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

选举增加了COVID-19传播的风险，国际选举制度基金会（IFES）指出，在选举周期中，有40多个阶段需要人们聚集或转移物品。尽管存在这些风险，非洲在大流行期间已经举行了一些选举，包括在马里、几内亚和布隆迪举行的选举。2020年底之前，非洲还将举行9次选举，2021年将举行18次选举。在这些选举期间减少增加传播的风险是至关重要的，特别是因为世界卫生组织（世卫组织）最近宣布，该流行病正在非洲大陆加速蔓延。通过从头到尾跟踪三次选举（坦桑尼亚、加纳和中非共和国），我们将密切关注选举进程的每个阶段，以及如何减轻（如果有的话）COVID-19传播的风险。我们还将用图表说明举行选举在多大程度上对感染率产生了明显影响。第二，我们的目标是评估这一流行病是否以及如何影响政治参与。我们将评估是否有任何社会（包括性别）群体或地理人群参与政治进程的能力被削弱，无论是无意的还是有意的。这些公共卫生和治理重点将使我们能够提出可适用于即将举行的非洲选举的详细、循证和具体情况的建议。研究结果对所有其他即将举行选举的低收入和中等收入国家也很有价值。

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.