German elections - see our recommended sites.

 German citizens went to the polls at the weekend
here are some recommended links for keeping up to date
The BBC has a good introductory guide for beginners to German elections, candidates and the electoral system.
The American Institute for Contemporary German Studies has some basic introduction and discussion.

Official results can be obtained from the Federal returning office
The site also has  legislation and laws relating to the elections.


News services.
German
Yahoo Germany has up to date news stories and analysis
Tagesschau - news service produced on behalf of on behalf of the German public-service television network ARD.
BR news. Bayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting]
Speigel Coverage 
Die Welt coverage

Overseas
Financial Times 
The Economist blog encourages you to build your own coalition.
Guardian
Wall Street journal has an interactive stream with updates.


Analysis
Robert Schuman European Elections Monitor
LSE EUROPP blog
German Federal Agency for Civic Education - the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung has a good site with information and news.  It includes a wahl o mat - an example of an interactive tool designed to inform the electorate who to decide who to vote for
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen e.V. wahl analysis
Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Baden-Württemberg

Polls
ZDF politbarometer polls
ARD polls

Further links
Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Politische Bildung has developed an information website which also hasa great set of links to explore.

Australia elections how is social media being used?

How is twitter being used in the Australian elections? a good starting point is the University of Melbourne website which has a tour of the twitter sphere

The Canberra Times also has a social media ratings section where it compares followers for Abbott and Rudd on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

The Yahoo and News 7 site is also mapping facebook mentions
Brand watch has an interesting report on social media and elections in Australia
Also informative is this recent report.

Social Media in the Media: How Australian Media Perceive Social Media as Political Tools

.Brisbane:ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation 

 The Australian Electoral Commission also has some research on social media and political participation. see this example.

Find further examples by following the links on Australian Policy online which is good at reporting recent research from Australian universities and major research centres.

 

 

Australian elections follow the polls

These recommended sources are useful for getting up to date polls
Many newspapers and news services have good poll sections. examples of note include:
ABC Opinion polls
Australian polling center- from the Australian newspaper

Polling businesses include:

Newspoll
Galaxy research
Roy Morgan research
Essential research

Australian elections 2013- meet the candidates using our recommended resources!

The Australian Electoral Commission has a list of registered political parties.
Australian Labor party campaign 2013 - Kevin Rudd twitter

Liberal party Tony Abbott twitter
National Party
Green party

Election leaflets - see examples on a society maintained by the Open Australia foundation.
Campaign Ads ( via University of Melbourne website)

Coming soon Australia elections - try these recommended starting points

Elections are due to take place in Australia very soon.
here are our starting points for keeping up to date!

Government websites.

The Australian Electoral Commission has a detailed website for the 2013 elections.
it includes lists of candidates
timetables, factsheets, legislation and more.
The Electoral Council of Australia explains the electoral system clearly. It also has research on the effectiveness and operation.

Newspapers.
these services include polls, news stories, interviews and discussion from the campaigns.

Australia
The Australian
Canberra Times
ABC News
Global Mail - has a powerhouse section which has analysis of data and some interactive games.
Australian Times
Sydney Morning Herald
Yahoo and 7 news coverage
YouTube: Australia votes channel - note includes satire and manifesto campaigns

Overseas
Guardian
Huffington Post

Academic commentary.
The Conversation independent news service which includes comment from academic sources. based in Australia.
Australian Policy and History Network commentary linking historical events with current circumstances
Election watch 2013 - University of Melbourne
Includes campaign ads, cartoons and satire

Madagascar elections 2013- what is going on?

madasgscar should have been holding elections this week. but concerns have been raised.
All.Africa.com reported concerns about candidates being barred.

Background on the electoral structure can be found on the IFES website
Also on the EISA South Africa which has past election results. Another quick reference source for election results from the past is the African elections database
The official Interior ministry has texts in french relating to electoral laws and regulations.
CENI - the Electoral Commission  also has extensive section on its website relating to electoral law

for discussions of the current political problems see coverage from bloggers.
on Global voices online

In January 2013 Chatham House said it was time for the nation to make a fresh start. read their analysis.
Also in January 2013 the Economist commented that the old guard would not give up.
Newspaper coverage can be found in
Le Monde which referred to the elections as being under threat.
All.Africa.com - which is good at aggregating news stories from Africa.
Another good source for elections observation and assessment of the state of democracy is Pacte. This project is supported by the EU to encourage credible elections. It includes information on its work.
The African Union also has some press releases relating to its observations, work on elections
Finally background information on the state of democracy in the region can be found on good geenral sites covering human rights:
try the Africa media barometer- which monitors press freedom
Afrobarometer public attitude surveys.
Freedom House - country report
Ibrahim Index of African governance - see how Madagascar ranks in relation to freedom in other African nations.
Amnesty International

Mali elections - recommended websites

Presidential elections have been taking place in Mali.
The IFES guide has basic facts on the electoral system and previous elections
The Mali government have a website in French which has details about the elections and some results from the first round of voting.
For news services covering the elections try:
The Guardian newspaper coverage.
Al-Jazeera had an infographic on the first round at the end of July. It also has timelines and other articles.
All- Africa.com - aggregating news stories from Africa has a selection of recent news stories.
Journal du Mali (French language news)
Maliweb.net  (French language news)

For reports from election observers on the conduct of the elections try:
EU Election Observation mission.
ECOWAS observations of the first round
Mali actualities has information and reports in French from local grassroots observer groups such as APEM 
also the excellent Mali Vote website-created by Oneworld  to support the work of the NGO Network for the Electoral Process in Mali (APEM in French) It has observation reports, statistical data on turnout and maps recording the conduct.

Background information and reports on democratization and conduct compiled by NDI
There are also polls of citizens - which cover issues such as perceptions of corruption and the state of democracy on the Afrobarometer website