Vol 51 No 8 | ETHIOPIA Looking for a landslide 16th April 2010 The ruling party is set to win next month’s elections amid growing criticism at home and abroad The government is determined to win by a landslide in the 23 May elections, to make up for the question marks over those of 2005 (AC Vol 46...
Vol 51 No 8 | KENYAGERMANY German exile 16th April 2010 News that Oku Kaunya, a former deputy Commandant in the Administration Police, has gone into exile in Germany will concentrate the minds of the investigators from the International...
Vol 51 No 7 | KENYA A blow against impunity 2nd April 2010 The International Criminal Court is to probe election violence and may put some leading politicians and business people on trial for crimes against humanity The 31 March decision by the judges of the International Criminal Court to approve an investigation into the 2007 election violence follows two years of obfuscation and ambivalence...
Vol 51 No 7 | KENYA A dangerous compromise 2nd April 2010 The politicians' failure to agree on serious reform of the government risks a repeat of the 2007 election crisis The 20-year quest for a new constitution looks set to end in a dangerous compromise. At the end of March, when Parliament debated the Harmonised Draft Constitution, it...
Vol 51 No 7 | SUDANANALYSIS As elections arrive, the opposition shuns Omer 2nd April 2010 Sudan is set to become the first country to elect an indicted war criminal as president. Yet the elections are deemed so unlikely to be free and fair that, as AC went to press, the focus was on the extent and effects of the opposition boycott. Oppositionists argued there was little to be gained by participating and lending credence to the elections as the regime had rigged a victory with a manipulated census and elector registration, gerrymandered constituency boundaries and used state funds to buy loyalty. In the face of blatant preparations for election rigging, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement decided on 31 March to boycott the national presidential election and all elections in...
Vol 51 No 7 | SUDAN The most complex elections 2nd April 2010 The combination of one of the most elaborate and time-consuming electoral systems and mass illiteracy across most of the country virtually guarantees chaos in Sudan's elections on 11-13...
Vol 51 No 7 | SUDAN The many ways to win the elections 2nd April 2010 Independent analysts identify Khartoum's efforts to rig the polls and logistical difficulties (which the regime can exploit).
Vol 51 No 7 | BURUNDI A united opposition protest 2nd April 2010 The President fears he may not be re-elected in June; his opponents fear they may be eliminated Twelve worried opposition parties got together on 24 March to issue a joint communiqué denouncing a 'macabre plan' by President Pierre Nkurunziza's government, in the lead-up to the...
Vol 51 No 7 | TANZANIA A vote about corruption 2nd April 2010 Amid corruption concerns, a power struggle is growing within the governing party It is an overwhelming certainty that the governing Chama cha Mapinduzi will win elections on the mainland again in seven months' time. Yet behind the scenes, there is...
Vol 51 No 7 | TANZANIA The front line of politics 2nd April 2010 Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, fourth President of Tanzania, has deep roots in both the ever-governing Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and the armed forces. His first challenge as he ends...