The paper addresses the question whether the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance would effectively address the identified electoral problems at a substantive as well as implementation levels. Accordingly, the aim of the study is two fold. This paper analyses the key electoral problems in Africa by analysing trends in recent elections that jeopardise democratic consolidation. Secondly, it evaluates the Charter in addressing the identified problems at normative as well as practical levels. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Prof. Nico Steytler of the Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was greatly divided over the question of how to select the new nation’s chief executive. The method finally adopted was a compromise between direct election and election by the national legislature and provided that individual states, as they saw fit, choose electors equal to the total number of Senators and Representatives. From the beginning, most of delegates considered the proposal awkward and irrational almost to the point of absurdity, but as they argued about it, they became convinced that it was then the only plan which could overcome the objections raised by other methods. The Convention had barely adjourned, however, when dissatisfaction over election of the President arose once again. Reform efforts began in the earliest Congresses. In the past one hundred and eighty years, more than 1000 amendments—perhaps more than on any other subject—have been introduced. These may be divided into two distinct classifications—direct and indirect methods of election. These may be divided into two distinct classifications—direct and indirect methods of election. From the district system proposed in the early 19th century to the proportional system advanced most prominently after World War II, each of the direct proposals has had its day and has been found wanting. It has become clear that other indirect methods of election would merely turn in some old problems for some new ones. The present system, however, is in serious need of reform. Its dangers are well documented. Failure of electors to vote in accordance with the desires of the voters and the present allocation of electoral votes makes it possible that under the present system a President can be elected who is not the choice of a majority of the citizens. Furthermore, the present system provides for an election in the House of Representatives if no candidate received the necessary 270 electoral votes. In a House election, each state casts one vote regardless of population. In view of these factors, the electoral college is an undemocratic institution, an historic remnant of a nation vastly different from the United States in the twentieth century. Through this nation’s years of development, the ideal of popular choice has become the most deeply ingrained of our governmental principles. Through our national experience we have learned that there is no safer or better way to elect our public officials. No matter how wisely or foolishly the American people choose their President, he is still their President. The electoral college should therefore be amended to insure that the chief executive is the voice of all 200 million Americans in practice as well as in theory. Only one type of proposed reform can claim to give the people this voice without creating other problems in the election of the President. It is the direct popular vote proposal under which each citizen’s vote regardless of where it is cast, would count equally with all other votes. The candidate receiving a majority or plurality, as decided by Congress, would be the new President. A run-off election would replace election by the House of Representatives if no candidate received the specified number of votes. No one, of course, can guarantee that direct election would never involve risks in the election of the President, but if one’s premise is based upon an overriding consideration of democracy, the risk seems worth taking.

Magister Commercii - MCom / This thesis provides an in-depth explorative case study of the relationship between electoral management and civil rights, using the 2013 Tlokwe By-Elections in South Africa as a case study. The central question in this thesis was: what are the implications of the Tlokwe Ruling on South Africa’s electoral democracy? This topic is extremely important to the field of democracy and elections, as electoral processes become ever more essential in allowing citizens to access free and fair elections. Without the ability to access free and fair elections, the power of citizens to hold leaders accountable is diminished. The study used the framework provided by Diamond and Morlino on the quality of democracy because it contains useful normative values of a democracy and assisted in providing a lens by which to view and analyse elections in a democratic regime.

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M.A. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2012 / The past two decades have seen the rise of power sharing agreements as a means to end protracted civil wars. Following from the perceived success of these agreements, power sharing has become an important tool in the mediator’s arsenal and has increasingly been advocated in periods of democratic deadlock and civil strife following highly-contested elections. The viability of this model has rarely been questioned. This study will undertake a deep analysis of the success or failure of the power sharing agreements undertaken in Kenya and Zimbabwe in 2008 following the outbreak of violence in both countries. It will explain the different results seen in these two cases through an examination of the agreements, the roles played by regional and international actors as well as through an analysis of the influence of local political culture and inter-elite relations. The relative success of the Kenyan agreement can be attributed to a culture of cooperation amongst the elite alongside consistent and concerted pressure exerted by the mediation team and international actors. In contrast, the Zimbabwean government of national unity has hobbled along and little progress has been made to implement the agreement. This can largely be attributed to a badly drafted document which allowed for an inequitable distribution of power, the obduracy of the ZANU-PF elite and the unwillingness of the agreement guarantors to place sufficient pressure on the parties for reform. In a context where inter-elite relations are characterised by opposition and intransigence, the framing of the document and the actions of enforcer parties become particularly important. Due to the political cultures in both countries, it is unlikely that the power sharing agreements will have produced significant gains for democracy or have reformed the prevailing culture of impunity. This report concludes that in spite of the problems with the power sharing model, there are currently few alternatives to help mend torn societies. In order to overcome the problems that have been highlighted within this report, it is necessary for mediators to undertake innovative and reflexive strategies to ensure the full implementation of future agreements.

