literature review on electoral violence

Electoral Violence

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• Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai 2  

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The concept of electoral violence generally has to do with the various forms of organized psychological, physical, and structural threats/acts whose main goal is to intimidate, harm, or blackmail political stakeholder(s) prior to, during and or after an election in order to delay or influence an electoral process. This means that electoral violence can be multifaceted—it has physical, psychological, and structural dimensions. The physical dimension of electoral violence manifests in such acts as opposition politicians being assassinated, looting, arson, hostage taking and kidnapping, violent interruption of campaign rallies, raids on polling and tallying centres, armed snatching, and destruction of ballot boxes and ballot papers among others. The chapter explores electoral violence in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and South Africa.

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Albert, I. O. (2007). Re-conceptualising electoral violence in Nigeria. In I. O. Albert, D. Marco, & V. Adetula (Eds.), Perspectives on the 2003 elections in Nigeria . IDASA and Sterling Holding Publishers.

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Abdulai, E.S. (2023). Electoral Violence. In: Electoral Politics, Laws and Ethnicity in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34136-6_12

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Electoral violence: An introduction

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Elections are held in nearly all countries in the contemporary world. Yet despite their aim of allowing for peaceful transfers of power, elections held outside of consolidated democracies are often accompanied by substantial violence. This special issue introduction article establishes electoral violence as a subtype of political violence with distinct analytical and empirical dynamics. We highlight how electoral violence is distinct from other types of organized violence, but also how it is qualitatively different from nonviolent electoral manipulation. The article then surveys what we have learned about the causes and consequences of electoral violence, identifies important research gaps in the literature, and proceeds to discuss the articles included in the special issue. The contributions advance research in four domains: the micro-level targeting and consequences of electoral violence, the institutional foundations of electoral violence, the conditions leading to high-stakes elections, and electoral violence in the context of other forms of organized violence. The individual articles are methodologically and geographically diverse, encompassing ethnography, survey vignette and list experiments and survey data, quantitative analyses of subnational and crossnational event data, and spanning Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

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• Introduction Social Sciences 100%
• Elections Social Sciences 100%
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T1 - Electoral violence

T2 - An introduction

AU - Birch, Sarah

AU - Daxecker, Ursula

AU - Hoeglund, Kristine

PY - 2020/1/3

Y1 - 2020/1/3

N2 - Elections are held in nearly all countries in the contemporary world. Yet despite their aim of allowing for peaceful transfers of power, elections held outside of consolidated democracies are often accompanied by substantial violence. This special issue introduction article establishes electoral violence as a subtype of political violence with distinct analytical and empirical dynamics. We highlight how electoral violence is distinct from other types of organized violence, but also how it is qualitatively different from nonviolent electoral manipulation. The article then surveys what we have learned about the causes and consequences of electoral violence, identifies important research gaps in the literature, and proceeds to discuss the articles included in the special issue. The contributions advance research in four domains: the micro-level targeting and consequences of electoral violence, the institutional foundations of electoral violence, the conditions leading to high-stakes elections, and electoral violence in the context of other forms of organized violence. The individual articles are methodologically and geographically diverse, encompassing ethnography, survey vignette and list experiments and survey data, quantitative analyses of subnational and crossnational event data, and spanning Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

AB - Elections are held in nearly all countries in the contemporary world. Yet despite their aim of allowing for peaceful transfers of power, elections held outside of consolidated democracies are often accompanied by substantial violence. This special issue introduction article establishes electoral violence as a subtype of political violence with distinct analytical and empirical dynamics. We highlight how electoral violence is distinct from other types of organized violence, but also how it is qualitatively different from nonviolent electoral manipulation. The article then surveys what we have learned about the causes and consequences of electoral violence, identifies important research gaps in the literature, and proceeds to discuss the articles included in the special issue. The contributions advance research in four domains: the micro-level targeting and consequences of electoral violence, the institutional foundations of electoral violence, the conditions leading to high-stakes elections, and electoral violence in the context of other forms of organized violence. The individual articles are methodologically and geographically diverse, encompassing ethnography, survey vignette and list experiments and survey data, quantitative analyses of subnational and crossnational event data, and spanning Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

KW - conflict

KW - democracy

KW - elections

KW - violence

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U2 - 10.1177/0022343319889657

DO - 10.1177/0022343319889657

M3 - Editorial

SN - 0022-3433

JO - JOURNAL OF PEACE RESEARCH

JF - JOURNAL OF PEACE RESEARCH

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Why Electoral Violence Persists in Africa? A Critical Review of Literature

Electoral violence is a persistent phenomenon in Africa. Studies reveal that no single election has been held in Africa without incidents of violence. There is a surge of interest in electoral violence as an academic field, although still in its infancy. The existing literature on electoral violence primarily focuses on the concept, causes, impact and prevention mechanisms. Nevertheless, the question as to why electoral violence persists is inadequately addressed. This paper engages varied literature on electoral violence to uncover why electoral violence persists in Africa. I argue that although the literature provides diverse explanations on electoral violence in Africa, institutional account, particularly the consolidation of democratic institutions, is the most plausible explanation for why electoral violence persists.

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Article contents

Electoral violence and political competition in africa.

