Egypt referendum - what's new what does it mean?

Recently votes went to the polls concerning changes to the Egyptian constitution. What are they what do they mean? here are some places to find out more.

There is a good C-Span video with Steven Cook, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. The 26 min programme  covers  Egypt’s protests, the referendum vote, and what’s next for Egyptian President Morsi
Al -Jazeera has some discussion, including an interview with individuals involved in re-writing the consitution.

The Egyptian Government website has an English language translation.
The Middle East Constitutional Forum website created by the Right to non violence (  an international NGO, established in Lebanon and in the United States) also has comment.
Discussion of the state of democracy in Egypt can be found on major human rights websites including.
Amnesty International.
Human Rights watch
International Crisis Group.
National Council for Human Rights - Egyptian based organisation giving an onn the ground viewpoint.
Major research bodies with papers and reports online include: Council on Foreign Affairs,
Brookings Institution.
NDI Egypt.
merip - Middle East Innovation and research project

Catalan referendum recommended websites

This week Voters in Spain's Catalonia region have given a majority to parties seeking Catalan independence
here are some recommended websites for research.
The official administration site has results and information about the political system

The Guardian has some good background articles on the political importance of the vote and its outcome.
El Pais has detailed analysis and voting outcomes.
Coverage from Catalan News Agency (CNA) is the (English site of the Agència Catalana de Notícies (ACN), the publicly owned news agency of Catalonia)
Nacio digital Catalan newspaper has coverage
as does El Punta.

 CEO barometer maps public opinion in the region towards elections and independence
Information on key groups campaigning for independence can be found on these websites:



The Assemblea Nacional Catalana (Catalan National Assembly, ANC) is an organization that aims at regaining the political independence of Catalonia through the establishment of a free and democratic State.

Estatpropi.Cat, Webpage to count and to show the support to create an own state for the Catalan Countries

Solidariat Catalana per la Independència - grassroots social movement

For coverage of the 2012 independence pritests see also.
• 11s2012.cat http://www.11s2012.cat/ Monitoring of the activity of the hashtag #11s2012 on Instagram and Twitter. (Catalan)
and ara.cat 11th september pages.

Sierra Leone elections November 2012

This week Sierra Leone went to the polls.
for those new to the topic the BBC has a FAQ
BBC Q & A on Sierra Leone Elections -

The Africa Election project website has some useful news stories on the conduct and results.
Official results and information on the regulation can be viewed on the National Election Commission  website.
coalition of monitoring organisations in the country, National Election Watch, mapped out real-time election-related data using OneWorld's monitoring technologies. It includes voter turnout demographics and provisional results.

Local news stories can be viewed on these websites.
Cocorioko Newspaper -
The Patriotic Vanguard Newspaper
Awareness Times Newspaper
Sierra Express Newspaper -
Awoko Newspaper -
Standard Times Press Newspaper
Swit Salone news website -

also see commentary from observers.
Commonwealth statement
EU
ECOWAS

Social media and the US elections - key sites, resources

So now it is all over and pundits are discussing the role that social media played. The Guardian already has an article about how history will judge the role of the media.
Obama used twitter to record his victory and did his wife USA Today has remarks from famous personalities from their twitter accounts

The Twitter blog refers to 31 million tweets! It also has some figures about posts. Look at the special 2012 hashtag page for coverage
Huffington Post even asked why canadians were discussing the elections on twitter
According to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project report on Social Media and Voting, 30 percent of registered voters have been encouraged to vote for President Obama or Mitt Romney by their friends and family on social networks
According to analytics service Topsy, Twitter users are sending nearly 30,000 messages per hour with the hashtag, #election2012


Topsy set up the Twitter election political Index.
there was also a political engagement page with state by state mappings of support for each candidate by number of tweets.
CNN teamed up with Facebook to offer tredns of analysis
Google US election trends. has statistics on internet search by candidate. Also links to major Youtube campaign sites.

US Elections who thinks what: comment from leading think tanks

Here is a listing of think tanks who have established research pages and comment on the forthcoming elections.

Council on Foreign Policy - foreign policy and the elections analyses the stance of the candidates.


Brookings

AEI American enterprise and the economy .
Rand

Aspen institute

Cato ( libertarian )

Center for American Progress

Clarement Institute (statesmanship and political philosophy has commentary on the debates)

Kaiser Family Foundation - weekly polls on issues effecting voters / issues on their minds.

Harvard university analysis  

US Elections - quiz up on the facts

Here are our selection of good quizzes and games some of which are educational!

USA Today - Candidate Match Game II
Find out who to vote for by answering 14 questionssurrounding the upcoming election.

Project Vote Smart - Vote Easy
A visual breakdown of 13 critical topics surrounding the 2012 election. Respond to each topic and the candidates are visually presented in front of the White House lawn based on the response.

The Advocates - World Smallest Political Quiz A 10 question quiz that displays the results on a unique gridded layout. Students will quickly be able to

270toWin &  Electoral College Resources
also 270toWin iPad App -
Great interactive website that allows students to explore the implications of candidates winning the electoral college votes around the country. The map can be manipulated and you can explore electoral college results going back to 1789.

RandMcNally - Play the Election Similar to 270toWin, this resource allows students to explore the country and current trends in each state. Electoral college voting can also be explored back to 1960.

New York Times Learning Network - 2012 Election Unit

MeoGraph Election 2012
 web 2.0 tool that allows students to create 4D digital stories, a combination of images, audio and text layered on top of a map of the United States.

Money in the US Elections: who contributes?

Here are some recommendations for tracing research on the role of cash in the 2012 presidential elections.

The Federal Election Committee has a campaign disclosure portal. This has official disclosures from the candidates, data on contributions and expenditure.


PBS Frontline Big Money 2012

has been conducting a major campaign on money in the 2012 elections see its reports and findings on the website. Note some documentary material may not be accesible outside the USA.
Sunlight Commission Follow the Money website  has detailed analysis on amouints and sources of money in the races.

There is also a useful blog which highlights the latest stories concerning transparency.

Open secrets  Detailed analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics. This site has clear graphs which track top donors, sources and disclosure for the candidates.

New York Times has a brief compare the candidates in the money race graph
The Washington Post has a graph of spending on political ads by each party.
The Wall Street Journal has a feature called the political money ball which has visual diaplays of sources of finance for each candidate.
Democracy info also has good visual displays of sources of money



Political Money line is a subscription dataabase from CQ press . Its website tracks money releated issues in all campaigns. Its site offers free acess to headlines.

Presidential elections 2012: what do the polls say?

Here are some starting points for tracking the predicted outcome.
Remember that most of the news sources listed in yesterday's posting also have poll listings too!

Gallup polls.
This includes a tracking feature as well as a blog with comment on trends. There is also a US Presidential election center where you can trace polls back to 1936.It gives a very good break down of historic trends of party support by age, race, ethnicity.

Reuters American Mosaic Polls.
initiative for 2012 in association with ipsos they are focusing upon 10 groups these include: bible belt whites, rust belt, elderly, women, military, recent graduates. The site includes polls, news and photojournalism.

Marist poll
The Marist Institute for Public Opinion (MIPO) survey research center


Larry Sabato's crystal ball
A comprehensive website run by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics,

Real clear Politics latest polls.
News website summarises polls from a variety of sources.

Polling report.com - non partisan reports. includes daily gallup and other tracking.

Public Policy Pollling

Rasmussen polls daily updates - some features for subscribers only.

Quinnipiac University Poll regularly surveys residents in Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and nationwide about political races,

The IEM 2012  (Iowa Electronic Markets) U.S. Presidential Election Markets are real-money futures markets where contract payoffs will be determined by the popular vote cast in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election. There are currently two markets in this set:
Pres12_VS -- based on vote shares won by the two major party candidates in the 2012 U.S. Presidential election Pres12_WTA -- a winner take all market based on the popular vote plurality winner of the 2012 U.S. Presidential election

Ladbrokes Odds. - UK based betting odds on who is likely to win.

 
•

Presidential elections 2012 : news services

Here is a list of links to major news services covering the elections.

News services.

