Egypt Constitutional Referendum - get some academic resources free

Egyptians have been voting in a referendum to change the constitution. Here are some recommended sites for geting the facts.

IFES has some basic details about the system and previous Egyptian referendums.

the Egyptian government website has recent notices and reports.

Some good basic guides to the content of the new constitution can be found in

Atlantic Council website which has an excellent section called Egypt Source which has news and analysis on the politics of the region.

al Ahrams guide.

For more detailed analysis cross comparing with earlier constitutions see the Comparative Constitutions Project. which looks at 1971, 2012 and 2013.

The EU has some observations from its observer mision

Background information plus news coverage can be read on the websites of these leading think tanks
Washington Institute.

Council on Foreign Relations.

Carnegie Endowment.

Rand.

Brookings Institution.

Useful blogs covering events are
Egyptian streets blog.
OpenDemocracy

aswatmasriya.com has a useful collection of news stories plus links to postings from the region.

Bangladesh elections - were they marred by violence?

According to the BBC the elections in Bangladesh this week have been marred by violence.
The Bangladesh Election Commission should have the official version (site currently does not seem to be working )
Here are some other recommended resources for considering the state of democracy in the region.

Newspaper reports of the elections.
Washington Post
Guardian

local and Bengali media include:
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, thestate-operated news agency
United News of Bangladesh, a private news agency in service since 1988
Bangladesh Daily Star.
also useful are blogs via Global voices online as they feature local input.

Human rights reports.
Concerns about the state of human rights in Bangladesh have been expressed by

Amnesty International 

Human Rights Watch. 

International Crisis Group.

Election observation mission statement of concern.

Asian Human Rights Commission has some press releases relating to the conduct of elections
Bangladesh Human Rights Commission website in Bengali

National Human Rights Commission Bangladesh has general assessments of the state of democracy and human rights in the region.

Appraisals by think tanks ahead of the elections included:
South Asia Analysis Group.
Asia Foundation.

Eurasia review.

 

 

Mali elections - keep up to date

Elections took place in Mali recently.

The UN reported on turnout.

APO African Press organisation has some reports of results.

IFES has data which compares with other lections plus background information on the electoral system.

for information on the conduct of the elections and the state of democracy see NDI which also has good links to other news reports.

The EU official election observation mission

ECOWAS

African Union resources on Mali

EISA South Africa assessment of recent elections and links to results.

see also some earlier recomendations from this blog

Croatia - same sex marriage poll - does it display the rotten heart of a nation?

This week Croatians took part in a national referendum to debate whether same sex marriage should be banned under the constitution.

the Guardian comment is free described the results as exposing the rotten heart of Europe

See the question and results on the IFES website which also has other electoral materials from the region

The official website of the electoral authority has a full map of the results and a breakdown.

Here are some more resources. Materials are mostly in Croatian so apologies if they are not exact as I have had to rely on others.
Croatian Bishops Conference supported the referendum
Most media did not

Jutarnji list, one of the country's largest newspapers, announced it would openly endorse the campaign against the amendment.

Tabloid newspaper coverage printed a swastika.to summarise their thoughts.

On the day of the referendum the initiative decided to forbid access to their headquarters to the journalists belonging to a group of selected media whom the initative accused of bias, unprofessionalism and plagiarism. Among these were the Croatian Radiotelevision, the public broadcasting company, the most visited Croatian Internet portals Index.hr, Net.hr and T-portal, as well as all of the publications by Europapress Holding and Novi list. the Croatian Journalists' Association invited all of the media to boycott the coverage of initiative on the referendum day, .

 

 

Honduras elections - what was the outcome were they fair?

General elections were held in Honduras on November 24, 2013. Voters went to the polls to elect a new President of Honduras to serve a four-year term starting January 27, 2014; 128 members to serve four-year terms in the National Congress; 298 Mayors and vice-mayors
The official results have been posted on the
Tribunal Supremo Electoral Honduras. There are links to 2013 data on the left.
Basic facts about the electoral system and past elections are on the IFES website.

However some human rights organisations have raised concerns about the state of human rights in the region.


Amnesty International comment.
Human Rights Watch
OAS - has some coverage of earlier human rights issues.
The Center for Constitutional Rights has also issued some statements about the conduct of the elections.
The Carter Center has been observing the elections and has issued a statement.
US State Department report on human rights in Honduras 2012
National Popular Resistance Front or National People's Resistance Front (Spanish: Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular, FNRP ( a wide coalition of Honduran grassroots organisations and political parties and movements that aims to restore elected President Manuel Zelaya ) also has articles about human rights concerns on the website.
Past reports and election censuses can also be downloaded from the NDI site which has worked on projects on the region.


Newspaper coverage of the elections - including stories, analysis and polls can be viewed onlineon these websites.

Economist Americas Blog.
New York Times
La Prensa (Honduras) Spanish.
El Heraldo- Honduras.
La Tribuna Honduras

Chile presidential elections - try these recommended websites.

on the 17th Chilean presidential elections took place.
Find out more about the results and the second round of voting using these resources.

IFES has a good basic guide to the electoral system.
Another good basic guide is the Council of the Americas briefing.
The Chilean government has official information on timing for voters. (Spanish)
It also has a historic election results server which covers the period from 1989-2012.
Plus more detailed information on the 2013 process on its current website.

News/ blogs coverage
The Washington Post blog monkey cage has comment.
It includes analysis from LSE PHD candidate Kenneth Bunker. More can be viewed on his twitter account.
Economist coverage
Guardian coverage

Chilean newspaper coverage.

Nacio - state owned newspaper.
El Mercurio
La Segunda
Tercera

Ciudadano online newspaper.

Radio UChile coverage.

Tajikistan presidential elections find out more

Here are our recommended resources for information.

IFES election guide has facts and figures on turn out in recent elections and the electoral system.
For recent news accounts of the conduct of the campaigns see
National news agency of Tajikistan
EIN News - reported that the elections lacked genuine debate
Radio Free liberty (note this organisation has connections with the USA)
Euraasia net
Global Voices online has stories from bloggers

Concerns have been raised by human rights organisations.
In its 2013 report Freedom House found the state of freedom of the press to be unfree- The full report can be consulted on its website.
Human Rights watch reports.
Amnesty International
International Crisis group

ETajikistan has links to reports from human rights organisations.
National Movement of Tajikstan is a human rights organisation which is campaigning for fair and free elections in 2013.
The OSCE is monitoring the election on the 6th and has preliminary reports on its website