How strong is the democratic integrity of UK elections? Are turnout, candidacies and participation maximised?
The Democratic Audit is a long established project which has provided regular Audits of the quality of democracy in the UK. Originally set up in 1991 by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust through two partners – Charter88 and the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex – it was always a source of inspiration to me as an undergraduate student studying at the end of the 1990s (I’m showing my age). I even tried to set up a student version of Charter 88 – getting fellow University of York students to sign the Charter. The concept of the democratic audit spread to other countries through International IDEA.
It’s therefore a great honour to be able to contribute towards the 2017 Audit.
Here is my assessment of the quality of elections in the UK.
Toby S. James 
my name is Joseph Dzuwa and I hope I will benefit a lot to know more on elections as i will be focusing my research on elections malpractices in Malawi
Looking forward to learning lots about Malawi!
Malawi is in Southern Africa ranking the six poorest country in the world but has potential if politicians change their mind to deal with corruption in government which is the disease of the country. Looking at the political landscape we have the major parties that have a base within one of the three regions north, south and central and usually leaders of these parties come from each region where mobilisation of supporters has been either on the line of regionalism or particular ethnic group especially of the leader. Like in many African countries mobilisation of political supporters basing on ethnicity is a disease that must be rooted out because gradually it is becoming the source of conflict in the aftermath of elections because of manipulation of identity politics across ethnicity. This has resulted in patronage democracies where distribution of resources and appointment in government on benefit a particular group marginalizing others creating room for violence in the multi-ethnic culture that we have in Africa.as a result we have had flawed elections in many African country.What is the solution to make shame elections in Africa have integrity, being credible, free and fairs must be food for thought.