Japan elections useful resources for academic research

The 47th general election of members of the House of Representatives of Japan was held on 14 December 2014. Here are some starting points for tracing information.

IFES has a basic description of the electoral system and information on registered voters and turnout.


For historic data try the IPU website.


The Wall Street Journal Japan Real Time blog has some news coverage and interviews with voters.


Basic English language news coverage from the BBC

Guardian newspaper

Japan Times

Economist

American Enterprise Institute coverage.

The Conversation analysis from UK academics.

NHK(Japan Broadcasting Corporation). coverage (Japanese)

Catalonia referendum 2014 recommended academic resources.

self-determination referendum, 2014 took place in November 2014
On 23 January 2013 the Parliament of Catalonia adopted by 85 favourable votes, 41 against, and 2 abstentions the "Declaration of Sovereignty and of the Right to Decide of the Catalan People". It caled for self determination. however the spanish government blocked a full referendum and the it was branded a consultation not a full referendum by the authorities prior to the vote
The official government website Govern de la Generalitat de Catalunya has the provisional results

El Pais coverage
Van Guardia
Ultima Hora
Catalonia Votes website  is an initiative of the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (DIPLOCAT), a public-private partnership designed to foster dialogue and connect the citizens of Catalonia with the rest of the world.
It has news plus some interesting policy papers
Opendemocracy net discussion
Open Europe blog summary.
The Conversation

US mid term elections recommended news resources and analysis

Here are some links to key news resources for following the recent elections.

Ballotpedia is an online encyclopedia about American politics and election sponsored by Lucy Burns institute.it is a good starting point for finding out about the elections.

News services

Guardian

Real Clear Politics coverage

BBC 

New York Times. 

Fox 

Time magazine

Washington Post live politics blog has updates on the results. 

Washington Post Election lab forecasting. examines how well a number of pollsters and newspapers predicted the results.

The Cook Political Report.  has been analysing trends throughout the campaigns.

Analysis

The Brookings Institution FixGov blog has a series of postings on understanding and anlysing the mid-terms.They have 10 recommended twitter feeds to follow for news.

 The Conversation has analysis from academic commentators UK and USA

European Parliament think tank issued a briefing prior to the elections on what was at stake for Europe

Chatham House - comment from a UK perspective.

Harvard University has some earlier surveys of political attitudes and engagement especially of young people covering the mid terms and beyond.

Boston University Journalism new service has discussion and updates.

Mid Term Elections 2014 the role of social media

According to CNN, social media played an important role in helping voters make decisions during the 2014 mid-term

• the Pew Internet project survey found that during the 2014 campaigns, 25% of registered voters used their mobile phones to get political news and 16% used Twitter or Facebook to follow political candidates
• This was a  significant increase over usage in earlier elections.  You can use the  online politics reports on the Pew website to find data on the trends.

see more on LSE Library posting.http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/library/2014/11/05/us-mid-term-elections-and-the-role-of-social-media/

Tunisia elections recommended sources

Elections took place in Tunisia at the end of October. These followed the adoption of a new constitution in  January 2014. Here are our recommended list of resources for finding out more.

The official Tunisian electoral body has results and background information in French about the electoral system and conduct of the elections.

IFES has background on the recent electoral reforms and administration of the elections.

Election monitoring reports are available from The EU
the Carter Center 
African Union
International Republican Institute has reports and pre election dispatches
 and civil society monitoring organisation  mourakiboun
Also accessible (although in arabic) is I watch which is monitoring conduct
From twitter citizen coverage of the elections #TnElec2014
Global Voices Online provides summary of initiatives to engage citizens online.
European Parliamentary research has links to summaries of legislation, candidate websites and analysis form other think tanks and research bodies.

New agency coverage
National Public television interactive map of results.
All africa.com news summaries from African news agencies.
Tunisia Live.
Economist blogs.
Guardian
Washington Post.
UK Foreign Office blog
Open democracy blog..

