GCRF_NF109: GCRFCV19@ukri.org African elections during the COVID-19 pandemic

选举增加了新冠肺炎传播的风险，国际选举系统基金会强调，在选举周期中，人们聚集在一起或转移物品的40多个阶段。尽管存在这些风险，但在疫情期间，非洲已经举行了一些选举，包括马里、几内亚和布隆迪的选举。在2020年底之前，非洲还将举行9次选举，2021年将举行18次选举。在选举期间减少传播增加的风险至关重要，特别是在世界卫生组织(WHO)最近宣布大流行正在非洲大陆加速的情况下。通过自始至终地跟踪(坦桑尼亚、加纳和中非共和国)三次选举，我们将密切关注选举进程的每个阶段，以及如何减少(如果有的话)新冠肺炎传播的风险。我们还将绘制举行选举对感染率产生明显影响的程度。第二，我们的目标是评估大流行是否以及如何影响政治参与。我们将评估任何社会(包括性别)群体或地理人口参与政治进程的能力是否被无意或故意地降低。这些公共卫生和治理重点将使我们能够提出详细的、基于证据的和针对具体情况的建议，这些建议可以应用于即将到来的非洲选举。这一发现也将对即将举行选举的所有其他低收入和中等收入国家(LMIC)具有价值。

Elections involve increased risks of the spread of COVID-19, with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) highlighting more than 40 stages where people assemble, or objects are transferred during the electoral cycle. Despite these risks, a number of elections have already taken place in Africa during the pandemic, including those in Mali, Guinea, and Burundi. Nine more elections are due to take place in Africa before the end of 2020, and there are 18 scheduled for 2021. Reducing the risks of increased transmission during these elections is paramount, particularly as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently declared that the pandemic is accelerating on the continent. By following three elections (in Tanzania, Ghana and the Central African Republic) from beginning to end, we will look closely at each stage of the electoral process and how the risks of COVID-19 transmission have been mitigated (if at all). We will also chart the extent to which holding elections has had a demonstrable effect on infection rates. Secondly, we aim to assess whether and how the pandemic affects political participation. We will evaluate whether the ability of any social (including gendered) groups or geographic populations to engage in the political process is reduced, either unintentionally or deliberately. These public health and governance foci will allow us to produce detailed, evidence-based, and context-specific recommendations that can be applied to upcoming African elections. The findings will also be valuable to all other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that are due to hold elections.