Kenya’s general election is slowly gearing up, with the elections slated for 9th August 2022. Any electioneering period in the country has always been marred with cases of violence, and members of the LGBTQI+ community have been victims of the violence. The political environment of hostility and violence has unfortunately enabled homophobes to act on…
Category: Elections
COMMENT René Brosius 10 June 2022 In the evening of 8 February 2017, it was clear: Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed also known as “Farmaajo” is Somalia’s 9th president. People in Mogadishu were excited, the streets were filled with joyous pedestrians that were celebrating the feeling of hope which Farmaajo represented. There was no feeling of fear,…
ANALYSIS René Brosius 12 November 2021 The latest news from Somalia could not be contradictory. On the one hand, the first democratic “one person, one vote” elections since 1969 took place in Puntland, the semi-autonomous state in north-eastern Somalia, on 25 October 2021; on the other hand, there was bloody fighting in central Somalia. Admittedly,…
ANALYSIS René Brosius 17 September 2021 In April 2021, after Somalia was on the brink of civil war, it seemed for a long time that the solution would be found in a tough (s)election process. The May 27, 2021 agreement and Prime Minister Roble’s timetable presented at the end of June stipulated that this process…
ANALYSIS René Brosius 10 February 2021 The upcoming presidential elections in Somalia are dominated by the debate on free and fair elections, a debate that brought the country to the brink of civil war. While the states of Puntland, Jubbaland as well as the united opposition in the country insist that the president’s term has…
ANALYSIS René Brosius 22 January 2021 On 9 January 2021, Somalia’s Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble surprised everyone by announcing that the planned elections would only be held in certain parts of the country. According to Article 1 (1) of Somalia’s provisional constitution, the country is “a federal, sovereign, and democratic republic founded on inclusive…
COMMENT Carsten Möller 14 January 2021 The rulebook of the popular card game “Munchkin” includes only a few rules. One states, “Any other disputes should be settled by loud arguments, with the owner of the game having the last word.”[1] What might cause hilarious disputes amongst friends can result in tragedy if the game is…
ANALYSIS Diana Kisakye 13 January 2021 On January 14th 2021, 76-year-old President Yoweri Museveni will face his most-unexpected rival thus far, 38-year-old Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu alias Bobi Wine. The musician-cum-politician has, over the past few years, shifted the focus of Ugandan politics from ethnic-regional to generational concerns. Wine has instrumentalised his opponent’s old age to…
ANALYSIS Laura Radzey 13 November 2020 The right to vote is fundamental for any democratic state. Yet simply holding elections is not sufficient if the standards of free, fair and democratic elections are not implemented. The consequences of electoral manipulation can be very well seen in the cases of the presidential elections in Kenya (2017)…