AFRICA: Communication technologies transform elections

That technological change is transforming economic and social relations in Africa has become something of a cliche and is often presented as a panacea for Africa's ills. Mobile-phones and the internet are being used to coordinate agricultural prices, transfer money and coordinate famine relief. However, the political impact of new technologies has received less attention.

A special report from the IHT.

Rigging. Innovative non-governmental organizations including the National Democratic Institute in the United States have pioneered the use of mobile phones in the process of election monitoring. The first recorded example of the exclusive use of a mass coordinated mobile phone network to monitor an election occurred in Montenegro in 2006. In recent years, a decentralized system of releasing election results first at the constituency level combined with the spread of mobile phones, has allowed opposition parties and monitors to construct their own version of the 'real' election results in Africa.

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emily | 11:36 AM | Mobile phone projects - Developing World |
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