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The global spread of COVID-19 profoundly impacted the health and welfare of citizens around the world. It also risked having a profound effect on democracy and elections.

The ESRC, in collaboration with International IDEA and the University of East Anglia, funded this project on covid and elections. It asked:

  • What challenges did COVID-19 pose to the integrity of elections?

  • What policies were put in place to reduce the spread COVID-19 and protect electoral integrity?

  • How effective were these mechanisms in terms of their impact on i) the spread of COVID-19 and ii) electoral integrity?

  • What measures should countries put in place to build resilience for electoral integrity in the future?

The project wasled by Toby James (University of East Anglia)Alistair Clark (University of Newcastle), and Erik Asplund (International IDEA).

An edited volume was published in May 2023 which drew out the lessons for protecting electoral integrity during emergencies:

James, Toby S., Alistair Clark and Erik Asplund (eds) (2023) Elections During Emergencies and Crises: Lessons for Electoral Integrity from the Covid-19 Pandemic (International IDEA: Stockholm).

It is FREE to download from the International IDEA website.

Book contents

Part 1: Introduction – how covid threatened global electoral integrity

  1. Introduction, Toby S. James, Alistair Clark and Erik Asplund

  2. Do elections spread covid? Alistair Clark, Toby S. James and Erik Asplund

    Part 2: Pandemic electoral practices and their effects – Cross-national analyses

  3. Election postponement during the covid pandemic, Toby S. James, Alistair Clark and Erik Asplund

  4. How campaigns took place during the pandemic, Erik Asplund, Alistair Clark, Toby S. James,

  5. Voting during the covid-19 pandemic, Erik Asplund, Alistair Clark, Toby S. James,  

  6. The effects of the covid-19 pandemic on voter turnout, Toby S. James, Erik Asplund, Alistair Clark,

  7. How international electoral observation was affected by the covid-19 pandemic, Erik Asplund, Toby S. James, Alistair Clark,

  8. The financial cost of elections during a pandemic, Toby S. James, Alistair Clark and Erik Asplund

    Part 3: Country Case studies

  9. Argentina, María Celeste Ratto

  10. Australia, Martinez i Coma

  11. Brazil, Gabriela Tarouco

  12. Cabo Verde, Edalina Sanches

  13. Canada, Holly Ann Garnett et al.

  14. Chile, Pamela Figueroa

  15. Ethiopia, Zemelak Ayele

  16. France, Romain Rambaud

  17. Germany, Rebecca Wagner

  18. Ghana, Fortune Agbele and Ghadafi Saibu

  19. India (Bihar), Saket Ambarkhane

  20. India (other states), Zaad Mahmood

  21. Israel, Ofer Kenig

  22. Jordan, Fida Nasrallah

  23. Mali, Robert Gerenge

  24. Myanmar, Michael Lidauer and Gilles Saphy

  25. Netherlands, Leontine Loeber

  26. Nigeria, Ibrahim Sani

  27. Poland, Vasil Vashchanka

  28. Portugal, Carla Luis

  29. Russia, Iuliia Krivonosova

  30. South Korea, Antonio Spinelli and Luke Butcher

  31. Spain, Jordi Barrat

  32. Uganda, Nic Cheeseman

  33. United Kingdom, Alistair Clark and Toby S. James

  34. USA, Kate Sullivan and Charles Stewart III

    Part 4: Looking Forward

  35. How to strength electoral integrity for future emergencies, Toby S. James, Alistair Clark and Erik Asplund


Earlier resources from this project

 

COMPARATIVES Resources

Global overviews and comparative analysis

Comparative Analysis

DETAILED COUNTRY CASE STUDIES

Argentina - María Celeste Ratto, Institute for Research in Cultural Diversity and Processes of Change (IIDyPCA), National University of Río Negro and National Council for Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina (CONICET).

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Australia (Queensland), Ferran Martinez i Coma, Griffith University, Australia

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Brazil – Gabriela Tarouco, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil

Britain - Alistair Clark, Newcastle University and Toby S. James, University of East Anglia

Case coming soon

Cabo Verde - Edalina Rodrigues Sanches, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.

Canada - Holly Ann Garnett, Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau, Allison Harell and Laura Stephenson

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Chile - Pamela Figueroa, Universidad De Santiago, Chile

Ethiopia - Zemelak A. Ayele, Addis Ababa University

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France – Romain Rambaud, Université Grenoble-Alpes, France

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Germany (Bavaria) – Rebecca Wagner, Peace Research Institute in Frankfurt, Germany

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Ghana – Fortune Agbele and Ghadafi Saibu, University of Bayreuth, Germany

Bihar, India - Saket Ambarkhane, India International Institute of Democracy & Election Management, India

India - Zaad Mahmood, Presidency University, India

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Israel - Ofer Kenig, Ashkelon Academic College, Israel

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Mali – Robert Gerenge, African Union

Myanmar - Michael Lidauer and Gilles Saphy, international elections experts

Netherlands - Leontine Loeber, University of East Anglia

Nigeria - Ibrahim Sani, Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigeria

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Poland – Vasil Vashchanka, International IDEA

Portugal - Carla Luis, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal,

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Russia Iuliia Krivonosova, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia

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Spain – Jordi Barrat, Rovira i Virgili University, Spain

South Korea - Antonio Spinelli, International IDEA and Luke Butcher, formerly South Korea National Election Commission.

USA, Kate Sullivan, independent expert and Charles Stewart III, e MIT Election Data and Science Lab.

Uganda, Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham

 
 
 

Evidence to Parliaments based on the project:

Webinars

 
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Other Guidance for Holding an Election During COVID-19

Other Country Analysis

Other research from the Electoral Management Network, outside of this project:

‘Debate: safeguarding democracy during pandemics. Social distancing, postal, or internet voting—the good, the bad or the ugly?’ Robert Krimmer, David Duenas-Cid & Iuliia Krivonosova, Public Money and Management