Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America

Transcription

1 53 Authors: Line Bareiro Horacio Boneo Manuel Carrillo Roberto Courtney Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America Several authors Roberto Cuéllar M. Antonio Chaler Maribel Jaen Oscar López Percy Medina Gabriel Medrano Erasmo Pinilla Macarena Romero Andrea Sanhueza Pablo Secchi Omar Simón José Thompson Ricardo Valverde

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4 ACQUIRED LESSONS CONCERNING OBSERVATION OF ELECTORAL MATTERS IN LATIN AMERICA SERIE CUADERNOS DE CAPEL

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6 ACQUIRED LESSONS CONCERNING OBSERVATION OF ELECTORAL MATTERS IN LATIN AMERICA IIHR-CAPEL Inter-American Institute of Human Rights Center for Electoral Assistance and Promotion 2008

7 First Edition IIHR-CAPEL, Costa Rica, 2008 The opinions expressed by the authors on CAPEL NOTEBOOKS do not necessarily reflect the point of view of IIHR/CAPEL. 324 I59-a Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos Acquired lessons concerning observation of electoral matters in Latin America / Instituto interamericano de Derechos Humanos. -- San José, C.R. : IIDH, 2009 / 215 p. ; 13X21 cm. ISBN Derechos políticos 2. Derecho electoral 3. América Latina The materials published here may be reproduced in whole or in part, provided these are not altered, the corresponding credits are assigned, and copy of the publication or reproduction is submitted to the editor. Production Team: José Thompson María Lourdes González Arias Academic Coordination Line Bareiro, Horacio Boneo, Manuel Carrillo, Roberto Courtney, Roberto Cuéllar M., Maribel Jaen, Oscar López, Percy Medina, Gabriel Medrano, Erasmo Pinilla, Macarena Romero, Andrea Sanhueza, Pablo Secchi, Omar Simón, José Thompson, Ricardo Valverde Authors IIDH Information and Editorial Service Unit Prepress Ana Marcela Herrera Translation to English Walter Meoño Diagramming Imprenta y Litografía Segura Hermanos Printing Inter-American Institute of Human Rights PO Box San Jose, Costa Rica Tel.: (506) Fax: (506) uinformacion@iidh.ed.cr

8 Contents Presentation...9 Roberto Cuéllar José Thompson I Section The electoral observation and its institutions Perspectives of Electoral Observation at the Beginning of the XXI Century: A Vision from the Relationship between Human Rights, Democracy and Electoral Processes...15 Roberto Cuéllar José Thompson Electoral National and International Observation...41 Erasmo Pinilla (International and National) Electoral Observation...51 Horacio Boneo Manuel Carrillo Ricardo Valverde Electoral Observation from an Academy Perspective...89 Gabriel Medrano 7

9 II Section Experiences and lessons acquired through the domestic observation of elections From the Latin American Electoral Bulletin XVII (1997) to CAPEL Notebook N 53 (2008). An Updated Reading on the National Electoral Observation 10 Years Later Ricardo Valverde Ten Lessons Learned about the Electoral Observation from the Perspective of the Civil Society Percy Medina SAKÃ: A Shared Experience Line Bareiro Óscar López Electoral Observation: New Tendencies in View of Today s Challenges Roberto Courtney Quick Count in Local Non-Party Electoral Observation Omar Simón Law on Transparency, Limit and Control of Electoral Expenses and their Modifications. Contributions to Transparency of Political Financing in Chile Andrea Sanhueza Antonio Chaler The Role of Panamanian Catholic Church on National Elections Observation Maribel Jaén Mass Media Monitoring in Electoral Campaigns Pablo Secchi Macarena Romero

10 Presentation Since the beginning of the Third Democratic Wave in Latin America, electoral processes have acquired a protagonist role in the development of democracy in the region. Competitive and clean elections have become the sine qua non of the democratic game rules, particularly in those countries with authoritarian regimes or with a tradition of fraudulent or questioned electoral processes. One of the main efforts carried out to democratize and improve the electoral process is focused on the legal and technical strengthening of electoral bodies. Indeed, it was understood that these bodies were called to be the custodians and guarantors of the popular will expressed on the polls, and therefore they should be the in the center of every reforming process to the electoral regime. In this sense, the debates and efforts to solve the organizational and administrative problems of electoral institutions were intensified, and it was sought to provide them with the legal, technical and financial mechanisms necessary to ensure the adequate compliance with their tasks. Parallel to the internal processes addressed to strengthen the electoral bodies, a movement of international cooperation and advisory took place; its objective was to join the national reform efforts, and thus contribute to have the electoral process be ruled by democratic measures, to restrict electoral fraud or great-scale manipulating practices, and to develop public trust for the electoral act. One of the factors that has definitively positively affected this electoral processes and bodies strengthening has been elections observation, both at the international and national levels. This 9

11 observation task has become a common practice in the region, and its positive contributions have been highlighted by electoral bodies, political parties and citizenship itself. The IIHR/CAPEL, as an institution addressed to the strengthening of regimes and electoral bodies, has actively participated in the elections observation processes. Although its focus has been located on international observation through the region s electoral body associations, it has also worked closely with national observation institutions that have arisen on many of our countries, and who have united in the so-called Lima Agreement. In this sense, we can affirm that the IIHR/CAPEL experience in the electoral observation field is one of the widest and more productive in the region, and probably, the world. This is expressed not only in the development of the technical assistance projects carried out in the middle of the nineteen nineties in countries such as Dominican Republic and Paraguay, or in the accompaniment to the Lima Agreement from its foundation until today, but also in its academic and information systematization approach; a token of this is the production of an edition of the late Latin American Electoral Bulletin Series (No. XVII of year 1997) and currently, with historical sense and a balance of lesson learned, this edition of the CAPEL Notebooks. Precisely from this institutional experience, which has been nourished by the great variety of observation practices, we have sought to provide the reader through this Notebook 53, a compilation of articles whose main objective is to show the different angles, approaches and practices of electoral observation lived in Latin America over the last decades. What is valuable of this perspective is that it goes further than just posing the central concepts and foundations of the electoral observation tasks. Certainly, this Notebook presents a conceptual and historical analysis of the practices on this matter, but moreover, it offers the perspective of electoral observation as a topic of interest for the academy, reflections from electoral organization, as well 10

12 as a varied and rich compilation and systematization of national observation practices narrated by their own protagonists. It is worth mentioning that the characteristics of the content of this Notebook mark a difference in regards to the previous editions. More than articles with mainly academic purposes, in this opportunity our objective is to present a set of collaborations and punctual and illustrative reflections of the Latin America experience on the matter over the last few years, whose main richness is to provide guidelines to understand the beginning and development of these practices and ways of citizenship and political participation in the region. The particularity and value of this work lies rather on the systematization and updated organization of scattered information, and, probably, in certain cases, not even documented in writing. What is valuable is, overall, to adequately collect and present what the actors of the organizations that affect political and electoral processes do. Many individuals acknowledge the richness and creativity of this work, and in the best of cases, know about the internal or available documents on the web page of such organizations, but these are only strokes of what is generally praised or acknowledged as a contribution of democracy to our countries, but is not found anywhere in written form. In this sense, the structure of the work presents two main parts: the first is conceptual and general, and it includes several articles focused on the analysis of electoral observation and its institutions; and the second is more testimonial, and it comprises experiences and lessons learned by several of the main organizations that carry out national observation in such diverse countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina and Paraguay, and recently, in Ecuador, Costa Rica and Bolivia. Aware that currently competitive elections are part of Latin America s daily life and that these are linked by default to numerous political and social actors who perform them well, we deliver this edition with the hope that its content becomes an inspiration to launch 11

13 new electoral observation efforts and practices that will foster the strengthening of political and electoral democracy in our America. Roberto Cuéllar M. IIHR Executive Director José Thompson CAPEL Director 12

