Tracking the Continent’s Politics with Africanelections.org

One of the (many) incredibly scary things about the recent crises in Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa was the lack of information available to people trapped on the ground, or (for that matter) people tuned in from abroad. The amount of information that’s available to the public about African politics is abysmal, often due to the extreme measures the various administrations will go to to maintain that secrecy. So, when I see projects like Africanelections.org spring up, I get excited because of the potential they offer.

While it’s currently a basic site, Africanelections.org currently covers three countries in West Africa pretty thoroughly (Ghana, Guinea, and Cote d’Ivorie) in both French and English. It tracks things the number of days until various elections in each country (from higher office to the appointment of local representatives) and which party has the majority. There are bloggers and journalists representing each country, each offering opinions and perspectives on current events. While this type of information may seem pointless in the West, it’s absolutely critical in Africa that people become more aware participants in their governments. Easy accessibility of this type of information is critical in supporting that. Africanelections.org is an NGO project funded by Open Society Initiative for West Africa and a sub-project of PenPlusBytes.

Hopefully at some point the site extends it’s coverage to the rest of the continent. A robust portal for impartial political information would incredible for the continent’s progress!

From the site:

…the media has a constitutional mandate to play the role of arbiters, and if our election system is to endure, the media must help the citizenry hold the politicians accountable.