Brazil presidential elections recomended research resources

After the first round in the Brazilian presidential elections - try our recommended research resources.
A good starting point are the facts on the BBC website.

The Council of the Americas also has good introduction and up to date  blog postings in its 2014 elections guide. There is also the IFES basic guide.

For official information on the electoral system see the  official Electoral tribunal which has a history and details about current regulations in English or Portuguese

For local newspaper/ news service coverage with analysis of the polls and results try Folha de s Paolo
Globo 
Correio Braziliense
Carta Capital blogs and news. 

Foreign analysis
Wilson Center has created a Brazil elections portal which has blogs, news stories and analysis 
Latin American Monitor provides brief free risk analysis for business of election outcomes.
The Conversation- UK academic analysis
Council on Hemispheric Affairs USA
CSIS strategic analysis on expectations for US foreign policy
Further foreign policy analysis by Council on Foreign Relations
Celag analysis pre-election. El Centro Estratégico Latinoamericano de Geopolítica (CELAG)
Latin American Bureau blog commentary.

After the referendum

After the referendum

Unlock Democracy has published a paper by Alan Renwick which is discussing the design of a constitutional convention. They also have an online petition campaign. There is still time to access our earlier blog postings on useful links and academic readings relating to the historic vote. The Conversation is also a good place to find academic discussion on the outcome.


Also published this week- a House of Commons Library briefing summarising the outcome. which has useful data on the turnout and voting percentages.

Scottish Independence referendum try our academic reading list

Here is our list of articles and books.
Suitable for academic research.
Topics covered include economics, foreign policy and social policy and health

Scotland Referendum - no campaign links and blogs.

Here is our round up of key links.

Better Together campaign blog

Conservative friends of the Union.

No Scotland Net blog

Open Unionism

Red Paper collective - according to the website 'The Red Paper Collective is made up of a group of activists: trade unionists, academics, politicians. Our purpose is to provide a Labour Movement alternative to the sterile nationalist v unionist debate around the referendum'

United with Labour campaign.

Scotland referendum - locate key yes campaign blogs

Here is our round up of key links.

Yes Vote

Derek Bateman broadcaster.

Lallands Peat Worrier. Andrew Tickell, DPhil candidate

Scotland goes Pop - James Kelly

Business for scotland has recent articles and twitter.

National Collective Blog - artists

Scottish Asians for Yes.

Scottish Pensioners for Yes. (Facebook)

Sign for Scotland (Sign language users)

Third Sector for Yes (covers NGos, charities)

Trade Unions for Yes.

Wealthy Nation- 'Wealthy Nation has been founded by a group of right of centre, business people, academics, creatives and entrepreneurs who wish to break the tired old politico-economic consensus'

Young Scots for Independence. official youth wing of Scottish National Party.

Generation Yes - Youth and students

Twitter campaigns.

Crofting for yes

Liberal Democrats for Independence

Radical Independence campaign

women for independence.

Yes LBGT 

EU Citizens for an Independent Scotland.

Scottish independence key blogs and news sites.

Newspapers/ news services

BBC
Guardian
Scotsman
Herald (Scotland)
Huffington Post
Independent
Daily Mirror
Daily Record (Scotland)

Newsnet Scotland (taking a pro independence stance)

Shetland News.

STV (scotland)

Wings over Scotland -  Rev. Stuart Campbell, news digest and analysis - registered as Yes vote support.

Blogs 

Scotland's Referendum: Informing the Debate
Edinburgh University Blog.co-ordinated by Dr Nicola McEwen, Director of Public Policy at theAcademy of Government.Academic discussion on a range of issues.

What Scotland Thinks. Academic and media commentator Professor John Curtice, focussing mainly on public opinion research.

Scottish Independence referendum: what do women think?

What do women think? Here are some useful academic research resources.
The Guardian newspaper has recently highlighted the issue of women's votes in the forthcoming Scottish referendum. Read the article and interesting comments.
Here are some other resources focusing specifically on gender.

Scot cent Minding the gap Women’s views of independence in

2014 has some recent public policy research from voters.

