Publications

Expert Comments available here.

Datesort descending Title
Jul 26 2011
Bahrain

Bahrain’s third parliamentary elections under King Hamad took place in an atmosphere of strong political tension. The election campaign period was preceded by a wave of arrests of more than 200 mostly-Shi‘i individuals accused of inciting or involvement in street violence. It especially targeted the leaders and members of unlicensed political associations, Haq and al-Wafa', which had called for a boycott of the elections, accusing them of being involved in a “terror network” and plotting to overthrow the government by instigating unrest.

Jul 26 2011
Turkey

Four major political parties competed in the Turkish legislative elections of June 2011: the governing Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP), the Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) and the Peace and Democracy Party (Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi, BDP).

Oct 17 2011
Tunisia

 On October 20th, just ten months after overthrowing their seemingly eternal dictator and setting off a wave of uprisings around the Arab world, Tunisians will at last head to the polls to democratically elect the members of the Assembly that will decide the course of their political transition. This is the first of a two-part analysis of the upcoming elections. This first part serves as a technical primer detailing the electoral framework chosen for these elections and the consequences it will have on the shape of the Constituent Assembly.

Oct 20 2011
Tunisia

Oct 26 2011
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates

In the heat of the 'Arab Spring' five electoral processes have been held in states that form part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). However, neither the international news media nor electoral analysts have paid much attention to these elections. At OPEMAM, we wish to underline the importance of these elections - in spite of their idiosyncrasies and shortcomings - amidst the wave of changes affecting the entire region.

Oct 27 2011
Kyrgyzstan
Twenty years on from independence, Kyrgyzstan will on October 30th carry out elections whose relevance can be analyzed historically, institutionally, as a potential cause of further political instability and according to their impact on the country's political and socioeconomic development.
Nov 10 2011
Bahrain

Bahrain’s 2011 parliamentary by-elections were held following the resignation in February of 18 MPs from the main opposition association, al-Wefaq, who had been elected in October 2010 (see report on Bahrain’s 2010 parliamentary elections). This decision was taken in reaction to the government’s violence against protesters who gathered at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama to demand a new Constitution with an elected Prime Minister and full legislative powers for the Council of Representatives.

Nov 24 2011
Morocco

2011 will no doubt go down in history as the year when the Arab peoples rose up against the dictatorships and autocracies that had, post-independence, become the exclusive model of governance in this part of the world. The demands for freedom and democracy, denominated the Arab Spring, had a domino effect and soon called into question the myth of Moroccan exceptionality.

Nov 27 2011
Tunisia

The surprising events that began on 17 December with the immolation of a young Mohammed Bouazizi in the city of Sidi Bouzid would unleash a national catharsis of unprecedented consequences with a far-reaching impact. The incident, the result of an individual humiliation, transformed itself into a collective realisation among broad swathes of society that their situation was indignant and intolerable. In Sfax, then in Tunis and little by little across the whole country, these groups rose up, rousing a protest against the regime that was both decentralised and unstoppable.

Dec 04 2011
Morocco

A team of three people from OPEMAM covered the latest legislative elections in Morocco, which took place on November 25th. OPEMAM's scientific coordinator Rafael Bustos, interviewed Irene Fernández Molina, who was one of the researchers on the mission. This is a summary of that interview with Irene, who will write the Election Report that will be published on our site in the following weeks.

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