The recent presidential and parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone on 11 August 2007 where the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), under the auspices of the African Union (AU) and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) send some observers, were an eye opener and a living testimony of how other African countries have evolved democratically. Most importantly, the Sierra Leone elections exhibited the gateway to electoral credibility in a country whose previous elections were littered with irregularities. This was Sierra Leone’s first post conflict election managed by a local electoral management body after the 2002 which was managed by the United Nations….. : more

Fundamental to understanding the repression, exclusion and general oppression of women is the need to understand how systems the world over, political, social and economic, have contributed to the subjugation of women. And any form of movement, feminist or otherwise, that seeks to fully subvert the subservient position that women find themselves in, has to initially deal with the idea of grounding understanding of this oppression in theory and practice. It is in light of this that electoral systems have to be choreographed in a manner that ensures women get fair representation….. : more

AN ANALYSIS BY THE ZIMBABWE ELECTION SUPPORT NETWORK…. : more

Taking cognisant of the current political developments and the need for further electoral reforms in Zimbabwe, participants of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network’s National Workshop on Electoral Conflict Management and Electoral Reform resolved as follows:…. : more

Sound management is critical to the success of any election process hence increasing calls across the world for constitutionally established and professionally run bodies called Election Management Bodies [EMBs]…………. : more

Voting is every citizen’s right. No eligible national citizen should be deprived of registration or the right to vote as a result of being homeless, ill, out of the country, in prison……….. : more

The system of representation is the method of transferring votes into seats in a parliament or an assembly. There are a number of alternative systems being used…. : more

Systems of Governance are sets of political institutions by which governments are organized in order to exert power over body politics. ……………. : more

Post election conflicts currently bedeviling Zimbabwe have generated fundamental questions about the extent to which winner-take-all Fast Past the Post electoral frameworks are still relevant in Zimbabwe……………….. : more

Summary of strengths and weaknesses of electoral systems…. : more