immediately prior to the election being held. For the purposes on comparison, all elections, both national and bye-elections, were included, as well as three months in which major national protests took place. A total of 12,514 [42%] violations were recorded in the 22 months in which elections or protests took place as opposed to 17,226 [58%] in all the other 56 months. The association with elections and the suppression of protest could not be more graphically put. Furthermore, it can also be seen that very serious violations – abductions, attempted murder, death threats, disappearances, murder, rape and torture – all increase during the election/protest months. Table 2 Months with elections compared to months without elections. Elections [n=22] 3% 24% 10% 0.10% 1% 0.10% 2% No Elections [n=56] 0.70% 32% 9% 0.10% 0.30% 0% 5% abduction* arrest & detention assault attempted murder* death threat* disappearance* displacement interference with freedoms 17% 34% murder* 0.50% 0.20% political discrimination* 18% 6% property violation 6% 5% rape* 0.10% 0.10% school closure 0% 0% torture* 18% 8% *all significant at p=0.05 or greater 21