Thursday 21 April 2011

AV - referendum who stands where

Here are some quick links to think tanks and organsiations both for and against. Most have news and reports on their website.

Yes Vote
Yes to AV - formed from the original make my vote count campaign.
Take back Parliament - campaign group
Unlock Democracy - incorporates materials from Charter 88
Electoral Reform Society Long term campaign group. Website has numerous briefings and reports.
Compass - associated with the left recently published a pamphlet Democracy by Machines or Morals?
Operation Black Vote campaign group

Negative aspects of AV
Centre for Policy Studies Evaporating Case for Electoral Reform
GMB union - truth about AV

Other papers assessing the possible changes include.
British Academy report: 'Choosing an Electoral System':prepared by Professor Simon Hix, Professor Ron Johnston FBA and Professor Iain McLean FBA with research assistance from Angela Cummine
Constitution society briefing paper
Hansard society has some archived articles.

AV Referendum : news sites

Of course most newspapers have special coverage of the issues. Here are some recommended resources

BBC has good coverage of the position of the different parties. plus a special section with news and views You can also see video coverage from BBC programmes such as the daily politics.
The Guardian (which broadly supports AV) has a special feature.
It alos has video content of key speeches and an interactive guide which explains how AV works
Independent coverage

AV Referendum 6th May - starting points see Victor the Vote Counter and More!

While this isnt an election as it is a major referendum and will effect future voting patterns. This blog will be presenting a toolkit of useful sites over the next few days. Here are some basic starting points. Use these tro find out what is going to happen in the referendum and the nature of the changes proposed.

About My Vote is a public site maintained by the UK Electoral Commission. It provides information on the issues and how to vote. See Victor the Vote Counter for an explanation of different votong systems.

AV and electoral reform- this This report from the House of Commons Library gives in depth analysis of the proposed AV electoral system, its history in the UK, and an examination of its advantages and disadvantages. It also includes notes on the Regulation of holding a referendum in the Uk and existing voting systems in the UK You might also for background information like to look at the Jenkins report 1997 which reviewed electoral systems for the government. It constains in-depth analysis of different alternatives and recommended a form of AV


the main campaign sites are No to AV
yes to fairer Votes
Both have blogs, discussion forums and online campaign materials.

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Nigeria election observation missions

The following organisations have notifed that they will have a presence covering the elections. Their websites will therefore be good places for keeping up to date.

European Union
African Union
relief web has a statement on its remit and methods.
NDI supported earlier elections. It has some useful comment on the website.

More on the Nigerian elections: follow these good news sources

See the official Nigerian election authority website for the latest updates in the delayed elections. The The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) also has official press releases, lists of candidates and information on procedures.

A number of Nigerian newspapers have online coverage of events see,.
Nigerian Guardian
This day
Vanguard
Nigeria Nation.
Nigerian tribune
Allafrica.com has a special section covering both the parliamentary and presidential elections.these include reports from local journalists. also look at the links on the left of the page for facebookk and other media pages covering the elections.
For Instance Reclaimnaija is using Ushahidi to map instances of electoral fraud and violence.


Sahara reporters has analysis and interviews.

Global voices online has some recommended tweeters to follow.

Monday 4 April 2011

Nigeria elections will they take place?

Nigeria has again postponed its parliamentary elections.
here are some sources for finding out more about why this has occurred.
IFES has some general news and discussion.
Find more detailed materials on the ACE Electoral site. This includes current news stories, plus links to recent reports and assessments of the political system.
For discussion of the human rights situation excellent starting points are:

Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
International crisis Group
and the Human Security Gateway The latter is a particularly good site which aggregates articles and reports from a number of different sources. It also has maps and statistics.