? You have the impression that the other candidates have gone for a very low profile approach”.
Source: Relief Web
The case for standing
The only woman candidate, Lalla Mariam Mint Moulaye Idriss, says real transparency in the elections is not possible. “The role of the tribal chiefs and the political and social reality of this country transcend any political programmes or ideologies,” she said. While stressing that she understands the opposition’s rationale for boycotting, she warned that it could lead to a “breakdown even more serious than the one witnessed in Mauritania in 2008, and that is not what the country needs.” Mauritania descended into a long period of political infighting that led up to the August 2008 military overthrow of President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
Another candidate, Ibrahima Moctar Sarr, of the Alliance for Justice and Democracy/Movement for Renewal (AJD/MR), makes no apologies for standing. “We also have our doubts about the transparency of this election, because the state-backed system in place is racist, feudal and endorses slavery,” Moctar acknowledged. “But we are going to compete all the same because it is necessary to play the political game, so at least we can hammer home our message at the national level.”
To vote or not to vote?
“Why vote when you already know the result in advance? What credibility do you think the other candidates will have when Aziz’s triumph is announced?” argued Messaoud Ould Abderahmane, a market trader in the capital and supporter of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UFD).
But others are keen to vote. Boubacar, a young salesman for a company selling electrical goods, said: “I will vote. It is the only kind of leverage that I can have on the destiny of my country even if my input is derisory on a national scale. I am simply doing my duty.” Boubacar has little enthusiasm for the candidates. “I think I will cast a blank vote because I don’t see anyone on the ballot paper that can bring about the kind of structural changes that this country needs, particularly in sorting out once and for all the question of cohabitation between Black Mauritanians and Moors.”
Questions on ethnicity will not go away
The complex history of race relations in Mauritania figures strongly in the programmes of at least two of the presidential candidates, who are addressing a subject often considered taboo. Since independence in 1960 and particularly since the 1984 coup, the military and the administrative authorities have been dominated by the Moors to the detriment of ‘Black Mauritanians’. In 1989, land ownership issues around the Senegal River Valley triggered inter-ethnic violence in both Senegal and Mauritania, with thousands of Black Mauritanians forced into exile. Veteran anti-slavery campaigner Birame Ould Abeid is amongst the candidates, his programme dwelling insistently on the historic grievances of the Haratines.
Voters want food questions answered
In addition to ethnic problems, many voters are focused on their daily needs, particularly food. At the SOCIM market, where most Nouakchott residents buy their main food staples, consumers lament how high prices have risen over the past five years despite constant advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to control inflation. “The problem is with the traders who are not controlled and do what they want,” argues Binta Camara, a housewife doing her weekly shopping at the market. “It is total anarchy.” “If I had to put a question to all the candidates it would be about just how expensive life has become here; it is more and more difficult to eat well because prices have gone through the roof”. Sociologist at the University of Nouakchott and writer Cheikh Sass Bouh Kamara says the city residents are suffering. “Endemic poverty is on the rise in Nouakchott. The rural exodus is becoming more and more important. In the most populated districts of Nouakchott you are now seeing an acute food crisis you would not have had seven years ago.” Kamara blames the prices hikes on what he calls “a commercial oligarchy”.
Mauritania is among the world’s least developed food-deficit countries, ranked 155 out of 187 on the 2013 UNDP Human Development Index. Repeated droughts have slashed agricultural production. The World Food Programme estimates that between 20 and 30 percent of Mauritania’s population is severely food insecure. In Sélibabi, in south-eastern Mauritania, the concerns are even more straightforward. This is the lean season and food needs are severe. People here have little time for the pomp and expenditure associated with the elections. “Our children need to eat, our livestock need water,” argues Souleymane Diabira, who works for the state agricultural company SONIMEX.
Candidates and campaign promises
President Ould Abdel Aziz is standing for a second time. One of the main orchestrators of the 2008 coup against Abdallah, Abdel Aziz stood down as military leader to run for president in 2009. On that occasion, he used “the war against poverty” as the key campaign message. For 2014, he has switched his focus to youth and has been bringing this theme to the fore in debates and forums for several months, using the slogan: “a new impetus for Mauritania”. But youth unemployment remains a huge source of grievance. During his “meeting with the youth” organised several months ago, Abdel Aziz saw hundreds of young people coming in to take part in the debate, only to realize most were submitting their CVs.
Candidate Lalla Mariam Mint Moulaye Idriss, 57, who headed the Council of Administration at the state-owned Mauritanian Information Agency (AMI) right up until declaring her candidacy warns of “the growing impoverishment of the country and the rise in prices” and seeks the establishment of a stronger national identity and defusing inter-communal and tribal divisions. She has also called for a more diversified economy, with more emphasis on its agricultural and livestock resources and less on mining, “whose benefits Mauritanians do not see on their plates”. Sixty-one year old Bodiel Ould Houmeid of the Party for Democracy and Entente says he is the one to get Mauritania out of its crisis, pointing to his experience in government and public administration.
