Tag Archives: DRC

Congolese Elections: Democratisation is a process, not an event.

Lord McConnell 30/01/2012 – 2:14 pm

  On December 17 2010, a young Tunisian man set himself on fire.  This desperate act helped to spark a political revolution in the Arab world.  Images of people revolting against notoriously oppressive regimes captivated onlookers worldwide.  More than a year later, the world is indeed a different place – long-term dictators have been unseated, governments shuffled or disbanded altogeth […]

DRC Elections 2012: Observing a Rush to the Polls

Lord McConnell 23/01/2012 – 11:22 am

November 28, 2011 was historic in the DRC; the first ever democratic national election organized by the Congolese themselves. Indeed it was only the second time since independence in 1960 that a multi-party electoral vote would be set to determine the presidential seat.  However, this relatively undeveloped voting system left the electoral process wide open to systemic and local corruption that c […]

Thoughts for the year

Lord Norton 31/12/2008 – 4:33 pm

Both Houses of Parliament are among the busiest legislative chambers in the world.  2008 has been a busy one for the House of Lords, though no more than usual.  Some of it activities have attracted media attention - as over the defeat of the proposal for detention without charge for 42 days - but they are very much the exception.  Most of the work of the House comprises detailed scrutiny of […]