Observations

In this episode, Ethan Reuter speaks with Dr. Luke Blaxill about the extraordinary 1918 general election—the first after the Great War and the first under the Representation of the People Act, which tripled the electorate overnight. Held just six weeks after armistice amid demobilisation and the influenza pandemic, this was democracy's leap into the great unknown. The conversation explores the dra...

In this episode, Ethan Reuter speaks with Dr. Luke Blaxill, historian and Oxford college lecturer, about the 1832 general election that followed Britain's Great Reform Act. This wasn't just an election—it was a constitutional turning point that redrew the boundaries of British democracy itself. The conversation explores the turbulent lead-up to reform, from the July Revolution in France to widespr...

We are stepping into the world of satire with the classic BBC comedy Blackadder. In one of its sharpest episodes, ‘Dish and Dishonesty’ we’re taken to the so-called Dunny-on-the-Wold by-election — a contest for a “rotten borough” so small it has only one voter… and even he’s dead. Our guest for this episode will be none other than William Pitt the Younger, himself. Played by Simon Osborne in the B...

In this episode, Matt Davis interviews Lord David Alton about his extraordinary victory in the 1979 Liverpool Edge Hill by-election. At just 27 years old, Alton achieved one of the most stunning upsets in British electoral history, overturning a massive Labour majority in one of their safest seats during the Winter of Discontent. The conversation explores how a young Liberal teacher and councillor...

The UK’s overseas postal voting system is failing — extended enfranchisement without operational capacity has created a perfect storm of lost ballots, tight timetables and systemic disenfranchisement. In this document we report alarmingly low return rates for overseas packs (average c.52% vs 81% domestically) and we explain how batching practices, snap-election application surges and short statuto...

Win the votes, buy the votes, steal the votes, invalidate the votes! There is a lot that can go right - and so much that can go wrong - in a Ukrainian election. From the opening of the campaign through to the final decision on the results, it is a rollercoaster ride for the candidates, the election workers, and the international observers who have travelled from afar to see it all. In What Ukraini...

Lily Russell-Jones interviews Director of Democracy Volunteers, Dr. John Ault, on the deployment of observers at the Norwegian Parliamentary Election. The interview covers topics from changes in law affecting family voting through to potential foreign interference, listen in to learn the intricacies of polling day in Norway.

Over the coming weeks Democracy Volunteers and the Observations Podcast will be guiding you through some of the most historic general elections in the UK. From the 1832 election which brought in the first seeds of parliamentary reform, the 1906 Liberal landslide, the Coupon Election of 1918 up to the 1997 Labour win and the 2010 election which delivered the first coalition since the war, our team...

This year, Democracy Volunteers celebrates a decade of independent election observation . Since our founding in 2015, we have grown to become Western Europe’s leading election observation organisation, working at home and abroad to improve the quality of elections and to strengthen public confidence in the democratic process. Over the past ten years, our observers have been on the ground in pollin...

In this episode, Matt Davis sits down with Trudy Harrison, who won the Copeland by-election in 2017, overturning decades of Labour dominance in the constituency. Trudy reflects on the dramatic campaign that brought her into Parliament, the issues that defined the contest, and what it was like to step into national politics through such a high-profile victory.  From the pressures of campaignin...

On 1 September 2025, Guyana heads to the polls in one of the most closely watched elections in its history. With the country transformed by its oil boom and politics shaped by fragile coalitions, the stakes could not be higher. In this special episode, Matt Davis speaks with political analyst Dr. Duane Edwards of the University of Guyana about the key players, shifting alliances, and what’s at ris...

Taras Kuzio is a British Professor of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Kyiv, Ukraine). His area of study is Russian and Ukrainian political, economic and security affairs. Matt Davis interviews Dr. Kuzio, an internationally respected expert in Ukrainian and Russian politics. In this episode Matt discusses the 2004 Ukrainian Election around the Orange Revolution...

Our 'Elections that Shook the World' series leads Matt Davis to interview two leading academics who were part of the changes that brought democracy to South Africa in 1994. Professor Nancy Jacobs of Brown University in the United States. She is an historian of South Africa and of colonial Africa and her power in obscure corners including a mysterious and forgotten diplomatic initiative. She was a...

Following the collapse of Communism in the Eastern Bloc, our podcast team looks at the changes in the former Yugoslavia, how it separated into its ethnic parts leading eventually to civil war in the 1990s. Matt Davis interviews Dr. Florian Bieber, the Professor of Southeast European History and Politics at the University of Graz, concerning the changes that were brought about and how they shook th...

Over the coming weeks, our new presenter, James Heaton, will be hosting a series of "after dark" podcast episodes concerning fictional, TV and other examples of elections that have shaped opinions and given insight to viewers about the way elections are run and how they fit into our culture. From Richard Hannay's speech to a 1910s audience in The Thirty-Nine Steps, to Dunny-on-the-Wold, a pocket b...

Matt Davis interviews Dr. Sebastián Hurtado Torres, from Universidad San Sebastián about the election in 1970 of Salvador Allende, to become the first Socialist leader of his country. His election saw international support and condemnation in equal measure with support for his election being divided along the lines of the Cold War. In this interview, Professor Torres explains the impacts in Chile,...

On 29th August 2025, Samoa votes in its first general election since 2021. In this episode of The Observations Podcast Matt Davis our Special Internation Election Editor interviews Dr. Iati Iati of the University of Victoria in Wellington (New Zealand). The election will see contest between traditional parties and newer parties that have emerged over the past few years. This is the second in our s...

Matt Davis will be interviewing Dr. Iati Iati about the forthcoming Samoan General Election. Dr. Iati, an expert in Samoan elections, will be speaking from Wellington New Zealand.

Possibly one of the most controversial by-elections in British political history occurred in 1981 when Bobby Sands, an imprisoned IRA terrorist, was elected to the Westminster Parliament despite being imprisoned at the time. This interview with Dr. Peter McLoughlin of Queen’s University Belfast, reader at “The Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice”, tells the p...

In our new season of Elections that Shook the World, Matt Davis interviews international experts and participants in some of the elections that made history. From 1970s South America, 1980s Europe and referendums that threatened to change the course of nations, the Observations Podcast delves into famous elections around the world.

Our team interviews for Conservative MP Edward Timpson, winner of the 2008 Crewe and Nantwich By-Election. The seat became vacant on the death of Gwyneth Dunwoody who had been the local MP since 1974. Timpson’s victory in the by-election was the first Conservative gain in a parliamentary by-election since 1982 and the first from the Labour Party since 1978. At the time, Gordon Brown had replaced T...

Finland’s 2025 local elections have been praised as “extremely well-run” by international observers, with high marks for accessibility, professionalism, and voter experience at polling stations. But beneath the surface of this democratic success story lie quieter concerns—issues like family voting, unsealed ballot boxes, and confusing ballot designs—that could threaten voter trust if left unaddres...

In the coming weeks there will be new episodes on famous by-elections from around the UK. Listen in to find out more in our forthcoming series!

Matt Davis interviews Dr. John Ault, Director of Democracy Volunteers, about their recently released report on the 2025 English local elections, held on May 1st. The Democracy Volunteers team deployed observers across every area in England holding elections, with the exception of the Isles of Scilly. Once again they observed several challenges to the voting process and have made a number of recomm...

Alex Iszatt interviews Leah Brown on her White Paper on 'Restoring Public Trust and Accountability'. Leah is a Lawyer who has drawn up a new policy on how to improve the way that UK institutions can improve the way they engage with the public. Listening to the public, MPs, media and ensuring that institutions are responsive to what people need is a focus of Leah's paper.