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

Alex Paila discusses various aspects of national and local election management in Sierra Leone during 2007 and 2008. These areas include the recruitment, training, evaluation and monitoring of election staff; election security; voter registration, audits and curtailment of voter fraud; information dissemination, media relations and enfranchisement of marginalized groups; and financial and logistical constraints and concerns.  He also emphasizes cooperation with community-based civilian organizations as key for information dissemination and higher voter turnouts, and he stresses relations with international organizations to improve workers’ training and monitoring, and secure funding. Paila also speaks about the issues of districting and determining electoral timetables.  Finally, he reflects upon some of the challenges faced by Sierra Leone during the elections in 2007 and 2008, as well as possible hurdles that the country may face in the future.    

Emmanuel Debrah discusses the successes and challenges of the electoral process in Ghana.  He focuses on the role of the electoral commission in planning, implementing and monitoring elections and details that process.  Debrah explains the successes and challenges of voter registration in a country with limited records of birth or citizenship.  He also discusses the role of political parties in cooperating with the electoral commission, the relationship between the electoral commission and the government, and the monitoring and observation procedures for local and international observers.  Finally, Debrah touches on financial accountability structures for election officials, border demarcation issues and anti-fraud measures.    

Johnson Asiedu-Nketia discusses his role as head of the National Democratic Congress in Ghana’s Inter-Party Advisory Committee.  He describes how IPAC was able to introduce sophisticated voter registration systems and set an election schedule agreed upon by all political parties.  He also says that both IPAC and the Electoral Commission declined in effectiveness after 2000, which he attributes to lack of government support, reduced funding and an increasingly antagonistic relationship between IPAC and the commission.  He briefly touches on the role of the party in contributing to electoral transparency.