The BBC has a documentary from April 2014 which is still available on iplayer and discusses the gender gap in voting.

A major yes campaign site is Women for independence this has some leaflets targetted specifically at women.

Commonweal has a recent paper by Dr Angela O'Hagan which contains proposals on how to achieve equality in a free Scotland. Women of an Independent Mind: The Future of Women's Equality in Scotland (2014)

From a different perspective the Better Together campaign has some pages for women voters.However some of its campaign videos have been termed patronising. See this discussion from the Huffington Post.which refers to #PatronisingBTLady

 Further discussion of this can be found on the Future of the UK and Scotland website. 

Scottish independence vote: what do the polls say?

The poll is due on the 18th September - but how have recent TV debates effected attitudes?

BBC polls tracker is monitoring attitudes and predicts 51% against. consult the explanation of its methodology.

YouGov has conducted a number of polls throughout the campaign they track the no vote falling.

Uk Polling report has been tracking all polls since 2012 so gives a longer term picture. It includes both YouGov, Ipso Mori and ICM. Note it does not seem to include som eof the more recent polls listed on the pollsters websites.

What Scotland Thinks is a great site maintained by ScotCen Social Research. It includes papers and reports from the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey. It also includes recent poll results

Some interesting discussion papers from the Scottish Social attitudes research include Has the Referendum Campaign Made a Difference? by John Curtice
Minding the gap – women’s views of independence in 2014 by Rachel Ormston
Who is still wavering? Turnout and the undecided by Jan Eichhorn and Linday Paterson

Scotland independence referendum - starting points for academic research

Starting point.
Here is the first in our series of special posts.

Basic starting points for academic research.
Scotland's Referendum - site established by the Scottish government to provide public information. Note this supports a yes vote. Key features include: Background documents setting out the path to the referendum
the full text guide Scotland's Future which puts the case for independence
Blog with news updates 
Social media sites - Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr
Pinterest

UK Government guide - note this opposes independence.
Includes the You Decide tool which aims to help voters make decisions.
Has links to full text UK government publications.
Twitter  Facebook  Linkedin


Yes Scotland
Yes Scotland is the all-party and no-party campaign for a Yes vote It is an alliance of the Scottish National Party, Scottish Green Party, Scottish Socialist Party. It includes briefings produced by its members.

National Collective Artists and Creatives for Scottish Independence 

Interesting videos and postings discussing creative events proposing independence. There is also discussion of media coverage.

Radical Independence Grass roots radical socialist campaign.

twitter and Facebook. site includes articles from socialists.

Labour for Independence - Facebook site Twitter

United with Labour Labour Party no campaign with online videos, twitter and news.

 Better Together all party campaign representing no vote. website includes leaflets and online videos. Facebook. twitter

Youtube

Flickr

Turkish presidential elections

Try our recommended resources for finding out the facts
The official Electoral commission website (Turkish) only has facts and background information including results.
The OSCE conducted an assessment of the organisation and conduct of the elections. Reports are being added to their website.

New services with good analytical coverage include:
Turkish sites.
Turkiye
Huriyet Daily
Zaman
Posta (popular press)

BBC
Al-Jazeera
Washington Post

Think tanks
Rand
Brookings 
Council on Foreign Relations
Chatham House
Washington Institute
Rethink Institute
SETA Foundation Turkey

Blogs and newsletters
Turkey Analyst

The Turkey Analyst is a publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Joint Center, designed to bring authoritative analysis and news on the rapidly developing domestic and foreign policy issues in Turkey. It is published bi-weekly, and includes topical analysis, as well as a summary of the Turkish media debate

James in Turkey analysis from Michael Sercan Daventry journalist

Indonesia presidential elections - useful sites

Controversy surrounds the recent Indonesian presidential elections. with allegations of fraud being made by candidates. Here are some recommended academic sources for finding facts.

IFES has background facts on the system and results from previous elections.

The official Electoral commission has details . Although no  English language version is currently available. 

