International Elections and Election Results

This is a rough draft. On a few occasions, patrons have asked me for information about international elections, or asked how to obtain the results of elections held in countries other than the U.S. I don't have anything in the International Documents Collection that is helpful, so I put together this guide. (The International Documents Collection does not contain the documents of foreign governments; it contains the documents and publications of intergovernmental organizations.) Sources in bold are recommended. Gov Info serves Northwestern, the public, and the academic community at large. For assistance with these resources, please visit the department or contact a librarian at 1-847-467-3679 or (govinfo@northwestern.edu).

For information about United States elections, see the web page created by the Federal Documents Round Table of the American Library Association at http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/romans/fdtf/elections.html.

Contents

  1. Web sites
  2. Electronic Indexes and Sources on NUnet
  3. Materials at Northwestern University Library

Web Sites

 

World Coverage

  • The CIA World Factbook
    • This doesn't contain election information. It is a general reference work that describes countries' governments and political structures.
    • For 267 entities, the Factbook contains these sections: introduction, geography, people, government (lists political parties and their leaders), economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.
    • Print issues of the World Factbook, from 1981-present, are in Gov Info, PREX 3.15: . Current year is in Government Publications Reference.
  • ElectionGuide.org http://www.ifes.org/eguide/elecguide.htm
    • Coverage: 1998-present
    • Election entries for all national-level presidential, parliamentary, and legislative elections, also important national referenda. Other elections may be occasionally included.
    • Includes election date, information source, government structure, electoral system, the main parties and/or candidates standing for election, results of previous elections, current political/electoral environment, country election authorities, results summaries, and voter turnout
    • The International Foundation for Election Systems is non-profit and non-partisan. It provides assistance in monitoring, supporting, and strengthening the mechanics of the election process around the world.
    • Coverage: mid-1990's - present, some historic information
    • Mr. Álvarez-Rivera links to Internet sites that provide national and local election information. For most countries, Mr. Álvarez-Rivera links to the web site maintained by a country's government agency responsible for elections.
    • presented by Manuel Álvarez-Rivera
  • Elections Around the World http://www.electionworld.org/
    • A database, organized by country, that contains: head of state, parliamentary structure, election process of head for state and parliament, election results for head of state and members of parliament, links to web sites of heads of state, parliaments, political parties, sources of information
    • The most useful component of this site is the list of links to the web sites of political parties. http://www.electionworld.org/election/alllinks.htm
    • The site also includes an electoral calendar, latest election results, and lists of links to electoral institutes and parliaments.
    • Site by Wilfried Derksen. IFES (see "ElectionGuide.org") is the source for much of the information in "Elections Around the World."
  • Lijphart Elections Archive http://dodgson.ucsd.edu/lij/
    • The LEA "is a research collection of district level election results for approximately 350 national legislative elections in 26 countries. The objective of the Archive is to systematically collect election statistics in detail...The Archive originally acquired print copies of the data and is now focusing on online data. The catalog of holdings details archive holdings of both print and online data as well as access to data when it can be freely disseminated. In addition the catalog links to other sources of online election data and information that can be found on the internet."
    • The scope of the archive is 1945 to the present for the West European democracies plus the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Israel, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. The archive contains more recent information for other countries.
    • The Lijphart Elections Archive is housed at Social Sciences and Humanities Library of the University of California, San Diego campus.

  • Voter Turnout from 1945 to Date: a Global Report on Political Participation http://www.idea.int/Voter_turnout/index.html
    • IDEA assists countries to build democracy, promotes sustainable election processes, provides comparable information on political participation in countries, and uses conflict management to support sustainable democracy.
    • IDEA Publications http://www.idea.int/publications/index.htm
    • The web site contains full-text publications, including country-specific reports.
    • "The Institute for Democracry and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) promotes and advances sustainable democracy and improves and consolidates electoral processes world-wide."

The Americas

  • LANIC Electoral Observatory http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/info/newsroom/elections/
    • Coverage: 1998-present
    • comprehensive data for Argentina, Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela
    • current news, election results, election coverage, electoral resources, news, political parties and candidates
    • The Latin American Network Information Center is affiliated with the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

Developing Nations and Post-Communist Countries

  • "Election Watch" in Journal of Democracy http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/election_watch/
    • Coverage: full-text on-line 1995-present, print issues at NUL 1990-present
    • "Election Watch" provides reports of recently decided and upcoming elections in developing nations and the postcommunist world. This is a full-text web site. Information is in the form of brief reports for each country.
    • IFES (see "ElectionGuide.org") is the source for most of the information in "Election Watch."
      • Journal of Democracy is an edited journal from Johns Hopkins University Press, published since 1990. It monitors and analyzes democratic regimes and movements.
      • Volumes from 1995-present are available on-line at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/index.html
      • At Northwestern University Library, current issues are in the Main Library Periodical/Newspaper Reading Room. Previous issues are in the Main stacks, call number 321.805 J86.
  • EU Electoral Assistance and Observation http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/human_rights/eu_election_ass_observ/index.htm
    • This site contains full-text official documents about EU election assistance and reports on elections monitored by the External Relations D-G.
    • Electoral observation is a part of the Human Rights & Democratisation program of the External Relations Directorate-General, a department of the European Commission.
  • OSCE Field Activities http://www.osce.org/field_activities/
    • The OSCE monitors elections and assists in democratization in South-Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.
    • The web site describes OSCE activities and contains the full-text of country-specific reports.
    • "The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is a regional security organization of 55 participating states from Europe, Central Asia and North America."