USA
ABC news includes the matchomatic game
CBC News
Fox news
CNN Election Center. There is also a CNN election explorer which is tracking campaign finance, ads and money. CNN political ticker for coverage of the latest polls.CNN facebook analysis of the election on Facebook
NPR radio
New York Times in addition to news, films, also has interactive guides and analysis. Iphone app, electoral maps of swing states. and the 2012 money race comparison of the candidates.
PBS election news
Real Clear politics news site
Wall Street Journal coverage.
Washington Post includes an election map of predictions campaign finance maps..and a fact check feature.
The week news and opinion
The Nation coverage.
Huffington Post
C-Span video library. Includes debates, commercials and online news

UK
BBC
there is a good guides and background section at the foot of the page which explains key issues for non americans!
Guardian . This includes a data page of facts and figures.
Economist - has interactive guides
Telegraph analysis.

Overseas media

Jerusalem Post
Deutsche Welt
Le Monde coverage
La Stampe italy
El Pais - Spain
Watching America site collects news from around the world. it lonks to major national newspapers.

Coming soon US presidential elections: Starting points

Where can you get basic facts on how the United States presidential system works?
Federal Election commission has guides for US citizens on how to vote.
the US Electoral College page explains the operation of the voting system
 the video how to elect a president in plain English

USDOJ  information on civil rights and voting legislation for American voters.
United States Election Commission - how to vote information for the US electorate.se the voter guides.
League of women voters election guide.


Federal Election Commission basic starting point for finding information on electoral campaign finance laws.
includes the campaign finance disclosure portal

Ukraine elections - recommended resources

Ukrainian parliamentary election 2012 took place on 28 October 2012
Here are some starting points for finding out more.

The Central Elections commission official website
isnt in English but has lists of candidates and results.The Central statistical Institute has a map of the results by polling district.
Electua has results.
The European Centre for a Modern Ukraine has created a very good English language sute which has news, legislation and results
For information on recent opinion polls and voting trends
see the Razumkov website where there are upto date graphs and analysis in English.
The Ratings Group has analysis of trends in party support from 2005-2012. there is also a section of news releases relating to 2012 elections.
R&B group has exit polls on its website.
KIS exit polls
Democratic Intiatives Foundation has some polls and analysis in English relating to 2012.


Election assessments.

Commonwealth of the Independent States - Election Monitoring Organization has reports and press releases on the conduct of the elections.

IFES website has pre poll assessments and papers.
OSCE Preliminary assessments

Chavez wins election - our recommended resources

This week V Chavez won the venezuela presidential elections.
here are some recommended sites.
the official election commission has some detailed results and background information on the rules governing the election.
the main candidates websites has new, statements and comment.
Chavez
He alos has media materials on the alopresidente website
He is also renowned for having a large following on his twitter account.
His rival capriles also has over 1 million followers.and an official website.

other media sources from the region which have news coverage and comment in Spanish include:
Agencia Venezolana de Noticias
Conatel
VTV

other useful websites relating to the conduct of the electiosn include:
Reporters Without Borders ewhich places Venezuela 117th out of 179 in their 2011/2012 media freedom index.
IPYS research institute which discusses in Spanish the state of media and other civil rights in the region.
the carter center has some preliminary analysis of the conduct of the elections.

Venezuelaanalysis news site has a good selection of blogs both pro and anti government.

Georgia elections - were they fair?

This week elections took place in Georgia.
Reuters reported that international observers praised their conduct. For further information on this try these recommended websites.
The Official central election authority has background information- including a history of recent elections in Georgia and a 2012 section  It also has a page with the recent election results.




The OSCE sent an observer mission read their comments- plus reports on historic older elections on the website.
other comments from the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)
The Georgian Young Lawyers Association have also commented on their observations.
the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe has an excellent series of pre and post election coverage and reports on its website from a variety of Georgian and other organisations.
Also one to look at is the Elections portal created by three non-governmental organizations - International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) and Transparency International - Georgia (TI-Georgia) which has marked incidents of violations of democratic procedure pre, post and on the election day
Other good sites for coverage include Civil.Ge has English daily news updates.
Elections watch Jamestown Foundation which has analysis of the caucasus region.

Congo- Brazzaville elections

This week the second round of elections took place in Congo-Brazzaville. a general basic guide to the system can be found on the IFES website.
The Ace Electoral project has some statistics plus reports and assessments from earlier elections.
The African elections database also has basic statistics from previous elections.
For more recent news try All Africa.Com Les Despatches Brazzaville
other background human rights reports can be found on the center for International Media Assistance. Agreggates measures from a number of human rights organisations.
Human Rights Watch reports.
Human Rights news EIN.  includes coverage of the latest elections.

