The Elections and Conflict topic area was developed by Sead Alihodzic and Erik Asplund. Part I is original contribution, apart from section on gender based violence in elections that is contributed by IFES. Part II is largely based on International IDEA’s publications: The Guide on Factors of Election-related Violence Internal to Electoral Processes (2013) written by Sead Alihodžić and Erik Asplund, and The Guide on Factors of Election-related Violence External to Electoral Processes (2013) written by Sead Alihodžić and Catalina Uribe Burcher. Part III is largely based on The Guide on Action Points for the Prevention and Mitigation of Election-related Violence (2013) written by Sead Alihodžić and Erik Asplund, and Alihodžić S. (2013), Electoral Violence Early Warning and Infrastructures for Peace, Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, 7:3, 54-69.

Special thanks go to Virginia Beramendi, Oliver Joseph, Natasha Ikners, Mark Salter and Sofia Bingermark for their support in editing, and to Eva Johais and Alexander Raffoul for their research contributions. Thanks further extend to peer-reviewers from ACE partner organizations who provided insightful comments, in particular to Virginia Spinks and Avery Davis-Roberts from The Carter Centre, Aleida Ferreyra and Risa Arai from the UNDP, Gabrielle Bardall, Ryan Bennett and Vasu Mohan from IFES for reviewing and contributing to the final draft and, to IFES for contributing section on violence against women in elections (2.3), and to Sara Staino and Heather Szilagyi who both coordinated partners’ inputs.

Sead Alihodzic has over 20 years of professional experience working with elections, democratization, and peace building. In 2008, Sead joined the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) where, as Senior Programme Officer, he is in charge of the Elections and Conflict project work. In addition to afore mentioned publications, Sead authored several articles on the topics of elections, violence, early warning, risk management in elections, and democracy promotion, including: Risk Management in Elections (International IDEA Policy Paper No.14, 2016); The mechanics of democracy promotion tools: bridging the knowledge-to-practice gap (Development in Practice, 2016); Prevention and Mitigation of Election-related Violence – A Three Layered Approach (New Routes – A journal of peace research and action, 2012); ‘Elections, Violence and Peace’ (‘Ballots or Bullets: Potentials and Limitations of Elections in Conflict Contexts; Swisspeace Annual Conference 2010’). Sead holds a Master’s degree from the University of Essex

Erik Asplund is a Programme Officer with International IDEA’s Electoral Processes Programme. He joined the institute in 2009 working on Democracy Analysis and Assessment and the Electoral Risk Management Tool. His current work on institutional strengthening and professional development in elections focuses on: Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) project; the ACE project; electoral risk management; and electoral management design, with a focus on electoral training, education and research facilities. From 2015–16 he worked as the Coordinator of the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. He has worked with electoral management bodies in Africa, Asia, the Arab World, Europe, North America and Latin America on various electoral capacity development projects. Before joining International IDEA, Asplund worked in the Gambia on democracy and human rights projects. He has also worked for several think tanks including Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). He holds a Master’s degree in international studies from Uppsala University, Sweden.