CALL FOR PAPERS MARCH 2009

ELECTORAL REFORM IN SUBSAHARAN AFRICA

electoral systems and institutions; Political asset or liabilities?

Deadline: 30th March 2009

The Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya) and the Konrad Adenaur Foundation invite contributions to be published in a Special Issue on Electoral Systems Reform in Sub Saharan Africa

Background

The quality of an election constitutes one of the determinants for deepening democratic governance. Although elections play a critical role for the sustainability of democratic governance, democracy cannot be reduced purely to elections. Various other political processes play an equally important role for democracy to exist and be sustained including respect for human rights, citizen participation, constitutionalism, and rule of law, separation of powers and checks and balances and more so, equal distribution of national wealth.

It is increasingly becoming a trend in Africa, that, whilst elections are supposed to anchor and ensure sustainable growth in democracies, in countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, elections have become a liability. Instead of institutionalising democracy, they have fueled political instability. Consequently, the essential question is: to what extend do electoral systems and institutions in Sub Saharan Africa turn into political assets and / or liabilities?

It is important to bear in mind that most of the electoral systems, laws, institutions and Constitutions that govern elections in Sub Saharan African countries were inherited from colonialism. Where limited changes have been introduced, in most cases they were partial and cosmetic rather than being comprehensive and substantive. This therefore calls for an amendment to these electoral processes in order to reflect the present realities in the region as well as adhere to international best practice standards.

It is contended that if an electoral system is to add value to democracy, it must enhance the accountability of the elected representatives to their constituency whilst at the same time ensure broader representation of key political forces in the representative bodies. In this way a political system becomes more inclusive, participatory and accords the rulers legitimacy to govern.

In sum, this special issue seeks to focus on the challenges facing the African continent in realising the reform of electoral systems and institutions whilst promoting and protecting the Rule of Law and Democracy in sub Saharan Africa. Best practices from the region, where these have emerged, will be highlighted and reviewed and will form the basis for recommendations on reforms aimed at improving electoral systems.

The under-representation of women and the youth in electoral processes in Africa is increasing seen as a significant failure in the electoral systems. At the same time, reforms have not sufficiently appreciated that this is a problem that needs to be give as much attention as, for example, efforts to improve the administrative efficiency of electoral systems. There is therefore little agreement on what measures are necessary to enhance the participation of women and children in electoral processes. In some countries, the creation of special seats in legislatures for women and the youth has been the preferred intervention to address this problem. In others, in the absence of official recognition of the problem of under-inclusion of women and children, there have been attempts to establish social movements that will generate support of women candidates in elections as well as motivate women and children to both offer themselves as candidates and to vote, including for their own.

This publication will welcome the exploration of ways in which electoral reforms can increase the participation of women and youth in politics, as a means of enhancing the democratic process.

Electoral violence has gained increasing prominence on the continent. As witnessed in Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, the proliferation of electoral violence is a direct threat to the conduct of free and fair elections and a threat to the very statehood of African countries. It will be of special interest to this publication to explore the causes and effects of electoral violence as well as ways in which this can be checked.

The above criterion is neither meant to be prescriptive nor suggestive. Granted, each Sub Saharan African country has its own peculiar historical, socio-economic and political contexts. Therefore individual application must bear in mind the foregoing factors. This will play a critical role in choosing which primary criterion is suitable to propel the electoral reform agenda. It would however be reasonable and only fair to propose that many countries need to undergo electoral reforms taking the relevant and objective criteria into account. Such a process will then guide each country hence embedding democratic governance.

We will therefore prioritize articles which address the following topics:

1. An exposition and critical analysis of a Sub Saharan Africa country’s electoral legal frameworks to identify weakness in the systems and structures.
2. An examination of questions on the theory of election engineering
3. case studies of electoral systems reforms efforts in Sub Saharan Africa
4. An analysis of the proper conduct by political parties, electoral commissions, supporters at pre election, polling day and post-election phases;
5. Addressing the cost of elections and assess sustainability of elections given internal and external resources available to the election management bodies (EMBs);
6. An evaluation of the degree of citizen participation in elections and share strategies for increasing public education, interest and participation in elections, with a special focus on women, youth, ethnic minorities, citizens with disabilities, language minorities, internally displaced persons and refugees.
7. The promotion of a culture of constructive management of election disputes for purposes of maintaining political stability and peace

The topics listed are mere guidelines and suggestions of some of the challenging issues related to subjects of the special issue. Interested contributors are encouraged to address related questions within the broad outline of the study.

Format

All submissions should be in written in English and submitted in soft copy/electronic form (MS Word format) to [email][email protected] / [email][email protected] should conform to the following general guidelines:

* Academic citation standards i.e. concise footnotes, end notes and bibliography
* Between 7,000 and 10,000 words.
* Short biography of author (maximum of 50 words).
* Date when the paper was written.

The submissions of abstracts and full article must include;

1. The Author’s full names and contacts
2. A declaration of originality
3. A statement as to whether the work has been previously published in any other publications and where this is in case , the names of the publications and the date of publication Exceptionally, however, relevant contributions already published elsewhere may be accepted, provided that the required authorizations are granted. Please inform if, where and when the paper has been published before.

Interested contributors are requested to submit 350 words Abstract of their papers before proceeding to write the full paper.

Only Abstract submissions received by 30th March 2009 will be considered for this publication. Accepted abstracts will be advised shortly thereafter.

Remuneration

Contributors to the Publication will receive an Honorarium of Kshs. 100,000.