Entries Categorized with "Middle East and Africa"
- 30 of 53 results
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Egypt: The Military Struggles to Maintain its Legitimacy
- Posted: December 12, 2011
- Author(s): Arab Spring Series, Hüseyin Koyuncu
- Categories: Home, Middle East and Africa, Elections Worldwide
Amidst controversies and protests, Egypt last month held the first in a series of elections for a new parliament. FairVote has covered the region's moves toward representative democracy in our Arab Spring series. Here’s the first of a series of posts analyzing the elections, starting with a focus on the state country before the voting last month.
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Learning a Lesson from Egypt’s Universal Voter Registration
- Posted: December 7, 2011
- Author(s): Elise Helgesen
- Categories: Home, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Universal Voter Registration
Egypt recently began the process of electing members to its People's Assembly. Egypt's parliamentary elections provide an example for the United States worth taking note. Egypt uses a system of universal voter registration, which helped bring large numbers of voters to the polls. FairVote believes this type of universal voter registration would modernize and improve the type of voter registration in American elections.
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Tunisians Hold Arab Spring’s First Vote
- Posted: November 4, 2011
- Author(s): Arab Spring Series, Hüseyin Koyuncu
- Categories: Home, Middle East and Africa, Elections Worldwide
The election is seen as a democratic success for new Tunisia, with some 4.1 million registered voters voting to select the members of the Constituent Assembly – using a method of proportional representation that ensured nearly every participant elected someone, and no one faction earned the winner-take-all power to dominate other factions. Tunisians have fulfilled their duty peacefully and with great pride, whether in the capital or in provincial towns. European Union observers saluted the election’s “transparency.” Clearly, the strong desire of Tunisians to be governed by democratically elected authorities guided the electoral process.
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Update: Lebanon Discusses Adopting Proportional Representation
- Posted: August 22, 2011
- Author(s): Arab Spring Series, Yasmeen Gholmieh
- Categories: Home, Reforms, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Middle East and Africa, Elections Worldwide
The Arab Spring movement has influenced Lebanon differently than many of its neighbors. Unlike nations like Syria and Yemen, there aren't street protests. Rather, the turmoil in the country is within the Parliament, not the people themselves.
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Lebanon Discusses Adopting Proportional Representation
- Posted: July 19, 2011
- Author(s): Arab Spring Series, Jais Mehaji
- Categories: Europe, Middle East and Africa
Though not undergoing the same kind of upheaval as in Tunisia, Egypt, or Syria, Lebanon has been experiencing some change from the Arab Spring movement. As true in all countries moving toward real elections, adoption of proportional representation voting systems is seen as a key goal.
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More on Egypt's Electoral Law
- Posted: July 18, 2011
- Author(s): Arab Spring Series, Jais Mehaji
- Categories: Middle East and Africa, Elections Worldwide
Progress toward democracy is looking all the more complicated in Egypt, as questions about the parliamentary elections’ rules remain unanswered and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ (SCAF) electoral measures are replete with ambiguity.
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Egypt Caretaker Government Passes Electoral Draft Law Amid Parties' Vehement Objections
- Posted: July 8, 2011
- Author(s): Arab Spring Series, Jais Mehaji
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Middle East and Africa, Elections Worldwide
After Egyptians successfully overthrew Hosni Mubarak back in February, the military government which took over in the interim has pursued a difficult transition to democratic rule. Parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in September, and political parties and citizens alike have been very vocal about how they will be conducted -with one key conflict being the democratic opposition seeking a fully proportional representation voting system and the caretaker government wanting to keep half of seats elected by winner-take-all elections.
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What Turkey's Elections Revealed
- Posted: June 20, 2011
- Author(s): Jais Mehaji
- Categories: Middle East and Africa, Elections Worldwide
On June 12, Turkey held national elections of great significance. Turkey is a potential new member of the European Union (EU) and often cited as a model for Egypt in its moves toward democracy while balancing elections, a large Islamic population and a strong, largely secular military. The election showed both Turkey’s promise and problematic features that nations like Egypt should avoid.
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Egypt Inching its way down to Democracy
- Posted: June 16, 2011
- Author(s): Arab Spring Series, Jais Mehaji
- Categories: Research & Analysis, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Middle East and Africa, Elections Worldwide
Although the Arab Spring movement started in Tunisia, as I discussed earlier this week, the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt was the year’s most stunning development. As the most influential and populous nation in the Arab world, Egypt, both in times of war and peace, has often played a leadership role in the region. The political changes happening in Egypt will certainly reverberate strongly in the region. Now it is turning to the even-harder task of establishing an enduring democracy, which if successful, will set a standard for its neighbors.
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Tunisia Moves towards Fair Elections
- Posted: June 13, 2011
- Author(s): Arab Spring Series, Jais Mehaji
- Categories: Reforms, Middle East and Africa, Elections Worldwide
This post examines the democratic prospects for post-revolutionary Tunisia, as its government delays election date to October.