Abstract 1 – The Importance of Transportation Policies in Local Elections Building and maintaining transportation systems is one of the most important functions of local government. It is a subject that concerns local residents, jurisdictions spend a lot of money on, and local politicians use to their political advantage. This study helps us understand how transportation issues feature in local elections. Through evaluating a dataset of 542 candidates from 219 local election races from 2022, this study explores which candidates for local office are more likely to have transportation policies, what kind of content is included in these policies, and what are the factors that make including different transportation content more or less likely. The analysis primarily uses website campaign content and a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to answer these questions. I find a variety of factors affect the inclusion of transportation issues at the local level such as variations in governance, partisanship, and regional characteristics like a jurisdiction's size and transportation behavior. It was also evident that defining transportation issues was more common than proposing transportation policy solutions. Overall, this research provides more insight into how transportation policies are included in local elections. Abstract 2 – Saliency of Transportation Policies in State Legislative Elections: The Case of Virginia Transportation systems are expensive and directly impact important issues like climate change, equity, and quality of life. However, it is not clear how important transportation policies are in state-level elections. Using the Virginia 2021 state legislative election, this research uses candidate website data, Twitter data, and data about Virginia House of Delegates districts to answer three questions: which candidates are more likely to have transportation polices, what issues or transportation modes are included, and what factors make candidates more or less likely to focus on certain issues. Using descriptive statistics, and regression methods, this research found transportation issues varied by political party with top overall issues including transportation funding as well as expanding or improving transportation systems. Public transportation was the top non-car mode. Candidates were more likely to include transportation issues if district households had higher car ownership or a lower percentage of single occupancy vehicle commuters. Finally, differences in transportation issues could be partly explained by political party, incumbency, population density, and transportation habits. These results will be helpful for understanding how state government transportation agendas change, can better inform transportation advocacy efforts, and could help transportation professionals better understand the impact of their work. Abstract 3 – Does Voting Affect the Provision of Bus Service? Inequalities in the distribution of bus services are important to understand. This chapter adds to previous literature by exploring why inequalities exist. Specifically, does voting for elected officials affect inequalities in the delivery of bus services? This study explores this question using a quantitative approach as part of a quasi-experimental research design focusing on GoRaleigh in North Carolina and the Milwaukee County Transit System in Wisconsin. The analysis provides evidence of a relationship between voting behavior and bus service. This finding is observed across cities and elections with the relationships holding even when controlling for factors associated with a bureaucratic explanation for changing bus service, like changes to population or jobs. However, the strength of the relationship can change between elections, the type of elected official, and cities. Overall, this work provides more evidence of the politics behind transit service planning, especially the political influences of voting behavior in representative democracies. / Doctor of Philosophy / Abstract 1 – The Importance of Transportation Policies in Local Elections This study helps us understand how transportation issues feature in local elections. Specifically, this study explores which candidates for local office are more likely to have transportation policies, what kind of content is included in these policies, and what are the factors that make including different transportation content more or less likely. I find a variety of factors affect the inclusion of transportation issues at the local level such as variations in local control, partisanship, and regional characteristics like a jurisdiction's size and transportation behavior. Overall, this research provides more insight into how transportation policies are included in local elections. Abstract 2 – Saliency of Transportation Policies in State Legislative Elections: The Case of Virginia While transportation systems affect many important issues, it is not clear how important transportation policies are in state-level elections. Using 2021 Virginia state elections, this research answers three questions: which candidates are more likely to have transportation polices, what issues or transportation modes are included, and what factors make candidates more or less likely to focus on certain issues. This study found top issues included transportation funding as well as expanding or improving transportation systems while public transportation was found to be the top non-car mode. Candidates were more likely to have transportation policies if their districts had higher car ownership rates or a lower percentage of people commuting using a car. Finally, differences in transportation issues could be partly explained by political party, incumbency, population density, and transportation habits. These results could be helpful for understanding state government transportation agendas, can better inform transportation advocacy efforts, and could help transportation professionals better understand the impact of their work. Abstract 3 – Does Voting Affect the Provision of Bus Service? Does voting for elected officials affect the delivery of bus services? This study explores this question by focusing on two transit systems: GoRaleigh in North Carolina and the Milwaukee County Transit System in Wisconsin. The study demonstrates voting behavior has a relationship to changes in bus service. This finding is seen in both cities and multiple elections with the impacts still observable even when considering other factors like changes to population or jobs. However, the size of the voting impact can be different between elections, the type of elected official, and cities. Overall, this work provides more evidence of the politics behind transit service planning.

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During periods of turmoil when ideological preferences between the federal branches of government fail to align, the relationship between the three quickly turns tumultuous. Electoral realignments especially have the potential to increase tension between the branches. When a new party replaces the 'old order' in both the legislature and the executive branches, the possibility for conflict emerges with the Court. Justices who make decisions based on old regime preferences of the party that had appointed them to the bench will likely clash with the new ideological preferences of the incoming party. In these circumstances, the president or Congress may seek to weaken the influence of the Court through court-curbing methods. One example Congress may utilize is changing the actual size of the Supreme The size of the Supreme Court has increased four times in United States history, and three out of the four alterations happened after an electoral realignment. Through analysis of Supreme Court cases, this thesis seeks to determine if, after an electoral realignment, holdings of the Court on issues of policy were more congruent with the new party in power after the change in composition as well to examine any change in individual vote tallies of the justices driven by the voting behavior of the newly appointed justice(s). / Master of Arts