Ugandan elections: what are the issues?

AS Uganda goes to the polls- here are some starting points.
The Guardian has a good discussion of the issues which it feels are at stake.
An excellent basic guide to the electoral system and past elections results is on the IFES website
Official information from the Ugandan government is located on the electoral commission website. Some of its materials are also loaded on the ACE project website
Up to date news coverage can be found on the
All Africa website - which has some reports from African journalists.
Uganda newspaper - the Daily Monitor has a special section with profiles of the candidates, polls and analysis. Another local news service is the New Vision online
Other sources of reports on human rights are big agencies such as
Amnesty International which reported recently on intimidation and abuses.
and Human Rights Watch and the Ugandan Human Rights Commission.
Global voices online - has a guide and comment from bloggers about the process.
Finally Uganda Watch 2011 is a website created to provide Ugandans with a way to share their observations about elections and to provide comprehensive information about elections from a variety of sources. Citizens can SMS 6090 to report election abuses, ask questions, or praise individuals or groups that are contributing to a good election. Messages are reviewed and validated by a team of trained reviewers employed by the Democracy Monitoring Group (DEMGroup).

Looking forward to elections in Chad

Elections should be taking place in Chad on 13th Feb.
On of the best sources for starting research on the background and conduct of these seems to be EISAThe Electoral Institute of South Africa has a country profile page. This has facts and figures on previous elections, the full text of the constitution and some electoral laws.
Also valuable is the ACE elections website which has news, plus encyclopedia type entries on the electoral system with some examples of online electoral documents.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union website has an archive of information on the electoral system and past election results.
If you can read French you can also consult the official electoral commission website CENI - which has lists of candidates and decrees.
For up to date news. Try the EU election observation website. This will be reporting on the conduct of the elections.

AfrolineContains news stories from African reporters.
Charity Counterpart International has some news on its election promotion programmes.These include some useful example of Youth vote intiatives and gender intiatives.
Finally an excellent gateway to a wealth of materials discussing the politics and human rights is the Human Security gateway

Niger elections - were they well conducted?

According to EU observers the elections that took place in Niger this week were well conducted.

But why were they concerned.
The BBC has a basic timeline of events.

Good sources of news (although not all articles are free ) can be found on AllAfrica.com
EIN News
Jeune Afrique
Le Niger dans le web from Tamatinfo
Le republicain Niger

More detailed analysis can be obtained from the observers websites.
ECOWAS

EU
also useful for background on the democratic evolution of the area are the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie which has a collection of reports in French.
The ACE Project (supported by an international coalition which includes International IDEA) also has an electoral encyclopedia with facts and figures on the electoral system and more