14 I Section The electoral observation and its institutions

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16 Perspectives of Electoral Observation at the Beginning of the XXI Century: A Vision from the Relationship between Human Rights, Democracy and Electoral Processes Roberto Cuéllar José Thompson* Introduction Electoral observation has had more development in Latin America than anywhere else in the world, and although not everyone shares the same opinion about it, and there is certain polemics about its effectiveness, the truth is that it is still present in almost all the Western Hemisphere electoral processes, and for many, its becoming a determined electoral process is a synonym of correct and legitimate elections. The movement towards the recovery of democracy in Latin America, since the end of eighties, coincides with the accelerated display of CAPEL s works, in its accompaniment to electoral bodies in the entire continental territory and part of the Western Hemisphere islands, in * Roberto Cuéllar is Executive Director of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos - IIHR), and José Thompson is Director of the Center for Electoral Assistance and Promotion (Centro de Asesoría y Promoción Electoral CAPEL). This paper is framed on the context of the efforts of the Center for Political and Social Studies (Centro de Estudios Políticos y Sociales CEPS Foundation), to analyze the fundamental institutions and to foster the comparison of experiences and lessons learned in the development of electoral observation. The perspective taken in this regard is related, in terms of accumulated practice, with the work of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights through its Center for Electoral Assistance and Promotion, and therefore, it is focused mainly on the Inter-American level. 15

17 the development of dozens of technical assistance projects that helped rebuild the foundations and the engineering itself for the realization of electoral processes in such conditions that they would guarantee acceptable margins of liberty, legitimacy, authenticity, competitivity and transparency. In this context, the electoral observation practiced by CAPEL has been strongly linked to the figure of electoral bodies in the region and has been understood as complementary of technical advisory in this matter. It is necessary to remember that, in general, in Latin America the organization of elections and the resolution of conflicts related to these are trusted to one or several autonomous specialized entities. This has favored the generation of a real Electoral Right as a specialty, 1 and it explains the width of options open when it is possible to dialogue and directly agree with the electoral institution, without this implying that this should be done through the national government. CAPEL, since its foundation, has chosen the closeness and direct contact with electoral bodies and has cooperated with them to get organized into associations that foster the exchange of experiences and detect rich shades in the common language that today is the procedural part of representative democracy in the region. 2 Taking this geographical and institutional framework into account, it is necessary to deepen on the concept of observation itself and its justification, understand its components, submit an evaluation to repeated practice, and derive certain relevant learnings, not only for this part of the world, but for everyone interested in the promotion of democracy through elections. For the IIHR and its CAPEL specialized program, the issue of the relation between human rights and democracy is not new and comes from the same statute that gave life to the Institute on year 1980: Article 4. The Institute shall base its activities on the principles of representative democracy and the rule of law, ideological pluralism, 1 In fact, this is known as the electoral organization Latin American model. See Electoral Bodies in the IIHR/CAPEL, Diccionario Electoral, II Edition. IIHR, San José 2000, pp. 944 ss. 2 In this respect, consult Electoral body associations. Ibid.cit. pp.51 ss. 16

18 respect for human rights and basic freedoms and their international protection. In a Latin America that was then plagued with authoritarism, in which authentic representative democracy was only an exception, valid in three countries in the region, to establish a center addressed to human rights required optimism and vision, but more optimism was essential to rightly link the validity of the individual s fundamental rights with the existence of genuine democracies. The consequences of this relation, whose validity time has confirmed on Latin American territories and beyond, have not yet been explored with the depth required. 3 It is clear that the most direct relationship is imposed by the fact that political rights are human rights, and as such they are incorporated on the constitutional and international instruments that are valid on the matter. 4 For a human rights institution, the development of practices such as observation cannot move away from this fundamental premise. Now, what characterizes electoral observation in general? Are there types or categories of observation? If this is the case, what distinguishes them? Let us enter, then, the territory of observation starting from these and other relevant questions. I. The Concept of Electoral Observation The essence of electoral observation itself may be explored from the denomination elected. According to the Royal Academy Dictionary 5 (in Spanish), the word to observe is the equivalent of to examine carefully. 3 See Thompson, José, Democracia, participación y derechos humanos, in Revista IIHR 34/35, San Jose, pp From the clarification that political rights are human rights important conceptual consequences and practices are derived. See, Picado, Sonia, Derechos políticos como derechos humanos in AA.VV., Tratado de Derecho Electoral Comparado en América Latina, Second Edition, Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007, pp XXII Edition, available on the internet, web site 17

