Tunisian elections: an Arab Spring victory?

This week Tunisians went to the polls in what was regarded by some as the first election of the Arab Spring
The BBC has a good FAQ on the importance of the elections.
Other sources of news include
The Official Tunisian News Agency (TAP) which has government press releases in English.
Tunisia.live.net - is a really good 'post revolution website' set up by Tunisians. It has blogs, podcasts and video and image content.
CNN coverage
Other sources of background information on Tunisia include:
Amnesty International
Frontline Defenders also has reports from human rights agencies/ grassroots groups working in the region.
Carnegie Endowment - website has an Arab Reform bulletin which contains a range of articles on political reform in the Arab World. These include some covering Tunisia.
Also interesting is the Arab Reform Initiative which has been set up by a network of independent research and policy institutes. There are some recent articles and opinion pieces on Tunisia
However for the latest comment try the Global voices online project which has blogs.
finally the EU sent an observation mission to cover the elections. their findings can now be found on their website

Oman elections - did they answer activist demands?

Recently Oman went to the polls. A number of newspapers asked the question of whether the elections would settle protestors demands.
Times of Oman reported a poll turnout success.
Al- Jazeera also referred to high turnout. as did the Oman Observer
The Government Ministry of information also hailed the success.
However in the past Freedom House has been critical of the state of democracy in Oman. Likewise
Human Rights Watch
Gulf Analyst JE Peterson has a number of articles on the political situation in Oamn which can be downloaded free from his website.
The Gulf Research center think tank also has analysis and news.
Arab Human Rights Index also has materials.
Finally try looking at Human Security Gateway which links to a collection of recent academic papers on politics and human rights from think tanks

Cameroon Presidential elections were they fair?

Cameroon presidential elections took place on the 9th October.
the IFES website is a good starting point for data on the electoral system.
According to AfricaNews the official electoral body has suffered a blow to its credibility.
Allafrica.com reported that the opposition called the vote a 'mess'
Brookings Institution has also voiced doubts
Cameroon Center for Democracy and Human Rights - also has materials on its website discussing the state of democracy in the region.
The Commonwealth - had observers at the election. So they are likely to submit their reports soon. Though at present information is limited to a press release only.
Transparency International Cameroon also has information in French about elections and the state of democracy in the region.

Poland goes to the polls

This week Polish voters will go to the polls
The Polish central Electoral committee has an official website with information
OSCE will be monitoring the conduct of the election.. Their website also has full text reports on earlier parliamentary and presidential elections.
Good news sources for following the polls and stories include:
Polish radio news has good summaries in English. It includes a simple guide to the elections
Get more English language news from the Warsaw Voice.
polish sources.

Rzeczpospolita
Interia.pl
Gazeta Wyborcza
Newsweek Polityka
Wprost
Dziennik
Polska - the Times TVN


the main political parties are
Prawo i Sprawiedliwość
Polska Jest Najważniejsza
Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej
Ruch Palikota
Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe
Polska Partia Pracy - Sierpień 80
Platforma Obywatelska Nasz Dom Polska-Samoobrona Andrzeja Leppera
Komitet Wyborczy Nowa Prawica - Janusza Korwin-Mikke
Prawica Rzeczypospolitej

Saudi Arabia women win right to vote

This week it was announced that in Saudi Arabia women will soon be able to vote.

The bbc discusses some reaction from Egyptian citizens via social media sites
Global voices is a good place for finding up to date comment (In English)
Al Arabiya also has well regarded news in English for instance see this article
You can find further articles from its journalists on the Arab Insight site. Arab Insight is a project of the World Security Institute, a non-profit organization committed to independent research and journalism on global affairs.

For example this article Stuck at a Red Light
ASMAA AL-MOHAMEDJournalist and Women’s Rights Activist; Online Editor for Al Arabiya; Saudi Arabia

Other organisations who regularly comment on womens political and civil rights in the region include:
Centre for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabi
Amnesty International and Human Rights watch
General databases on womens political participation worldwide include:
Women In politics Bibliography - search for references to articles. Maintained by the IPU
They also maintain statistics on women in Parliaments Worldwide. Compare data by country

Singapore presidential elections

Tony Tan narrowly won the singapore elections a few days ago
see the official announcement of the count on the official elections website
The Straits Times also has news coverage of the count, plus interviews and analysis. It alos has discussion of the use of facebook by candidatesfor discussion of the state of democracy in the region try these useful websites
Amnesty International
see how it rates on Transparency International's global corruption barometer
IFES has recent news which focuses specifically on elections
for election monitoring reports see
Maruah who worked on behalf of ASEAN. and monitored mainstream media coverage of the campaigns.

Where can I find election data? part 2 the UK

Electoral Commission
Independent body established by the UK Parliament. Website provides access to local, national, devolved assembly and European Parliament elections since 2005. Also available is data on political spending and analysis of the election campaigns.

House of Commons Library Research Papers
Produced by staff of the House of Commons Library to brief MPs, these regularly cover by-elections, general elections and devolved assembly elections, offering facts and figures on seats, votes cast and party representation.

Elections Centre at the University of Plymouth
Collates and analyses electoral data with a particular emphasis on local elections. Some results online. Also Produces the Local Elections Handbook, published annually since the 1980s, which is a comprehensive source of voting and electoral statistics for every local authority in Great Britain.

Several good printed series held by major research libraries and traceable via COPAC are
Times Guide to the House of Commons
Long established series, written by Times political journalists. Copies cover most general elections since 1885, offering election results, analysis, manifestos since 1950 and biographies of candidates.
Britain Votes
Series of volumes containing full election results; plus scholarly essays analysing key themes. Volume 1 edited by FWS Craig and published by Parliamentary Research Services in 1977 covered the general elections of 1974; subsequent volumes (compiled by different editors) covered the succeeding elections

British Election Study
Long established study of the attitudes and behaviour of the electorate. Covers general elections from 1963 onwards. Information, research papers and some quantitative data can be downloaded from the website. Earlier sets can be obtained via the ESDS data service