AFRICAN ELECTIONS DATABASE

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About the Database
 
 
 
Site History
Site Created: October 2004
Launch Date: 10 November 2004
 
Purpose
The purpose of the African Elections Database is to provide a comprehensive archive of past and present election results for the 49 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.
 
Election Pages & Results
Each country's election page starts with a political profile. The political profile gives an overview of the political leadership and a brief history of the political situation in the country since its independence (for a description of terms used in this section, visit the Terms and Definitions page). A list of political parties (sorted alphabetically by acronym) and coalitions are found at the end of the political profile.
 
Election Results at this site may differ from those posted on other sites for some of the following reasons:
 
-Many sites post the provisional final results that are released soon after an election. On this site, provisional results are posted until the definitive results (usually one to two weeks after the election) are released. 
Example: In Ghana's 2004 presidential election, held on 7 December 2004, the provisional final results gave incumbent President John Kufuor 52.75% of the vote. The definitive results, which were released on 2 January 2005, gave him 52.45%. This site uses the 52.45% figure, while most others used the provisional result.
 
-When some sites (especially government sites) post election results, they include invalid/blank votes in the final total. On this site, percentages are based on distribution among valid votes, unless otherwise noted.
Example: The final results of Burundi's Constitutional Referendum, conducted on 28 February 2005, showed a 90.10% "Yes" vote and a 7.82% "No" vote. The invalid votes constituted the remaining 2.08%. On this site, the new results that exclude invalid votes gives the "Yes" vote 92.02% and the "No" vote 7.98%.
 
Sources
Data on this web site was obtained from a variety of Internet sources, including:
 
Official government documents (government gazettes, court rulings, etc.)
Electoral Observer Mission reports
Online newspapers and periodicals
Research papers
Internet Archive Wayback Machine (
retrieves content from old/inactive web sites)
Dieter Nohlen, et al. Elections in Africa: A Data HandbookOxford University Press, 1999. (This book is the only non-Internet source consulted as a reference)