The quality of elections in African small island developing states

Abstract: There are six African small island developing states: the Union of the Comoros; the Republic of Guinea‐Bissau; the Republic of Cabo Verde; the Republic of Mauritius; the Seychelles and the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe. Apart from Mauritius, the other five states are relatively new to democracy with several of these states only transitioning from one party states to multi‐party states in the early 1990s. International and domestic observers declared the last round of elections in all ASIDS free and fair, but this reveals little of the quality of elections in these small island developing states. All six states are members of the African Union (AU) and are therefore obliged to adhere to its election principles. Therefore, this article examines the quality of elections in the ASIDS by analysing the extent to which they are free and fair using the principles of the AU’s Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa. Findings reveal that despite continued logistical and other problems that persist, the election process is generally well managed and violence relatively minimal, a remarkable achievement given the volatile political histories in all save one of these small island states. Challenges appear to centre on continued inter‐institutional instability in some cases, failure to adhere to constitutional amendments in others, some instances of continued harassment and a lack of financial and technical resources, all of which have to some extent impacted electoral qualit

The quality of elections in African small island developing states

Abstract: There are six African small island developing states: the Union of the Comoros; the Republic of Guinea‐Bissau; the Republic of Cabo Verde; the Republic of Mauritius; the Seychelles and the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe. Apart from Mauritius, the other five states are relatively new to democracy with several of these states only transitioning from one party states to multi‐party states in the early 1990s. International and domestic observers declared the last round of elections in all ASIDS free and fair, but this reveals little of the quality of elections in these small island developing states. All six states are members of the African Union (AU) and are therefore obliged to adhere to its election principles. Therefore, this article examines the quality of elections in the ASIDS by analysing the extent to which they are free and fair using the principles of the AU’s Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa. Findings reveal that despite continued logistical and other problems that persist, the election process is generally well managed and violence relatively minimal, a remarkable achievement given the volatile political histories in all save one of these small island states. Challenges appear to centre on continued inter‐institutional instability in some cases, failure to adhere to constitutional amendments in others, some instances of continued harassment and a lack of financial and technical resources, all of which have to some extent impacted electoral qualit

Identification of seven new prostate cancer susceptibility loci through a genome-wide association study

Prostate cancer (PrCa) is the most frequently diagnosed male cancer in developed countries. To identify common PrCa susceptibility alleles, we have previously conducted a genome-wide association study in which 541, 129 SNPs were genotyped in 1,854 PrCa cases with clinically detected disease and 1,894 controls. We have now evaluated promising associations in a second stage, in which we genotyped 43,671 SNPs in 3,650 PrCa cases and 3,940 controls, and a third stage, involving an additional 16,229 cases and 14,821 controls from 21 studies. In addition to previously identified loci, we identified a further seven new prostate cancer susceptibility loci on chromosomes 2, 4, 8, 11, and 22 (P=1.6×10−8 to P=2.7×10−33)

Analysis of Outcomes in Ischemic vs Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation A Report From the GARFIELD-AF Registry

IMPORTANCE Congestive heart failure (CHF) is commonly associated with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF), and their combination may affect treatment strategies and outcomes

The value of open-source clinical science in pandemic response: lessons from ISARIC

International audienc