In this article, the Centre for Constitutional Rights
considers the duty of the newly elected executive to ensure universal
adult suffrage as guaranteed in South Africa's Constitution.
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) has a well-organized and very interesting voter turnout website loaded with election data from around the world. The goal of this Stockholm-based organization is to "strengthen democratic institutions and processes." It works with other democracy builders, such as the UN, policy makers and donor governments. By compiling and analyzing voter turnout statistics since 1945, for national presidential and parliamentary elections, IDEA has discovered that "high voter turnout does not necessarily mean that a multi-party democracy is stable." Check out the link "Why a Voter Turnout Website?" on the homepage to read about the data they used to come to this conclusion. To view the election statistics of any country, click on the drop down box "Choose a Country" on the far right side of the page. Once you pick one, you'll get the country's voting data in a table, or you can click in the upper right hand corner above the table, where it says "Graph," to see it in graph form. On the right hand side of the page, in the same section where you can choose a country's statistics, you can also choose other categories of analysis for which IDEA has data, such as "Voter Turnout by Gender," "Voter Turnout by Age", "Vote Counting Methods", and "Voting by Mail." You can also find a link to their "Publications" in this same section, and you'll find that they have a multitude of publications in multiple languages and formats. Some of the books can be purchased and downloaded in their entirety, or shipped via the mail. Some of the pamphlets are even free of charge, and can be downloaded or shipped as well. [KMG] Scout Report