Known primarily as an anti-slavery campaigner and head of the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, is championing the cause of racial equality in the run up to the polls. Slavery was criminalized in Mauritania in 2007 but the law has been difficult to enforce. “Equality between Mauritanian citizens is at the heart of my engagement and my candidature,” he told IRIN. “Ahead of economic or political questions is the question of survival in a country where communities do not talk to each other, where state racism is at its peak, where slavery persists, where Blacks do not have the same rights as Moors”. While offering a blunt critique of Abdel Aziz’s record in office, AJD/MR candidate Ibrahima Moctar Sarr also raises arguments about race relations. “The question of cohabitation between Blacks and Moors can only be solved through democracy,” he argues.
A foregone conclusion?
It seems highly unlikely that any of the four other candidates will pose much of a challenge to the incumbent. “These elections are being played out in advance,” argued Ahmed Fall, a philosophy teacher at the Al Baraka School in Nouakchott. “Look around in the streets, from Nouakchott to Sélibabi, you will only see the posters of Aziz and the loud-speakers blaring out his name. Have you ever seen a ‘transparent election’ with a ‘credible opposition’ as the authorities would say is taking place? You have the impression that the other candidates have gone for a very low profile approach”.
Source: Relief Web
Namibia: Implementing biometrics-based systems - electronic voting selection criteria
Electronic voting, known as e-voting, is to be used later this year
when Namibia goes to the National Assembly and Presidential polls. Also
the 8th International Electoral Affairs Symposium 2014 is aimed at
building confidence and trust in the electoral process, which will also
be held from on June 25th - 27th in Kenya. On this basis researchers at the Biometric Research laboratory, BRL,
have decided to dedicate this article on electronic voting selection
criteria.
E-voting technology is being increasingly used around the world. In particular, the market in Third World countries is growing at an alarming rate. However, some European countries are moving in the opposite direction. For example, India now uses e-voting machines exclusively for all elections. The U.S., which is a global leader in e-voting, uses different voting systems in different counties. German stopped the use of e-voting after several decades of using e-voting machines. This results in a number of questions such as why some countries are moving to e-voting while others are moving away from the technology. How does any country decide whether e-voting technology is the right approach and when is it advisable to proceed using the technology?
There is no single answer. The answer for each country is complex and requires detailed research and consultation with specialists. The initial step in implementing e-voting is the decision making process concerning the adoption of the e-voting technology. This process will vary considerably from one country to another. However, irrespective of the country implementing e-voting, a decision to implement e-voting is likely to meet the needs of the electoral commissioners if some criterions are met such as:
- Open consultation with electoral stakeholders in the respective countries.
- Independent comprehensive research into available technologies.
- E-voting technology must be evaluated against well defined objectives for implementation the technology.
In summary, the decision process to use e-voting consisting of:
- First of all, assessing whether there is a problem with the current voting;
- Secondly, assessing the technical feasibility of addressing the problem with the technology;
- Finally, assessing the anticipated benefits and potential risks, financial feasibility and stakeholders' reactions to the technology.
Source: New Era
E-voting technology is being increasingly used around the world. In particular, the market in Third World countries is growing at an alarming rate. However, some European countries are moving in the opposite direction. For example, India now uses e-voting machines exclusively for all elections. The U.S., which is a global leader in e-voting, uses different voting systems in different counties. German stopped the use of e-voting after several decades of using e-voting machines. This results in a number of questions such as why some countries are moving to e-voting while others are moving away from the technology. How does any country decide whether e-voting technology is the right approach and when is it advisable to proceed using the technology?
There is no single answer. The answer for each country is complex and requires detailed research and consultation with specialists. The initial step in implementing e-voting is the decision making process concerning the adoption of the e-voting technology. This process will vary considerably from one country to another. However, irrespective of the country implementing e-voting, a decision to implement e-voting is likely to meet the needs of the electoral commissioners if some criterions are met such as:
- Open consultation with electoral stakeholders in the respective countries.
- Independent comprehensive research into available technologies.
- E-voting technology must be evaluated against well defined objectives for implementation the technology.
In summary, the decision process to use e-voting consisting of:
- First of all, assessing whether there is a problem with the current voting;
- Secondly, assessing the technical feasibility of addressing the problem with the technology;
- Finally, assessing the anticipated benefits and potential risks, financial feasibility and stakeholders' reactions to the technology.
Source: New Era
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Mauritania president urges '100 percent' vote turnout
Mauritania's President Mohamed
Ould Abdel Aziz has responded defiantly to an opposition boycott of this
month's presidential election, calling for "100 percent" turnout in a
vote he is widely expected to win. Abdel Aziz has urged "everyone to come out and vote" in the June 21 election, since campaigning began last week.
