The year 2015 went down in history as one of elections in Africa. Overall there were thirteen of them. People of Nigeria, Ethiopia, Burundi, Egypt, Sudan, Ivory Coast and many more participated in electing their presidents and parliaments. Some of the elections were tensely contested, others violent or postponed and yet others – democratic, predictable and calm. Africa’s 2015 election experiences presented dilemmas for 2016 polls.
In the end of May 2015 Afri|Ko organized panel discussion on elections in Africa in order to discus how do participants of political systems manipulate electoral processes? Why do elections turn violent at times? How does that change the political landscape of a particular country and/or region?
Distinguished speakers from Lithuania and other countries elaborated on these and similar questions:
– Professor Amanda Julie Hammar from the Centre of African Studies at Copenhagen University,
– Daniel E. Agbiboa, doctoral candidate from Oxford University,
– Ruta Avulyte Jelage, elections observer with experiences from Mozambique and Liberia among other countries,
– Dr. Giedre Sabaseviciute, researcher from Oriental Studies Centre at Vilnius University, and
– Jurate Vazgauskaite, one of the founders of Afri|Ko, graduate of Centre of African Studies at Copenhagen University.