Muslim Brotherhood - where to find out more.

This week the Muslim Brotherhood was in the news concerning its gains in the Egyptian elections.


For further information on who they are try these recommended resources.

This is the official english website. Though I have seen it blocked. http://www.ikhwanweb.com/

Guardian news

BBC News has a basic profile.

Al-Jazeera has special sections with background information. For keeping up to date with the latest news try their Egypt live blog.which has tweets and video coverage of events from reporters in Egypt.

PBS has some documentary and interview material discussing the aims of the movement.

The Council on Foreign Relations has a backgrounder on the history of the movement prior to 2011

The EU Institute for Security Studies- also has a 2011 report on the Brotherhood and Egyptian democracy.


finally always good for searching for high quality research papers from international organisations. Human Security Gateway

Ireland fiscal recovery referendum : was it a yes to recovery?

This week Ireland voted yes to its latest referendum on the fiscal recovery treaty.This related to proposed amendments to the Irish constitution to enable the ratification of the EU fiscal recovery treaty. See the text here. see the stability treaty campaign website for the yes vote.
opponents used websites and social media. see the nofiscal compact twitter
Vote no website. Campaign against the austerity treaty blog.
Sinn Fein no vote campaign materials. It also has a weekly round up of the referendum campaigns.


While not strictly speaking an election- as a major vote here are some starting points for finding out more.
The Referendum Commission is the indepepndent body which oversees referendums in irewlnad. Its website has legal facts and results from previous referendums. It created a specific site for the 2012 referendum for the electorate which has guides to the treaty.
Newspaper coverage from the
Irish Times.
Irish Independent
RTE produced an amendment guide. It also has pages of news headlines and programme coverage.
The Journal has online coverage from the campaigns.
TV 3 has video footage of news and debates
Guardian coverage.
Discussion on the EUROPP blog.
Finally the Institute of International and European Affairs has an interesting website with discussion. This includes articles, blogs and analysis of the treaty and associated referendum. There are examples of infographics being used to convey the complex messages.

Egyptian elections update

Following on from our earlier post which highlighted key news sources- here is an update on where to get observations on the conduct of the elections.
The official website of the Supreme Committee which is overseing the elections for the government
The BBC has a list of the candidates and the latest news stories
in 2011 IFES asessed what was needed for democratic elections to take place. It has followed this up in 2012 with assessments of the state of post-Mubarak Egypt.
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights covers all aspects ofg human rights in Egypt. Its website includes press releases and reports, It includes coverage of the  Egyptian Coalition for Election Observation which is monitoring the elections.
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) is an independent regional non-governmental organization founded in 1993 it is heading the Independent Coalition for Monitoring Elections. Its website has reports of media coverage of previous elections.
The Egyptian Association for Community Participation - has coverage in English or earlier election monitoring in 2011/12. It also has reports on Arab spring and repression in Egypt.
Another key organisation is the Andalus Institute for Tolerance and anti-Violence Studies (AITAS). It used a special media mionitoring unit to examine the conduct and coverage of the earlier election phase.

Finally Google News portal on Egypt.

Serbia - presidency round two get the facts.

On may 20th there will be a second round in the Serbian presidency contest.
The key candidates are Boris Tadić see  his campaign website which has its own youtube channel.
Supporters from the Democratic Party.
Tomislav Nikolić information on the Serbian Progressive Party website.
For assessments of the previous stage of the elections see the OSCE Monitoring mission website.
Another organisation which have been monitoring the situation is the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights which has a number of election watch newsletters in English on its website.Recent polls can be seen on the Ezbori website.



Government news can be seen on the Voice of Serbia website.
B92 has more critical news in English about the elections.
The Economist also has some interesting commentary.
Balkan Insight has some free content.
SE Times
Balkan Investigative reporting network.
Beta news agency.
The Center for free Elections and Democracy (CESID) has some results and analysis

Greek elections - where to look for news

This week the Greek elections have made the news. Here are some links which cover their political and economic impact.
The Greek Ministry of the Interior has official results. An icon on the page changes them to English- if required!
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
OSCE election observations of the conduct. There are also reports from previous elections

News services.
The following have articles and reports.
Athens News Agency- official Greek government
The Athens news service (provides news in English) has a blog covering the elections which will continue to add comment over the next few days.There is also a political news section with comment.
ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation) extensive comment, plus video clips, polls and interviews.
Kathimerini affiliated with the International Herald Tribune. English news.
Ethnos
Hellenic Lines- Newspaper of the Greek nationalist Front newspaper.
This Google site has YouTube films and debate from parties. plus twitter and news blogs.It also includes social media trends
Phantis - search engine designed to cover sites relevant to Greek Community.