Emerging Democracies and Electoral Assistance

  • ACE (Administration and Cost of Elections) Project http://www.aceproject.org/main/english/default.htm
    • Comprehensive information on all aspects of organising elections, divided into twelve major topic areas: electoral systems, legislative framework, electoral management, boundary delimitation, voter education, voter registration, voting operations, parties and candidates, vote counting, media and elections, election integrity, and elections and technology.
    • Glossary of Electoral Terms http://www.aceproject.org/main/english/gloss.htm
    • "The ACE Project is a the result of a collaborative effort among three leading international organisations. The partners are the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA)."
    • The CD-ROM of ACE Project version 0.1 (April 1999) is available in the Gov Info, 324.068 A173.
  • Carter Center International Activities http://www.cartercenter.org/international.html
    • Coverage: 1986-present
    • The Carter Center monitors and mediates multiparty elections.
    • The International Activities page links to activities by country. Most often, the information provided on the web site is a brief description of the election and outcome. For some countries, the site includes a .pdf file of a detailed report.
    • Former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn founded this policy research center in partnership with Emory University.
  • USAID Democracy and Governance http://www.usaid.gov/democracy/
    • USAID's democracy activities are concentrated in four regions: Africa, Asia and the Near East, Europe and Eurasia and Latin America and the Caribbean.
    • The USAID web site contains the full-text of technical publications and country-specific program reports.
    • The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State.
  • United Nations Development Programme. Democratic Governance. http://magnet.undp.org/.
    • This web site contains the full-text of documents and papers related to the work of the division.
    • Two indexes to documents are arranged by subject and geographic region.
    • The Management Development and Governance Division supports governing institutions, decentralised governance, public sector management and accountability, urban development, governance in crisis countries, and capacity development.
  • United Nations Electoral Assistance http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/ead/eadhome.htm
    • Coverage: 1989-present
    • This web site contains the database, "Member States' Requests For Electoral Assistance To The United Nations System." The database lists the date of request, period of request, and a brief description of the UN's response.
    • The UN's Electoral Assistance Divistion (EAD) assists member states in holding elections and helps the member state build the institutional capacity to hold credible elections.
See also http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Politics/Campaigns_and_Elections/

 Electronic Indexes and Sources on NUnet

These resources are on NUnet, the Northwestern University network. They are purchased by Northwestern University Library and are accessible via the web, but are available only on computers connected to NUnet. Northwestern community members whose computers are not on NUnet must follow the instructions on the proxy services guide to access these resources.

    • Newsbank contains full-text articles in English, from translated broadcasts, of news agency transmissions, wire services, newspapers, magazines and government documents. Global Newsbank source list
    • Articles are from Africa, Asia, Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Pacific Rim, Central and South America, and the Middle East
    • Articles indexed are from 1996 - present
    • How to Cite Information Found in NewsBank InfoWeb Products
        Search strategies
      • Search using Newsbank topic terms
        1. Choose customized search.
        2. Type a country name in the "search for" box.
        3. Type a Newsbank topic term in the "in topic" box.
        4. Suggested topic terms: elections, government officials, legislators (non-U.S.), political parties, recounts, voter attitudes, voting
      • Search by keyword
        1. Choose keyword search and type a country name and keywords in the search box.
        2. suggested keywords: "election results," "parliamentary election"
  • PAIS
    • PAIS indexes materials from 1972-present
    • PAIS is an index to literature in public policy, social policy, and the social sciences, published by Public Affairs Information Service.
        Search strategies
      • Search using words from the PAIS thesaurus: elections, participation, political, country name, political parties, country name, political party officials, country name, voting, voting-compulsory
      • Search using keywords: names of political parties
  • Statistical Universe
    • Statistical Universe is the index to the full-text documents contained in the microfiche sets American Statistics Index (ASI), Statistical Reference Index (SRI), and Index to International Statistics (IIS).
    • ASI and IIS fiche are in Gov Info. SRI fiche is in the Periodicals and Newspapers Reading Room.
    • ASI fiche contains full-text publications from U.S. Federal agencies, U.S. Congress, and U.S. Courts. SRI contains full-text publications of associations, business organizations, commercial publishers, independent research organizations, state governments and university research centers. IIS contains full-text publications of intergovernmental organizations.
        Search strategies
      • Search using subjects: elections, human rights (State & Private, International), Parliaments and legislative bodies (International), political conditions (international), political parties (international), Referenda (State & Private, International), Voter registration (State & Private, International)
      • There is more information about political conditions than election results.

Materials at Northwestern University Library

Suggestions for searching NUcat

    Library of Congress Subject Headings
  • elections-(name of country)
  • elections-(name of country)-statistics
  • political parties-(name of country)
  • political parties-(name of country)-statistics
  • the subdivision "history" may be added to these subjects
  • Democracy Developing Countries

Selected materials

Caramani, Daniele. Elections in Western Europe since 1815: electoral results by constituencies. London, Macmillan Reference, 2000.

  • Main Circulation Desk 324.9405 C259e CD
  • Main Library 324.9405 C259e (book)

Committee of the Regions of the European Union. Voter turnout at regional and local elections in the European Union 1990-2001. Luxembourg: Office for Publications of the European Communities, 2001.

  • Gov Info Reference324.94 V971 2001

Day, Alan J. and Henry W. Degenhardt. Political Parties of the World. London: Longman, 1984.

  • Main Reference 324.2 D273p 1984

Keesing's Record of World Events. London: Keesing's Limited, 1931-

  • Main Reference News Services (located on the book shelves immediately to the west of the computer stations) L 940.5 K26
  • This is compilation of news sources. Search the annual indexes for the name of a country, and look up the political or electoral information listed for that country. Or, search the indexes by the name of a political party.

Mackie, Thomas T. and Richard Rose. The International almanac of electoral history. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1991.

  • Main Reference 329.023 MI58i 1991

Created by KW 2002
Updated by CM 2005

govinfo@northwestern.edu