Observing Africa.

• Author: Cattivelli, Adrian
• Position: OAS - Brief article

"WE REALLY DON'T KNOW what to expect. We have never voted before." Expectation and anxiety characterized the first election in Angola in sixteen years. It was also the first election since the end of a bloody civil war, which left 4.7 million internally displaced persons, including some 200,000 refugees who remain outside of the country.

On September 5, 2008, an estimated 6.5 million Angolans cast their ballots, most for the first time, to elect 220 members of its National Assembly. In an effort to establish closer ties with Africa, the Organization of American States sent four election experts to join the observation mission of the African Union, an intergovernmental organization with 53 member states.

The "Democracy Bridge" program between the African Union and the OAS seeks to promote exchanges to improve the work of both organizations in an array of strategic areas, chief among them electoral observation and assistance.

Despite other challenges to democratic governability, most Latin American countries have concluded several electoral cycles, ushering peaceful transitions from competing political...