Foreign commentators
New York Times - analysis of politics and economy of Greece
The Daily Telegraph has its own Greek elections Diary
The Wall Street Journal blog has commentary on the economic impact also a useful get started guide.
News about Greece from the Guardian.
Economist
Opendemocracy net has discussion from academic bloggers.
Finally for recent academic discussion and debate see papers and audio, video footage from the LSE Hellenic Observatory.

Who is Francois Hollande?

The new French president is Francois Hollande
but who is he? acording to 20 minutes (from switzerland) he was so unknown in some quarters that he was mistaken for a woman by some journalists! what does he believe? here are some useful sources.
Official campaign site
Tous Pour Hollande more campaign materials
Official twitter - see what he is doing today!
Facebook site
Really useful is the entry in WikiPol from Slate
see also his supporters Repondre a Gauche
His official page at the Assemblee Nationale gives examples of recent parliamentary activity. eg questions asked.
Sister Republic Michael C. Behrent on French Politics has some English pre-election commentary.
Le Monde has articles, analysis and reporting of his activities.
Figaro - also has a similar section.

French presidential elections- this week's key debate

French presidential elections.

This week a key debate. See the coverage on the BBC.

France 2 records the high viewing figures. See some key moments

Daily motion currently has the full version.

For some reaction try Figaro which is scanning social media throughout the campaigns for mentions. And has high and low points for the candidates.

Another interesting social media site has been created by Slate.fr the WIKIPOL is a type of Wikipedia with encyclopedia style entries on the main candidates it has been completed in conjunction with avec Po. More than 1,000 key figures, politicians, advisers are covered. Each entry has biographical information, quotations, details on affiliations, lists of publications.

Also some humour sites (with thanks also to Lucile Deslignères, Librarian, Oxford University Language Centre, for some good suggestion)

Canal plus humour

What wine reminds you of Boris? - humour in 2012 elections

The Huffington Post has published (courtesty of oddbins) a wine guide to the elections!
For more humour see the Cartoonstock website for examples taken from newspapers.
Paul Owen for the Guardian - gives an animated view of the contest
Little Boris - 'Little Boris follows the adventures of a little London boy who struggles a bit with everyday life.' it is illustrated by Robert Stocks
Finally see some singing and video blunders on Guido Fawkes blog.

London Elections - what do campaign groups think of the candidates

Some influential campaign groups have set up webpages. These contain manifestos and discussion of what they want from the new mayor.

Environmental
Woodland trust
London wildlife trusts
Clean air in London.

Business
Federation of Small Businesses 
CBI  Manifesto for business

London First business campaign

Social policy groups.

Age UK
Mumsnet blog
Citizensuk alliance of civil society groups
Operation black vote
Glas London irish forum
Evangelical alliance
Fawcett society.Womens Rights.
Big issue- homeless
Family friendly London.
Refugee council.
Homes for London.
Centre for cities manifesto
Migrants Rights
Stonewall .
End Violence Against Women

Transport

SUSTRAN
London cycling campaign
RMT Union

Say no to crow.- Boris supporters campaign.

Mayor of London elections - still not decided- try these user education sites!

Here are some useful examples of political communication sites,which have been created to encourage citizen participation in the elections.

Mayor 4 London - make your selection using this site created by staff at the LSE
Bite the bullet  Bite the Ballot and Spirit of London have joined forces with Unlock Democracy to bring you the first Vote Match

for young people.
Vote match  Unlock Democracy and Confused.com site that compares the candidates.
Full fact is seeking to expose inaccurate reporting and statements in the Mayoral campaigns 

London Mayor elections - what do the polls say?

Polls


UK polling report
Provides a summary of polls from the major newspapers
Ipso mori
TNS
Guardian ICM Polls

London Mayor Elections - key blogs to follow

Here is a short list of key people to follow.
most of the candidates web pages have links to their own followers.

British politics and policy LSE
Comment from academic staff and researchers at the London School of Economics
Left foot forward Leading progressive left wing blog.
Conservativehome
Spectator Coffeehouse blog
Guido fawkes.
Dale & Co.  Iain Dale conservative
Political advertising – Benedict pringle good analysis of adverts.
Labourhome
Liberal conspiracy

London Mayor elections follow the news coverage

In the second posting- here are some news services covering the elections. All have analysis, photos and social media.

BBC news
ITV
Guardian
Data store.
Dave Hill London blog

Independent – uk politics
FT politics and policy (general politics some content protected)
Telegraph
Telegraph blogs
Sun – general politics coverage.
London Standard
LBC radio
Jewish chronicle
Sky news
Mayorwatch independent news
Huffington post
Pink News- LGBT

London Mayor Elections 2012- get started with research

In May the 2012 London Mayor elections will take place. this is the first of our special posts to get you started with academic research.

What does the mayor do?
Try reading this briefing paper from the House of Commons Library
The GLA website has information on decision making and the structure of government in London.
For academic discussion see the Centre for Cities - which has papers on the roles of elected mayors
The Institute for Government has conducted extensive research on the role and impact of elected mayors. see their website for news and reports. The Warwick Commission on Elected Mayors and City Leadership was established by Warwick University. It published a report in April 2012 which contained interviews with over 40 mayors. You can also search the PSA (Political Studies association) proceedings to find some conference papers.

2012 elections.
London Elects  - designed for the voter find out when and how to vote. Includes past election results.


Electoral Commission Includes guidance and resources for returning officers. Search the election reports to get research papers on the conduct of past elections.
 
Candidates
All of the candidates have their own websites. Most with use of social media such as facebook, twitter, blogs. Here are the links.
 
Ken Livingstone (Labour) Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
Main supporters websites United4ken – unite union support

Yourken – for activists need to sign in via facebook or twitter. 
Boris Johnson (Conservative) Back Boris , Facebook, Twitter
Not ken again site from Boris campaign

There are also some Boris watch sites. You decide wehter they support him or not?
Boriswatch
Boris Watch
Sack Boris 2012

Brian Piddick (LibDems) Twitter, YouTube
London Liberal Democrats
LibDem voice - supporters and their blogs.
LibDem blogs portal to a wide range

Jenny Jones (Green party), Facebook, Twitter

Lawrence Webb –(UKIP) Facebook, LinkedIn

Carlos Cortiglia (British National Party) BNP TV

Facebook
 Hope not hate criticism

Siobhan Benita (independent) Twitter pledgebank site

French presidential elections online

In this third posting some good places to lok to find information about online social media activity inthe 2012 elections.
This has an immediate relevancy as liberation has drawn attention to the role of twitter. See this posting.
For an explanation of the rules see the Economist website
L’Observatoire des présidentielles 2012from Blueboat is analysing campaign visibility
Image & Strategie has an e-reputation barometer
Agoravox is a well-known citizen media website. Agoravox
Get a useful directory of links to key political blogs and websites from this project. The blogrolls are on the right hand side of the page.
Finally an excellent place for discussion and links to all aspects of the use of the internet and social media is Netpolitique
For a final spot of humour the Daily Motion also has some videos (many comical)

French presidential elections - how popular are the candidates!

In this second posting see how popular the candidates are:
those contesting are
Sarkozy 2012
Hollande 2012
Le Pen 2012
Bayrou 2012
Melenchon 2012
Joly 2012

Polls and analysis of polls can viewed on these sites.
Sondages en France
Harris interactive includes discussion of use of internet and voting intentions.
TNS –sofres polls and analysis.
CEVIPOL has current and historic reports on voting intentions.
Comparison of polls on Nouvelobs
Sciences Po coverage of the election includes expert analysis and polls.

French presidential elections coming soon!

Coming on 22nd is the first round of the French presidential elections.
her eare some recomended websites to follow the news.

A good introduction is the Conseil constitutionel dossier which the explains process. Élection présidentielle 2012
The other key government site is the Ministry of the Interior

Newspapers covering the election include:
Le Monde.
Le Parisien
L’Express
Humanite
Tribune.
Le Figaro
Les Echos.
Liberation.
Nouvel Observateur
Huffington Post French edition. – satire and news.
La présidentielle vue d'ailleurs": dessins de presse,
Courrier Internationale - offers summaries from major newspapers worldwide. translated into french.


