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Trans-Saharan Elections Project
The Trans-Saharan Elections Program (TSEP) focuses on the comparative examination of the organization, administration and monitoring of elections in the US and in six Francophone African countries of the Trans-Saharan region. The major objective of this program is to increase participants’ understandings of the issues so as to have a sustained and significant impact on African electoral processes U.S. Based-Programs. The program also provides American participants with a comparative perspective on American elections and more nuanced understandings of African realities Africa-Based Programs.
The Trans-Saharan Elections Program brings together African Elections Fellows from six target countries—Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal—with a wide range of American professionals involved in elections, to examine the challenges and issues involved in ensuring electoral freedom, fairness, and transparency. The U.S-based program draws on an extensive network of varied actors and stakeholders in American elections to offer African participants a perspective on elections at the local, state, and federal levels, by moving from Gainesville, Florida to the state capital of Tallahassee and then on to Washington DC. The project just completed its first iteration of a US based program for African fellows in May 2011, as well as the visits by a US delegation to the six African partner countries in July 2011. The second iteration of the program is scheduled to take place in May and July 2012 respectively.
The key goal of TSEP is to share experiences, to shape understanding and knowledge, and thus to contribute to discussions which have real and substantive impact in the Trans-Saharan countries. On the U.S. side, the exposure to electoral issues in a set of African countries that are otherwise strikingly different has already provided the opportunity for unexpected insights as well as an increased and more nuanced understanding among American professionals about the challenges and promises of electoral democracy in Africa. The six target countries present a highly interesting set of cases. All are relatively poor countries, and primarily Muslim, but with a broad range of experiences in elections and democracy: Senegal and Mali are frequently described as democracies today; Niger has experimented rather tumultuously with establishing democracy; Burkina Faso has experienced a very cautious political opening, without democratic transition; and Mauritania and Chad each have had challenging histories and more limited experiences with elections.
The main objectives of the Trans-Saharan Elections project is to provide a better understanding of alternative election systems other than that of the U.S., to raise awareness about what constitutes free, fair, and transparent elections both in the U.S and internationally, as well as to build capacity among elections stakeholders. TSEP offers the same learning opportunities to both African and American participants, mostly by reinforcing a network of exchange of experiences and ideas.
TSEP is sponsored by the Center for African Studies and the Department of Political Science at the University of Florida, with a grant from the U.S Department of State.