• Liisa Laakso Liisa Laakso Nordic Africa Institute
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1344
• Published online: 26 April 2019

Electoral violence in Africa has garnered a lot of attention in research on African politics. Violence can be the result of manipulation of the electoral process or a reaction to that manipulation. While there is an agreement to distinguish it from the wider political violence by its timing with elections and motivation to influence their outcome, the analysis of its types, content, and impacts varies. There are different assessments of whether repetition of elections reduces violence or not. Elections in Africa are more often marred with violence than elections in other continents, but there is lots of variation between African countries, within countries, and even from one election to another. In addition to well-judged use and development of the existing datasets, qualitative methods and case studies are also needed. Much of the literature combines both approaches. In the analysis of the factors, causes, and contexts of electoral violence, researchers utilize distinct frameworks: emphasizing historical experiences of violence, patrimonial rule and the role of the “big man,” political economy of greed and grievance, as well as weak institutions and rule of law. All of them point to intensive competition for state power. Preelection violence often relates to the strategies of the government forces and their supporters using their powers to manipulate the process, while post-election riots typically follow in the form of spontaneous reactions among the ranks of the losing opposition. Elections are not a cause of the intensive power competition but a way to organize it. Thus, electoral violence is not an anomaly but rather a manifestation of the ongoing struggle for free and fair elections. It will be an issue for researchers and practitioners alike in the future as well.

• democratization
• displacement
• political mobilization
• election observation
• African politics

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date: 04 June 2024

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Claudia Sheinbaum wins landslide to become Mexico's 1st woman president

Mexico's largest-ever elections have also been the most violent in modern history.

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Claudia Sheinbaum will become Mexico's first female president, inheriting the project of her mentor and outgoing leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador whose popularity among the poor helped drive her triumph.

Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, won the presidency with between 58.3 per cent and 60.7 per cent of the vote, according to a rapid sample count by Mexico's electoral authority. That is set to be the highest vote percentage in Mexico's democratic history.

Sheinbaum is the first woman to win a general election in the United States, Mexico or Canada.

The ruling coalition was also on track for a possible two-thirds super majority in both houses of Congress, which would allow the coalition to pass constitutional reforms without opposition support, according to the range of results given by the electoral authority.

On her way to vote on Sunday morning, Sheinbaum told journalists it was a "historic day" and that she felt at ease and content. Her victory represents a major step for Mexico, a country known for its macho culture, with her six-year term beginning Oct. 1 once results are finalized.

Mexico's largest-ever elections have also been the most violent in modern history, with the killing of 38 candidates. The deadly violence has stoked concerns about the threat of warring drug cartels to democracy. On Sunday, two people were killed at polling stations in Puebla state.

Sheinbaum, who has led convincingly in opinion polls over her main competitor Xochitl Galvez, will be tasked with confronting organized crime violence. More people have been killed during the mandate of outgoing president Lopez Obrador than during any other administration in Mexico's modern history, although the homicide rate has come down over his term.

2 dead on Sunday

The violence was not limited to candidates. Two people were killed in violence at polling centres on Sunday as people cast their ballots.

Voting was suspended at one polling place after a person was killed in a shooting in Coyomeapan, a town in the state of Puebla, the state electoral authority reported in the afternoon. The state attorney general confirmed another death at a polling centre in Tlanalapan, also in Puebla.

The deadly violence stoked concerns about the threat of warring drug cartels to democracy.

Galvez, a senator who represents an opposition coalition comprised of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the right-wing PAN and the leftist PRD party, chatted with supporters before casting her ballot early Sunday.

"God is with me," Galvez said, adding that she was expecting a difficult day.

Claudia Sheinbaum elected Mexico's 1st woman president

There were long lines of voters outside polling places, even before they opened at 8 a.m. local time, with some reports of delayed openings.

"It seems like a dream to me. I never imagined that one day I would vote for a woman," said 87-year-old Edelmira Montiel, a Sheinbaum supporter in Mexico's smallest state of Tlaxcala.

"Before we couldn't even vote, and when you could, it was to vote for the person your husband told you to vote for. Thank God that has changed and I get to live it," Montiel added.

Almost 100 million Mexicans were eligible to vote in Sunday's election. Other key positions were also up for grabs, including eight governorships and both chambers of Congress.

'Flooded with blood'

"The country is flooded with blood as a result of so much corruption," said Rosa Maria Baltazar, 69, a voter in Mexico City's upper-middle-class Del Valle neighbourhood. "I wish for a change of government for my country, something for a better life."

Lopez Obrador loomed over the campaign, seeking to turn the vote into a referendum on his political agenda. Sheinbaum has rejected opposition claims that she would be his "puppet," though she has pledged to continue many of his policies including those that have helped Mexico's poorest.

Chaos and confusion after stage collapses at political rally in Mexico

Challenges ahead for Sheinbaum also include addressing electricity and water shortages and luring manufacturers to relocate as part of the nearshoring trend, in which companies move supply chains closer to their main markets. The election winner also will have to wrestle with what to do with Pemex, the state oil giant that has seen production decline for two decades and is drowning in debt.

Both candidates promised to expand welfare programs, though Mexico has a large deficit this year and sluggish GDP growth of just 1.5 per cent expected by the central bank next year.

Sheinbaum will also face tense negotiations with the United States over the huge flows of U.S.-bound migrants crossing Mexico and security co-operation over drug trafficking at a time when the U.S. fentanyl epidemic rages.

• Mexico's next president will be a woman after historic election, but will she be a feminist?
• Political murders eat away at democracy in Mexico as elections near

Mexican officials expect these negotiations to be more difficult if the U.S. presidency is won by Donald Trump in November.

Trump, the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime , has vowed to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese cars made in Mexico and said he would mobilize special forces to fight the cartels.

Celebrations ensue as Mexico elects first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum

Related stories.

• Analysis With an election looming, tensions in Mexico's relationship with U.S., Canada are running high