Useful news coverage can be found in the 

Jakarta Post which has an election channel

Washington Post 

Jakarta Globe

The Conversation has discussion from UK academic specialists

Tech Asia has some interesting links to sites and resources using the internet and social media to prevent fraud 

Think tanks with background discussion on the state of democracy in Indonesia

include

the Carter Center which worked in the region until 2004

Asia Foundation

Brookings Institution
Council on Foreign Relations

Libya elections 2014 useful resources

Elections are schedules for 25th June.
The UN security Council released an announcement

For fuller information on the United Nations involvement consult the website of their mission in Libya.
the European Council on Foreign Relations has highlighted 3 things to look out for in its blog. The website also has further discussion papers on what Europe can do in the future
background information on the electoral system can be found on the IFES website.

Libya Herald coverage.

International human rights groups coverage

International Crisis Group.
NDI - has public opinion polls from the region on the transition to democracy
UK Foreign Office human rights and democracy report on Libya.
Democracy Reporting International assessment reports on the state of the constitution and electoral law.
Bertelsmann transformation report on transitions index

International security think tanks coverage

Congressional Research report on Libya transition and US foreign policy
Carnegie Endowment reports
Council on Foreign Relations
Brookings Institution
Rand reports
Memri Middle East research institute

Colombia presidential elections- a vote for peace?

Juan Manuel Santos has won re-election in Colombia in a dramatic presidential contest

The Economist stated that this was a vote for peace.

This was echoed on the Colombia politics website

Here are some more resources to explore.

Coverage of the elections is extensive in the English language Colombia Reports
and the Americas Society blog. Comment on the Justice for Colombia blog

and LAinfo.es blog

 In Spanish look at Bogota newspapers:
El Tiempo newspaper coverage and analysis
El Spectador
Semana

IFES has a general guide to the electoral system and previous results.

The official Colombian election commission has a website in Spanish with results and statements on the conduct and administration of the election

The OAS praised the conduct of the elections. search the website to find out more details about is observation of the elections.

However the inspector general also received reports of electoral irregularities.
Reporte Consolidado: 141 Denuncias Por Posibles Delitos Electorales Recibió La Procuraduría General De La Nación Durante El Día De Hoynspector General’s Office Press Release)

Syria presidential elections - transparent or a whitewash?

This week Bashar al-Assad won re-election as the Syrian president.

The Syrian Arab news Agency praised the transparency of the elections in a number of articles.

but the Organisation For Democracy and Freedom in Syria called it a farce.

and the Washington Post a symbol of Assad's control

other useful sources for news coverage of the elections include:

BBC News.

Huffington Post.

Al-Monitor

and IFES has a background guide to the electoral system and previous results.

Assessments of the state of human rights and democracy in Syria.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic United Nations reports.

Freedom House.

Open democracy net.has some discussion from bloggers prior to the elections

Amnesty International  This is also supporting the Eyes on Syria website which is mapping and monitoring human rights abuses.

Human Rights Watch

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.  has news and reports of violations in the area.

 Washington Institute assessments.

Carnegie  Endowment 

Rand. 

Brookings Institution.

Finally try searching the great ISN website for links to publications and blog postings coverign Syria and international security.

Egyptian presidential elections get the facts

Here are some recommended links for researchers to keep up to date.

IFES has background facts on the presidential elections and the electoral system.
the Ace project also has background electoral information.

the Egyptian government state information service has official news.
There is also a special Presidential Elections Committee which has details of the procedures and candidates.

EU observers have been monitoring the conduct of the election. Their website provides free access to press releases and reports.

Newspaper coverage.
Al-Alhram has a background guide to the election plus English language news stories.
Al-Monitor reports.
Al Jazeera
New York Times
BBC world service twitter

Other good analysis from think tanks and human rights organisations include:
Council for Foreign relations blog.
Pew Research Centre analysis of attitudes amongst Egyptians.
Amnesty International
Atlantic Council blogs.
Carnegie Endowment.

EU elections will they be good for women?

