IFES participated in the Colloquium on African Elections: Best Practices and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration, which brought together pivotal election stakeholders from across the continent to assess recent African elections and develop recommendations for raising the standards for future polls. The participants were leaders of civil society, the media, election management bodies, security services and political parties.

Abigal Wilson, IFES regional deputy director for Africa comments on the event:
"It was a special privilege to be gathered with so many with such a broad spectrum of experts and put our minds together on how to strengthen democracy on the continent. The colloquium allowed for many great ideas to be developed."

Participants drew on lessons from the experience in Ghana, where for the second time in less than a decade, political power has changed hands from the ruling to an opposition party through the ballot box. Effective collaboration among all sectors of the electoral process helped ease tensions, enhanced transparency and built voter confidence in the election results. Using this example, the participants identified the following as key prerequisites for peaceful, participative and credible elections: inclusiveness, transparency and accountability.

Co-organizers of the colloquium include the National Democratic Institute, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, Open Society Initiative for West Africa and United Nations Development Programme.

For more information, please see the press release: Experts Gather in Ghana to Develop Improved Standards for African Elections (pdf)