Shukri Ismail discusses the formation and work of Somaliland’s first national election commission. She explains the difficulties the commission faced organizing Somaliland’s first elections, which included a difficult voter registration process, setting the election timetable and dealing with weak and newly formed state institutions and untested election law. Ismail also discusses the difficulties with political party formation, hiring and training election staff and the potential for violence when the commission ultimately determined the presidential election had been won by 80 votes. She also touches on working with international consultants, the electoral commission’s relationship with the media, the role of the clan in Somaliland’s elections, the lessons learned from Somaliland’s first elections and the challenges still ahead.

Case Study:  Nurturing Democracy in the Horn of Africa: Somaliland's First Elections, 2002-2005

Humayun Kabir, a secretary at the Bangladesh Election Commission Secretariat, shares his experience in the 2008 Bangladeshi election.  He talks about many aspects of the electoral process and how the newly constituted Election Commission dealt with them between February 2007 and December 2008.  He details the voter-registration and boundary-delimitation processes and the multiple challenges the commission faced in accomplishing these tasks.  He also highlights successful innovations such as the photographic voter registry and the use of transparent ballot boxes, which he credits with limiting post-election violence in 2008.

Raphael Trotman gives a detailed account of the role of the Alliance for Change party in the 2006 Guyanan elections, which were hailed by the Carter Center as the most peaceful that Guyana ever had. In addition to the mediating force of the AFC in the elections, Trotman credits the United Nations Development Programme, the heavy presence of election observers and the actions of civil society institutions with helping assure peaceful elections. He recognizes the strides the Guyana Elections Commission made in the area of election results, but he tempers that praise with criticism of the organization's partiality in matters concerning funding for the payment of scrutineers (political party-based poll workers), recruitment of poll workers, and ensuing legal battles with the Alliance for Change. Trotman offers a sobering account of results from the 2006 election that were still being contested at the time of the interview.

Case Study:  Cooling Ethnic Conflict Over a Heated Election: Guyana, 2001-2006

Professor Chaligha discusses the management of elections by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) in mainland Tanzania and the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) in Zanzibar. The NEC is responsible for registering voters, demarcating constituencies, and conducting voter education. The relationship between the NEC and ZEC is complex in that some Zanzibar residents, who have spent less than three years in Zanzibar, are registered for mainland Tanzania’s elections. Chaligha mentions NEC’s efforts to maintain transparency on election day. For example, all candidates are allowed to place an election monitor at the polling station during voting. Following Tanzania’s constitution, leaders of political parties – including members of Parliament, councilors and ministers – are not permitted to serve on the NEC. In contrast to the NEC, the ZEC does permit political party members on the commission. A major hindrance to the NEC is its reliance on the government for funding. Chaligha proposes an election fund that the commission could call on only for elections.     

Calvin Benn of the Guyana Elections Commission recounts the depth and breadth of his experience in the administration and management of Guyana's national elections, particularly focusing on the successes of the 2006 election process.  In his capacity with the commission, Benn oversaw the registration of voters and administration of polling places, including the distribution of polling supplies, recruitment and training of poll workers, and vote counting and verification.  Benn shares some relatively straightforward approaches to resolving voting day challenges, including simulation exercises, acquainting poll workers and security forces with polling places, the training of political party polling "scrutineers," the shipment of polling supplies, and the procedure for vote counting.  The interview can be broken into two related but distinct parts: Benn's role as the administrator of the polling process and his related but separate responsibility overseeing a continuous registration process for national identification cards for purposes that include but are not limited to voting registration. 

Case Study:  Cooling Ethnic Conflict Over a Heated Election: Guyana, 2001-2006

Moi Sellu explains his role at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in Sierra Leone. Sellu describes the major challenges that elections organizers face in the country; widespread illiteracy, low levels of technical capacity and difficulties in coordinating the relationships and interests of state institutions and stakeholders. He goes on to describe the National Elections Commission, reviewing its responsibilities and commending its preparedness, steadfastness, internal discipline and transparency during the 2007 and 2008 elections. He discusses the relationship that the major political institutions have with one another, namely the National Elections Commission, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and the Political Parties Registration Commission. Sellu describes the security preparations surrounding elections, including police involvement as well as logistical measures like ensuring that opposing parties have rallies on different days. He goes on to discuss the media’s relationships with political parties and the government and ends by emphasizing the importance of voter and civic education, and that these approaches should be tailored to fit the distinct demographics of each region.