According to the Guardian newspaper the first Feminist Party MEP is likely to win a seat in the European Parliament this week.
The European Parliament website has official data on the distribution of male and female MEPs since 1979
it also breaks this down by country. in 2009 a Eurobarometer survey on women and Parliamentary elections
examined women‟s attitudes and behaviour towards elections in general and their opinions
about the European elections and activities of the European Parliament in particular.found that half of European women would like 50% or more of the European Parliament members
to be women
The Centre for Women and Democracy has a briefing on women in the 2014 elections which predicts gains.
Its website also has a blog and other factsheets on the political representation of women.
The findings are echoed by the Hansard Society.

the European Women’s Lobby, the largest umbrella organisation of women’s associations in the EU has set up an online manifesto for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to pledge to act for gender equality. Its website also has a gender audit of the manifestos of the main parties.see historic materials relating to earlier elections on their 50/50

EU elections recommended news sources.

Follow the European parliament elections in these recommended news sources.
These services aggregate news from different sources.


Eurotopics: How will Europe Vote?

eurotopics is a service provided by the Federal Agency for Civic Education. They sift through more than 300 newspapers, magazines and blogs in 30 countries (the EU plus Switzerland and Turkey),provided translated introductions and links to the original sources.

VoxEurop

Alos translates news from Europe's main newspapers.

EU Feeds- list of News feeds from hundreds of European newspapers

Special Coverage from Newspaper and news services.


European Voice - Economist Group.

BBC Politics Guide.
This includes links to party election broadcasts.

Guardian has a fun quiz who should you vote for in the elections? an interactive guide to battles in specific countries.

Le Monde

Die Welt

Irish Times

La Stampa

Telegraph

Independent


Blogs

OpenDemocracy - blog postings.

The Conversation - comment and analysis form UK academics.

EUROPP - LSE European Politics and Policy Blog - has basic user guides to the election and discussion.

European Elections starting points

This week see our recommendations for finding information on the European Elections. Here are some basic starting points.

Voter education guides on the European Elections.

In 2013 the European Commission declared an aim of increasing voter turnout.
In an effort to make voting more interesting the EP has sponsored a number of tools to help voters. In addition to the traditional 2014 elections website which has news and guides on voting. They have create a Box your EP app for tablets and the hashtag EP#2014 and a special website called Happy Vote which is based on the pop song. They have also had a  presidential debate format

Votewatch has created a My Vote 2014 site for young voters which has a game that will help pick a party with similar views.

EUvox is another voter application sponsored by the Open Society Institute. Voters are encouraged to select the party that meets their preferences.

Euandi from the European University Insitute is another site which covers Europe Wide.

EuroVote+ is a research project which provides information to voters about different electoral systems. It asks people to consider if they would vote isf the system was different.

Electio2014 from Votewatch Europe has vote matching, interestingly this is based not just on policies but European Parliament activities. Other features of the site are a poll watching feature.

 Academic dossiers on the European Elections.

European Parliamentary Information service has some interesting blog postings.
European Sources online has a guide to the role and legal operation of the parliament.
Robert Schuman Centre has a really good page with a basic guide, quizzes and interactive maps of candidates.
European Policy Centre is aggregating polls in the run up to the elections.
Europe Decides is website created by Burson-Marsteller Brussels it includes a pollwatch feature from Votewatch and also extensive coverage of the use of social media in the elections.

South Africa Elections: see our recommended resources.

The 2014 South African general election was held on 7 May 2014 . Here are some sites which will help you find academic resources and discussion.

The IFES election guide is a good basic introduction to the electoral system. Plus summaries of earlier results.

More detailed electoral regulations, lists of candidates and breakdowns of results can be obtained from the official South African Election Commission website.

Google has created a special election hub. Which has links to the latest news stories, youtube video channels, links to political manifesto and parties.

African Studies Centre at Leiden has an excellent website with special dossiers, manifestos and more.


Election Observers.

These organisations have been monitoring the conduct of the elections. Try their websites in forthcoming days for press releases and reports.
SADC
African Union

Newspaper Coverage.

