The benefits of winning elections, and the disadvantages of losing them, must be reduced to avoid the violence that a winner-takes-all situation can trigger. Election observers should pay more attention to subtle forms of violence, intra-party tensions and incumbents playing the security card to justify increased use of force. This policy note considers how to curb the increase of violence in African elections.
This policy note is based on the book Violence in African Elections, edited by Mimmi Söderberg Kovacs and Jesper Bjarnesen (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:nai:diva-2185). It is a collection of eleven case studies from different Sub-Saharan countries, offering a comprehensive examination of the causes of Africa’s violent electoral clashes, and the consequences for African democratization and peace-keeping.