Assessing pre-election political space in the 2011 local government elections

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dc.contributor.authorAfrica, Cherrel
dc.contributor.authorLynch, Gerry
dc.date.accessioned2013-10-15T19:11:31Z
dc.date.available2013-10-15T19:11:31Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractThe administration of elections in South Africa, including the 2011 local government elections(hereafter the 2011 elections), has widely been hailed as a resounding success. Yet competitive elections, an essential component of any democratic system, require more than smooth running administrative systems. Competitive elections require competitive campaigns and an environment where voters can vote and express their opinions without fear of retribution. In this article, we conduct a systematic assessment of pre-election space in the 2011 elections. We present a unique coding scheme developed by the Election Monitoring Network (EMN) to grade individual instances of electionrelated intolerance and intimidation. The coding scheme provides a framework to quantitatively assess a given campaign and election. We also present data on instances of pre-election intimidation and violence gathered by the EMN from 3 March until 13 May. The data reveal that whilst the vast majority of South Africans can vote and express their opinions without fear of retribution, there are underlying tensions which remain a cause for concern. When viewed in conjunction with the Afrobarometer survey data (2008) on perceptions of political space in South Africa, it becomes clear that pre-election campaign space is fragile and not given, and will therefore need to be nurtured in future elections.en_US
dc.description.accreditationDepartment of HE and Training approved listen_US
dc.identifier.citationAfrica, C. & Lynch, G. (2012). Assessing pre-election political space in the 2011 local government election. Politeia, 31(1): 40-59en_US
dc.identifier.issn02568845
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/758
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.privacy.showsubmitterfalse
dc.publisherUnisa Pressen_US
dc.rightsCopyright Unisa Press. Permission granted to reproduce the journal article in this Repository.
dc.status.ispeerreviewedtrue
dc.subjectCampaign environmenten_US
dc.subjectDemocracyen_US
dc.subjectElection administrationen_US
dc.subjectElection monitoringen_US
dc.subjectLocal government electionsen_US
dc.subjectSouth Africaen_US
dc.titleAssessing pre-election political space in the 2011 local government electionsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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