Mail and the Guardian special report.
All Africa.Com has free headlines and many full stories from the continent.

Business daily news.
BBC World Service

Economist Blogs.

Africa report from Jeune Afrique has some news coverage.

Public Opinion

IPSOS South Africa has some recent polls of voters

Earlier public surveys on government and the state of democracy in South Africa can be downloaded from the Afrobarometer website.These cover the period 2000-2011.

The Reconciliation Barometer is a national public poll from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.It tracks reconciliation in a number of areas such as human security. social relations and politics. Full text reports can be downloaded from the website.

South African Election studies has coverage of earlier elections You can download code books and find articles on voters attitudes from 1999 onwards.

Background on human rights.

Amnesty International reports on South Africa

Africa Media Barometer has assessments on the state of the Media in South Africa.
Human Rights watch South Africa
Transparency International reports on Corruption ion South Africa
Freedom House has reports on civil liberties it also includes up to date election comment.


Academic and think tank analysis of 2014.

Useful starting points

The Conversation has discussion and comment from academics.
Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa has a series of election updates discussing events.
LSE Africa blog has discussion of African political issues. Although no specific coverage of the elections yet.

ISS Institute for Security Studies South Africa has recent reports and assessments of the media and political violence

Africa Watch from IDA has some background analysis of political conditions in Southern Africa,

Finally see LSE Library Africa Guide for links to websites and subscription databases

Women and the Indian elections

there has been various discussion of the role of women in the Indian elections.

India Ink blog from the New York Times states that most parties ignore women voters.

In the past women voters had a lower turnout. Statistics on this can be obtained from the Indian Election commission which compare rates over time by gender.
in 2007 Women Politicians, Gender Bias, and Policy-making in Rural India (published as a UNICEF state of the World's Children background paper)   found significant under representation. which was
in 2012 research  from Warwick University and the IMF found that Using state-level variation in the timing of political reforms an increase in female representation in local government induced a large and 
significant rise in documented crimes against women in India

However in an extract from a book. new book, 'An Undocumented Wonder: The Great Indian Election', former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi describes how the Indian Election Commission has been targetting women.

In 2014. 70 independent civil-society activists have launched the Womanifesto 2014 to get the major parties to address issues relating to women's rights.

A pdf version with list of signatories can be viewed on the AVAAZ website.

For further details of women's rights and political participation in India try these websites.

Council on Foreign Relations analysis from 2013.
Search the Iknow politics site for references. Such as this study on the challenges women in India face.
IPU has data on womens's political participation worldwide so you can cross compare with other nations.

UN Women in India has details on projects designed to increase women's political leadership. In 2013 Norad reviewed the effectiveness of some of these and suggested plans for future development.

Indian elections : useful think tank websites for academic research

The following all have background analysis of the Indian election system. You can download full text papers, report and comment for free!

Amnesty International - India
background information on human rights.

Asia House (UK) comment and events relating to the elections.

Asian Human Rights Commission

Brookings Institute

Carnegie Endowment has a special project India decides which has background guides and indepth coverage.

Council on Foreign Relations - US think tank considers impact on US and other regional foreign policies.

Human Rights Watch 

India @LSE blog has discussion of the elections. 

Kings College London has an online discussion of the count down to the elections.

Indian elections - our recommended social media sites

What is the role of Social media in the 2014 Indian elections.
According to Forbes India the 'impact is limited but liked'.
according to the FT Beyond Brics it is the first digital election. The other  FT blogs have been discussing examples these include digital tea parties.
BBC Trending from the World Service recently had a discussion of the use of social media
IRIS Knowledge Foundation, Mumbai India  published a recent report on Social Media and Lok Sabha Elections which regarded it as important fre registration required to download the report.

Key examples of the use of social media in the campaigns.