He
criticised the boycott by what he called the "radical" opposition,
accusing its members of "bringing the country to its knees". Aziz,
an ex-army general who took control of the former French colony in a
2008 coup before being elected a year later, said those seeking a
boycott "refuse to acknowledge the great progress made for poor
Mauritanians" in recent years. Mauritania's
opposition National Forum for Democracy and Unity, a loose collection
of lawmakers including Islamists and civil society activists, announced
on Tuesday its intention to snub the vote.
The coalition has vowed to ramp up protests against what it calls a "sham" election and what it sees as Aziz's despotic rule. Mauritania,
a mainly Muslim republic between the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara
Desert, is viewed as strategically important by the West in the fight
against Al-Qaeda-linked groups within its own borders, in neighbouring
Mali and across Africa's Sahel region. Four
candidates, including an anti-slavery campaigner and Mauritania's
second ever female presidential hopeful, are running against hot
favourite Abdel Aziz.
Source: AFP
Namibia: Ruling party sues Opposition
THE ruling Swapo
party has initiated legal moves to recover money from opposition parties
which challenged the 2009 election results about four years ago.Nine opposition
parties led by the Rally for Democracy and Progress, took Swapo, the
Electoral Commission of Namibia and government to court, demanding an
audit of the 2009 election results. Swapo won more than 75% of the 2009 votes, while President Hifikepunye Pohamba retained his position.
Swapo seeks to recover expenses incurred during the court case which the opposition parties eventually lost and were ordered by the Supreme Court to pay the ruling party’s legal costs.The opposition parties started legal proceedings in January 2010, and in March of the same year, the High Court struck the case off the roll on technical grounds. The Supreme Court overturned that decision and sent the case back to the High Court in September 2010. With that decision, the Supreme Court also ordered that the ECN and Swapo pay the opposition parties’ legal costs in the appeal. The High Court, for the second time, again ruled against the opposition parties in February 2011, after which the parties once more took the case to the Supreme Court.
In its final judgment on the election challenge, the Supreme Court dismissed the opposition parties’ appeal in October 2012 and ordered them to pay only Swapo’s legal costs in the appeal. Swapo sources said the party started the move to recover the costs after it became apparent that the opposition parties were not working towards resolving the cost issues and settling the debts. Although Swapo secretary general Nangolo Mbumba said he was not aware of the move, attorney general Albert Kawana confirmed that a legal process was underway. Kawana could not give further details, while Mbumba said it was a matter of parties getting together and reconciling books to determine who owes who and how much.
RDP spokesperson Jeremiah Nambinga also said he was not aware of the move by the ruling party to recover money from the opposition parties. He, however, said Swapo also owed them money in legal costs emanating from one of the court orders granted earlier in the case. Kawana, Mbumba and Nambinga could not give figures involved but court documents seen by The Namibian yesterday show that Swapo is owed slightly more than N$595 000, which a source close to the ruling party said was the only amount where a warrant of execution is ready. The source also said Swapo could be owed in excess of N$1 million from four other pending warrants of execution.
Swapo seeks to recover expenses incurred during the court case which the opposition parties eventually lost and were ordered by the Supreme Court to pay the ruling party’s legal costs.The opposition parties started legal proceedings in January 2010, and in March of the same year, the High Court struck the case off the roll on technical grounds. The Supreme Court overturned that decision and sent the case back to the High Court in September 2010. With that decision, the Supreme Court also ordered that the ECN and Swapo pay the opposition parties’ legal costs in the appeal. The High Court, for the second time, again ruled against the opposition parties in February 2011, after which the parties once more took the case to the Supreme Court.
In its final judgment on the election challenge, the Supreme Court dismissed the opposition parties’ appeal in October 2012 and ordered them to pay only Swapo’s legal costs in the appeal. Swapo sources said the party started the move to recover the costs after it became apparent that the opposition parties were not working towards resolving the cost issues and settling the debts. Although Swapo secretary general Nangolo Mbumba said he was not aware of the move, attorney general Albert Kawana confirmed that a legal process was underway. Kawana could not give further details, while Mbumba said it was a matter of parties getting together and reconciling books to determine who owes who and how much.
RDP spokesperson Jeremiah Nambinga also said he was not aware of the move by the ruling party to recover money from the opposition parties. He, however, said Swapo also owed them money in legal costs emanating from one of the court orders granted earlier in the case. Kawana, Mbumba and Nambinga could not give figures involved but court documents seen by The Namibian yesterday show that Swapo is owed slightly more than N$595 000, which a source close to the ruling party said was the only amount where a warrant of execution is ready. The source also said Swapo could be owed in excess of N$1 million from four other pending warrants of execution.
Source: The Namibian
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