The following paper was written by me under the direction of Dr. Kiven James Kewir who is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Buea in Cameroon. Here is the abstract with a link to the full study at the end:

The return to multiparty politics and elections in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) in the early 1990s was viewed as a positive step towards democratisation on the continent after 03 decades of autocratic rule. Elections have however seldom led to peaceful political transitions. Demands for and results of elections continue to plunge many countries into violence.

The purpose of this study was to examine the sources of electoral violence in Africa. The study was reliant on electoral violence theory by Hoglund (2009). The evidence showed that patrimonialism as the style of politics, the types of elections, the type of electoral system and election administration are the main causes of election violence in Africa. It was recommended that election management bodies should be given more autonomy in the management of elections.

Please click here for the pdf link to the full 53 page study. Some information about the authors:

Kiven James Kewir Ph.D.

Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Buea, Cameroon
Research Leader, African Leadership Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
Senior Research Associate, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Mr. Ngah Gabriel (MA, PGD)

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Politics and International Relations,
Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa