BOOK REVIEW: Alexander B. Makulilo; Eugène Ntaganda; Francis A. Away; Margaret Sekaggya & Patrick Osodo, Election Management Bodies in East Africa: A Comparative Study of the Contribution of Electoral Commissions to the Strengthening of Democracy. Nairobi: Open Society Foundations, 2015. 293 pages, ISBN 978-1-920677-96-1

Abstract

Election Management Bodies (EMBs) are critical to the conduct of elections and the consolidation of democracy. Nevertheless, there remains a scanty comprehensive analysis of EMBs in East Africa. Makulilo, Ntaganda, Away, Sekaggya, and Osodo’s book ventures into that journey. Their book analyses the nature and role of EMBs in five East African countries, namely Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, centring election management at the heart of democratisation and democratic consolidation. The book situates EMBs into a broader perspective, assuming "their status as a product of the struggle for democracy, their anchorage in the constitutional traditions of each society, their place in the history of political reform, and their interaction with the other institutions of each country" (p. viii). The book's essence draws from the reality that African elections and governance contestations primarily revolve around the management and administration of elections (p. 1).