Special search engine services.
Yahoo.fr.Access blogs, polls, canal + videos. Sections for candidates and themes.

Google France elections. Includes sections for themes, candidates, plus a YouTube elections section.


French TV and audio news.
Canalplus + TV, videos debates
TV5
RFI radio
France TV- links to coverage, polls and videos from main tv stations. English language coverage is available from Guardian.
BBC coverage.
Economist.

Burma Elections

This week - some good news from Burma. with the election of Aung Suu Kyi. But does this herald a new era of democracy? Here are some starting points for research.

Newspaper Coverage from the Guardian and the New York Times
Irawaddy
Democratic Voice of Burma includes video film election coverage.
New Light of Burma (Burmese Government backed publication.)
The following organisations were observing the election. Their websites therefore have insight into conduct.
IRI
ASEAN
EU election observation.
Other major human rights groups. These are some of the main organisations. Their websites have current and historical information on events.
Burma partnership a network of organisations from Asia-Pacific campaigning for democracy.
International Center for Transitional Justice.
Burma campaign UK The resources section includes an extensive photo gallery, plus reports and links.

Network for Human Rights Documentation Burma. A Network of Burmese organisations.
Amnesty International reports.

Huamn Rights Watch Burma

Senegal elections did they set a good example?

According to the BBC the conduct was a shining example for African democracy
as the defeated candidate conceded defeat gracefully.
Get some more information on events using these recommended resources.
The official government website has the full results and press releases.
The official elections website has background information on the conduct of the elections.
get news headlines from the Sud Quotidien
The Ace Project has some news stories, background information on the electoral system
The African Union has statements on the conduct of the election.
finally an interesting website from the The Coalition of Civil Society Organizations for Elections (COSCE) Senegal Scrutin which has real time mappings of conditions and violations at election stations.

Slovak elections 2012

A parliamentary election took place in Slovakia on 10 March 2012 to elect 150 members of the Národná rada. The election followed the fall of Prime Minister Iveta Radičová's Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party-led coalition in October 2011 over a no confidence vote her government failed because of its support for the European Financial Stability Fund.
The statistics Bureau of Slovakia - recorded the official result and voter turnout figures.
The European Election database- enables you to compare this with results since 1990 at both national and regional levels.
For background on the political system see the Ministry of the Interior website.
If you are looking for English Language material. A good starting point is the ACE project which links to key news stories and reports covering the most recent and some past elections. It includes election observation reports from the OSCEFor recent polls see Focus research
The Slovak Spectator has covered these and other stories in English.
Other Slovakia news services include: SME
ujszo.com
Etrend - economics news.
Finally try UCL SSEES twitter feed for comment and links to resources. The library also maintains a good Internet guide to resources about Slovakia.

Russian Elections - are you surprised by the outcome?

At the weekend Russians were voting in the Presidential elections
Get some English Language news from the BBC, the Guardian newspaper, Moscow Times ITAR-TASS (official government news service)RIAN-VOSTI
Voice of Russia funded by the Russian state.
For accounts of election observations see the ODIHR who has deployed a mission. The Russian Central Election Commission also has results, reports and background information on the system.
Other sources for information and analysis of past and current elections include: Russia Votes. Surveys and analysis conducted by Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde. Look at recent approval ratings and results from 1996 onwards.
Amnesty International discussion of Russian human rights policy
Human Rights Watch has reports that voters were harassed.
Jamestown Foundation reports on Russian security issues

how did the Singer Youssou N'Dour get on in his Senegal presidential bid

This week the Senegal elections took place.
IFES has a quick guide to the basics.
The official national press agency has the latest news in French.

For some user discussion and online videos see the site created by L'association des Blogueurs du Sénégal
Google also has a special page with news stories and discussions of web trends.
More news stories can be found on all.africa.com
France 24
Le Monde
and the New York Times
Finally further English commentary, including a recent briefing paper can be found on the Chatham house website.

Yemen elections 2012

The Yemen presidential elections were held on 21st february. As there was only one candidate the results focussed on voter turnout. for discussion of the system try these resources.
Yemen Fox gives a glowing account of the elections.However , the BBC reported violence.
Al Jazeera has a blog with images and coment.
For background information on the political situation see the
IFES site which has basic facts about the electoral system.
International IDEA website has some publications

Turkmenistan elections- were they a sham?

Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov improves on his performance in 2007 election, but there are accusations of fraud.
See some commentary on politics in the region on the Chatham House website.
Eurasia net has articles and discussion
The Voice of Russia website has coverage in English. However do remeber this site is supported by the Russian government.
other monitoring bodies covering human rights in the region include:
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
Transparency International rated it as one of the most corrupt nations in 2010
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Turkmenistan at 165 out of 167 countries of the world in its Democracy Index for 2011

NDI has also established programmes to improve the state of democracy in the region.

Former finance leader winds Finland's presidential election

Last week the winner of Finland's presidential election was announced. Here are some recommended sites for finding out more.
Ministry of Justice Finland. Has the resiults for each round of voting plus background on the system used.
For up to date news coverage and analysis see
Helsingin Sanomat - International Edition. English Language analysis

Finland press. Other links to Finnish language resources.

For examples of past electoral results see Statistics Finland which has a large election data section.
The European elections database also has a section for Finland where you can find historic materials.
Electoral geography has some interesting mappings of past and recent elecions.

Kuwait elections coming soon.

On the 2nd feb Kuwait will be holding Parliamentary elections.
The official Kuwait news Agency has press releases in English about events.

organisations observing the conduct of the elections include
Kuwait transparency society (site in Arabic only)
Kuwait Journalists association (Arabic only)
New site Middle East online has predicted increased youth involvement becuase of the Arab Spring.

TEIM election watch has also produced a useful pre-election briefing.
Background on the political climate can also be found on the Carnegie Endowment website.

The Kuwait politics database from Michael Herb, Georgia State University. Also has an excellent collection of election results from the 1960s onwards.

Taiwan elections- send voters mad!

On Jan. 14, Taiwan re-elected President Ma. Interestingly the Telegraph reported increased cases of 'election' illness syndrom. However, here are some more serious suggestions for studying the resorts and political climate.
General background information can be found on the IFES guide.
The Official election commission website has a good English language section. get the official election results by district.
The Taipei times has recent news stories. Including summaries of reports from watchdogs monitoring the election.
The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) also has reports from its observation mission. and further discussion on its facebook site.

For some background information on the possible impact of the elections. See this report from CSIS on relations with the USA.

Alan Romberg Chinese Leadership monitor article. Also avvailable more publications on Taiwan and China from the Hoover Institution.
Wilson center - coverage of the elections and Taiwan in general
Finally get some discussion on The Taiwan 2012 blog is produced in partnership with the School of Politics and International Relations, the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies and the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham

Arab spring - useful sources for tracing electoral reform information

In December the EU launched its own response to the Arab spring
This memo highlights reactions from the EU to events in specific nations.It includes details of aid.
Here are some other recommended starting points.
News services.
Guardian blogs and news analysis from the Middle East. There is also a separate news stories page.
Aljazeera - includes live blogs and video content
BBC news
Lede Blog from New York Times.
Speigel Online
Economist - includes access to many articles from the journal. See the interesting Shoe throwers index from Feb 2011 for graphs and predictions.
Other think tanks with analysis and reports include:
The Carnegie Endowment.
Council on Foreign Relations.
ASWAT
NDI
Brookings Institution.
Chatham House. For instance see the transcript of a recent event on Israel and the Arab spring Which was held in London In December 2011.

Egyptian elections 2012

To start 2012 Egyptians have been voting in the third round of their elections.
IFES has some background information on the electoral system.
Jadaliyya has a good site with topical news updates and analysis. It launched the Egypt elections watch in association with Ahram Online, with the Center of Contemporary Arab Studies (Georgetown University) and the Middle East Studies Program (George Mason University)This has excellent introductions to election laws, profiles of parties and key figures along with maps, legislation and links to key news feeds and facebook sites. Also useful for this type of information is the Egypt Votes. This site aims to encourage quality reporting by young Egyptian journalists. It is jointly financed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and the German Federal Foreign Office.
Some of the site is in Arabic, but there is also a twitter wall on the left hand side which has interesting current comment. It is also offering support to the Egypt Electionnaire which has been created by by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and MICT (Media in Cooperation and Transition) and provides an introduction for voters to the policies of the main parties. Finally look for further comment from Egyptian and other international bloggers on the Global voices website.