Publication

This publication disaggregates the electoral process in order to help identify potential flash points, and examines impediments to the mediation of election-related conflict in Africa. The author argues that election-related disputes raise special challenges, with failed conflicts exacerbating further conflict. He discusses possibilities for conflict within the electoral framework and architecture, through access to the political sphere and on polling day. The author identifies the scarcity of nonpartisan domestic actors and unwelcome external actors as being among the factors impeding mediation efforts. The paper concludes with recommendations to reduce election-related conflict.