By Khabele Matlosa, Victor Shale and Dimpho Motsamai. Electoral Institute for Sustainability of Democracy in Africa, 2010.
Violence during elections tends to be an outgrowth of elite struggles for control of state power and resources and is much more likely when rules and institutions to manage political competition are weak or manipulable. Political party liaison mechanisms and more autonomous electoral commissions can mitigate triggers of violence, but genuine prevention requires that the African Union and Regional Economic Communities pressure political elites to support and observe legitimate electoral processes.
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