Major social media have set up specialist pages for the Indian elections.
See the Google Indian elections portal. this includes maps, links to key sites  a score map of popular searches.and a hang out section which is promoting an on line community who can ask questions and discuss election issues.
Global Voices online has a background guide to the elections plus comment from bloggers.
You Tube elections hub has online videos of debates.
Social Samosa launched the MTS Election Tracker, a live dashboard that showcases analysis of conversations around the web and social media about political parties in graphic form. The tracker provides real-time data analysis of data from throughout the web and from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as well as tracks mentions of leading political parties and politicians.

The Guardian newspaper has been getting readers to nominate favourite Indian election blogs and websites.which are providing alternative voices during the elections. These can all be read online.
 Voter and activist sites
The TCS iElect app a collaboration between Twitter and Tata Consulting services
An official App from the Electoral commission.

Vebbler’s ‘the Ungli campaign’

Google's Pledge to vote campaign.

I vote for a Better India.

Indian elections - keep up to date with our recomended research resources.

As India starts its elections.
Here is the first of our postings linking to useful sites for academic researchers.

Get started with this quick two minute guide from the BBC.
The Guardian website also has this quick Interactive guide.

Indian Government official information.
can be found in detail on the Electoral Commission website.
This includes a useful series of electoral maps marking out constituencies, regulations and press releases


New services covering the election.
All these websites have news headlines, poll, and analysis.

India
CNN-IBN 
Economic Times of India
Economic and Political weekly
Express
India Today
Times of India
ND TV

Foreign Press
BBC
Al-Jazeera
Economist
Reuters India coverage
FT 
Guardian
Le Monde
New York Times has a special India ink blog.
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post

Afghanistan elections April 2014: will they be fair?

Presidential  elections are due to take place in Afghanistan on April 5th

Good starting points for background to the elections are
IFES guide
Guardian has a basic guide and news coverage of events
Aljazeera recently published an article on myths about the elections.
The BBC website has a guide to why the election matters in 60 seconds as well as general news
Tolo news - has news from within Afghanistan.
Independent  Election Commission of Afghanistan has information on the electoral system, previous elections

Election observers.
use these sites to get analysis of the state of democracy and conduct of the elections.
EU observers
United Nations Assistance mission.


Analysis
Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) is an independent non-profit policy research includes useful postings and analysis of eventsDemocracy International has polls of voters and analysis of knowledge
IKNOW - covers women in the elections.
CRS congressional research services briefing Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance November 22, 2013
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has reports on women in democracy
United States Institute of Peace briefing.
Council on Foreign relations.
Brookings Institution.
Rand - analysis of security



Human Rights.
Controversy surrounding polls issued has been highlighted by Reuters.
Human Rights Watch has reported concerns
Amnesty International has published a document which sets out what should be done.
International Media support has documented pressures on the media.

.

France local elections gains for far right- recommended research resources

As the far Right Front National make gains in French local elections here are some recommended resources on the far right in France at the recent election results.

The main FN party website has news interviews and manifestos from the party. But for more detailed local election news they created a special municipales website 
Marine Le Pen has a twitter account where she sent messages of congratulation.

Newspaper and news service coverage.
Look at the following for news, analysis and polls
Le Monde
Le Figaro has a detailed website with a map of results . It also has information on parties, candidates and many online videos.
Le Parisien
Nouvel Observateur.
L'Express
Humanite

Academic discussion
Sciences Po televised forum on the municipales.
Cevipol analysis
The International Migration Institute has a paper on the impact of immigration on extreme right voting in France
MeLextra  This blog, the third journalism translation project by students of the MéLexTra JET master’s degree in English-French translation at Lille 3 University it translating stories about the rise of the far right from the French media.
Chatham House think tank has some analysis and discussion of far right politics in Europe,
The Conversation has academic discussion on whether youth in Europe are swinging to the right.

North Korea- an election where the winner gets 100% of the votes

In the recent North Korean elections all the  seats are won by the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland.

The Economist magazine provides a good explanation of how the electoral system operated
Background reports and results can be found on the website of the IPU Parline database.
and the IFES  election guide. 
For background information on the state of democracy and human right sin the region some recommended starting points are
Freedom House rankings

US Department of State annual  human rights reports

Network for North Korean Democracy and human rights. has news and reports.

