Friday 30 January 2015

Greece elections: who are Syriza?

Syriza have stormed to power in Greece but what do they represent?

This article in the Guardian has some introductory analysis.

the official website  has some basic facts in English. It also has a facebook page.
Zed Press has made available for free download - Europe After The Minotaur by the new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. This offers insight into future policies. He also has a blog with comment and discussion. Ideas has his 2011 proposal for overcoming the euro crisis and there is an econtalk podcast from the Library of Economics and Liberty
Alexis Stsipras website - Prime minister of Greece his campaign website has discussion in English of Austerity policies. He also has some articles in English on the Social Europe website and in the Huffington Post. and a recent interview in Jacobin.

Political analysis of the link between the elections and debt
According to the New Statesman Syriza  is  not a party of the radical left. 
 The Crisis Observatory is an initiative of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), with the support of the "Stavros Niarchos" Foundation. It has some useful articles on politics. and discussion of austerity politics in  Greece which have led to its rise.
 Bank of England Governor Mark Carney also attacked this week Eurozone austerity policy.
Jubilee debt campaign briefing.


Thursday 22 January 2015

Greece elections 2015

Greek elections are coming soon.
 Here are some links which cover their political and economic impact.
The Wall Street Journal explains in a short video why they are important.
The Guardian Datalog has an interesting graph on the politics and economics of the elections.
The Greek Ministry of the Interior has information in English about the system and previous results.
The Greek elections portal coordinated by Dr Giorgos [Gkantzias], Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural Technology and Communication, University Aegean. Provides free access to articles from the Greek Politics Journal, plus election results, maps and analysis

News services.
The following have articles and reports.
Athens News Agency- official Greek government
ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation) extensive comment, plus video clips, polls and interviews.
Kathimerini affiliated with the International Herald Tribune. English news.
Ethnos
Huffington Post

Commentators
New York Times - analysis of politics and economy of Greece
The Daily Telegraph
The Wall Street Journal blog has commentary on the economic impact also a useful get started guide.
News about Greece from the Guardian.
Economist
Open Democracy discussion from bloggers.
Finally for recent academic discussion and debate see papers and audio, video footage from the LSE Hellenic Observatory. 
plus blog entries.
Aristides Hatzis'Greek Crisis Blog, University of Athens.has useful links to opinion pieces from foreign media and discussion of Greek media sources.

Wednesday 14 January 2015

Sri Lanka Presidential elections 2015- were they fair?



Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 8 January 2015,

The official results are now available on the Department for Elections website

where you can also get information on the electoral system and results from previous elections.

Sri Lankan elections.com which is supported by Upali newspapers has good news coverage of events. Plus English language texts of the manifestos from the main candidates.
Nation - Election coverage
Colombo Gazette has opinion poll coverage.

For accounts of the conduct of the elections see the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence. which has comuniques monitoring the 2015 events.
Ground Views blog which covers citizen journalism viewpoints.
Election Monitors were sent from the Commonwealth
Asian Network for Free Elections Analysis
PAFFREL  has analysis of election conduct and violence


Background information on the political and security situation can be found
on the International Crisis Group
Economist#
Transparency International Sri Lanka has discussions of the state of democracy in the run up to the elections.
Sri Lanka brief has news and analysis on the elections conduct


Tuesday 6 January 2015

Tunisia elections 2014




A presidential election was held in Tunisia on 23 November 2014,  It was the  first regular presidential election after the Tunisian Revolution of 2011 and the adoption of the Constitution in January 2014.
Here are some academic resources for catching up with the results.

Get the official results from the website of the Election authority. This also has background information about the electoral system and earlier results.


the blog of the 3C Etudes makes reference to opinion poll research some in Arabic.

Election observation reports on the conduct of the elections.
Democracy International pioneered a new form of citizen observation. its website gives further details. see examples of the recruitment process on their e-observation.org website

Iwatch Tunisia. citizen observers
Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) and International Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights (IIPJHR) - See more at: http://gnrd.net/seemore.php?id=1158#sthash.rK7UxJ80.dpuf



Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD) and International Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights (IIPJHR) - See more at: http://gnrd.net/seemore.php?id=1158#sthash.rK7UxJ80.dpuf


News services, newspapers.Guardian coverage

Influential Tunisian blogs/social media

@yassayari computer engineer and blogger, was pivotal in Tunisia's anti-censorship demonstration in May 2010
Tunisia Live has some reactions from Tunisians about the results.

 Background information on politics and security in the region.