The Gambia’s 55-year-old marbles voting system is simple but difficult to cheat

Alieu Sanneh, University of Missouri-St. Louis The Gambia’s President Adama Barrow has been declared winner of the election held on 4 December. Barrow received around 53% of the vote cast while his closest rival at the polls, Oussainou Darboe, got … Continue reading The Gambia’s 55-year-old marbles voting system is simple but difficult to cheat

Take the test: Which political tribe are you?

  So what type of voter are you? Pollsters Populus have come up with a new way of tapping into the mind of the electorate. You can take the test here – but first let us explain what it is all about. Worcester woman. Mondeo Man. Political parties love slicing and dicing the electorate into chunks, all the better to target them for their votes. The technique is called segmentation and – like many political tools – has been perfected in the United States. Gone are the days when the public was segmented by simple things like their cars or postcodes. Now … Continue reading Take the test: Which political tribe are you?

Delusional reality of Pakistani peace

By Sameera Rashid Pakistani political parties of different ideological denominations, after attending the All Parties Conference (APC) in Karachi, issued a communique at the conclusion blaming the US war on terror and the negative fall out from drone attacks for the enormous loss of Pakistani lives in the battle against militancy. Observers have termed this a one-sided understanding of a complicated reality that will only embolden the militants. Militancy in Pakistan has been spawned by multiple factors; in fact, the rise in militancy is akin to a sedimentation process, where inundation of one layer upon another, has created a compressed … Continue reading Delusional reality of Pakistani peace