The International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK), an alliance of over 40 human rights groups from around the world its website has reports on international action plus links to full text reports.

Switzerland - referendum on immigration see our quick links

This week Switzerland has been voting in a series of referendums. One of which covers proposals relating to immigration.

Here are some receommended starting points for some quick academic research.

The IFES website has a brief guide in English to what the referendum was about.

Detailed materials, legislation and statements from the Swiss Government can be found on the official website.

why are the Swiss worried about immigration? See the Swiss Federal office for Migration which has official policies and data

The Office fédéral de la statistique also has a useful page with statistics on numbers of immigrants where you can trace trends. Interestingly Martin Grand Jean has mapped the results of the referendum at a local level with statistics the local population. so you can see if votes for quotas coincided with areas of high immigrant population.

For further news coverage, discussion and comment.

Try Swiss Info (English)
24 heures.ch (French) has a special dossier with photographs, images of Swiss front pages and graphs showing results

Le Temps has coverage of immigration issues in Switzerland (in France) and their relationship to the vote.

Popular newspaper le Matin - has a 6 point guide in French to the impact of the vote on immigration.

Thailand elections - who are the protestors?

Elections in Thailand have been marred by violence.

Asian Correspondent had a blog on its website called SIAM Voices which recorded events live.
our previous posting has some suggestions on academic sites where you can keep up to date with news and think tank coverage


For further information on one of the main organisers of the protests -
Suthep Thaugsuban see these suggestions.
 There is an official facebook site and the website Reform Thailand (thai language)
 but for those seeking saomething more basic.

Radio Australia had a basic introduction which asked who is Suthep Thaugsuban
which was aided in December 2013. It is introduced by Dr Nicholas Farrelly, Research Fellow at the Australian National University and there is a transcript on the website.

The Washington Post has a collection of articles about him and the unfolding Thailand protests.
As does the Bangkok Post.
and the Nation.

Costa Rica elections - free academic resources which we recommend

On the 2nd Feb 2014 elections will be taking place in Costa Rica.
here are some resources we recommend for researchers.

IFES Election guide has basic data on the electoral system and voter turnout from previous elections.
The Political Database of the Americas also has basic electoral system and elections data from previous elections.
Vanderbilt University LAPOP has previous surveys of voter opinion  and attitudes to democracy in Costa Rica.
the Electoral Tribunal has official information from the government in Spanish. See documents.

Newspaper coverage
Try La Nacion which has a special section.
La Republica.net
Ojo al voto launched by the University of Costa Rica (the weekly newspaper Semanario Universidad, Canal UCR - Channel UCR - and three radio broadcasters) and the University’s research centers, to create an election news platform


For coverage from political commentators see.
Global voices has discussion of new online platforms for young voters as well as comment from bloggers in the region.
The Americas Society/ Council of the Americas blog is covering events.

Election analysis is being undertaken by the OAS there are some recent press releases on the  website.

Panoramas from University of Pittsburgh also has some analysis.

Earlier discussion from Americas Quarterly.

Thailand elections and violence - recommended research resources.

Despite protests elections are going ahead in Thailand.

Here are our recommended links for students.

The BBC has an introductory guide to the protests

IFES has basic information on the electoral system

The Office of the Electoral Commission has official statements and laws in Thai

The Thai government website has official statements in English about the protests

For newspaper coverage try

the Economist
Asian Correspondent.
Prachatai independent site has reports and interviews.
Bangkok Post

For Think tank and academic analysis try
Council on Foreign Relations blog
Thai politics@Leeds from Leeds university. This has an image archive and the thai politics bibliography

The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) is an independent research and media organization based in Montreal. has some useful articles

Human rights groups coverage can be found on the website of the Asian Human Rights Commission

Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International
International Crisis Group


The National Library of Australia has archived websites relating to human rights and protests from the mid 2000-2011