19 18 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America In an already classic definition, International IDEA indicates that electoral observation is the systematic compilation of information on an electoral process with the specific purpose to reach an opinion based on the adequacy of this process, using as input the data collected by specialized persons or organizations, which are not inherently authorized to intervene on it. 6 We may adapt this concept by saying that electoral observation is an exercise consisting on examining in person the development of an electoral process and confronting its realization with the national legal prescriptions and with the applicable international principles and standards. In this way, we answer to the question of which parameters would be useful to determine the adequacy mentioned above. The development of electoral observation, in its international facet, deserves to be located within the expansion of international dimension of democracy. In the past, there was always someone to claim that the issues included in an electoral process were only exclusively internal duties of the respective State. Currently, there is a wide consensus in the sense that even the topics related to the electoral mechanics have international implications. There is specific mention of political rights in the international human rights instruments; 7 resolutions and sentences are produced by international courts directly addressed to electoral affairs; 8 there are international associations 6 International IDEA, Code of conduct for International Observers, Stockholm, IDEA, Article 23, American Convention on Human Rights: 1. Every citizen shall enjoy the following rights and opportunities: a) to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives; b) to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters, and c) to have access, under general conditions of equality, to the public service of his country. 2. The law may regulate the exercise of the rights and opportunities referred to in the preceding paragraph only on the basis of age, nationality, residence, language, education, civil and mental capacity, or sentencing by a competent court in criminal proceedings. 8 It is worth mentioning here that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and especially on the Yátama against Nicaragua case, has set forth measures that directly and substantially affect that country s electoral regime. The respective resolution may be looked up on the Jurisprudence section.

20 exclusively dedicated to electoral issues; technical cooperation flows nourish electoral processes in the different countries, 9 and international instruments have been adopted, which, still imperfect, are addressed to the collective defense of representative democracy, such as the Inter- American Democratic Charter, undersigned on September 11, 2001, in the framework of the Organization of American States, instrument which, by the way, expressly mentions the international electoral observation institute. 10 There is, therefore, a strong international movement related to representative democracy expressly including electoral topics. Electoral observation could serve different objectives, all somehow related with the purpose of contributing to the legitimacy and generation of credibility in a determined electoral process. We may say that at its highest level, it seeks to gather enough judgment elements and objectives to evaluate an electoral process, each one of its stages or any of its particular elements; in its medium level, to detect and address irregularities that could affect the integrity of an electoral process; and in a lowest level, to identify options to introduce changes, reforms or to restructure instances based on the experience lived in an electoral process. These observation levels are not necessarily excluding among themselves, but the emphasis placed on each of them will mark the orientation of the observation practiced, its parameters and the instruments in which it is supported. The medium level, for instance, is close to fiscalization, and therefore, it its hardly compatible with the postulates of international observation when it demands that the observer is not involved in the electoral process, but on the other hand, it is valid for an electoral observation produced by the citizenship itself. It is regularly insisted that electoral observation is not, or could be, a substitute for the fiscalization carried out, above all, by political and similar 11 groups in a determined process. Because of its methods, 9 See Electoral Advisory in CAPEL, Diccionario Electoral, op.cit., pp. 37 ss. 10 Article 24 of the Charter mentions them, although they are limited to those done by the Organization of American States. 11 When we talk of similar, we refer to all those cases in which what is at stake is not the election of authorities, but rather national interest topics, such as direct democracy mechanisms. 19

21 scope and such practical factors like cost, the observation, particularly the international, is not in the possibility to replace the width of control that the representatives of parties or similar carry out (and should carry out) on the regularity of an electoral process in each polling station, apart from the evolution suffered by the electoral observation institution. And indeed, electoral observation has a, perhaps brief, history, but marked by substantial changes. II. A Note on the Electoral Observation Historical Evolution In general, electoral observation has been present since the peak of electoral processes and is linked to fiscalization, which is naturally a duty of those who are directly interested in the straightforwardness of an electoral process, and of course of the political parties, but its autonomous development is quite recent. International observation started as supervision from foreign countries for the compliance of international treaty commitments (1857, Moldavia), so its genesis was not exactly an exercise on solidarity. Its next stage corresponds to the participation of international organizations in the observation process, started by the United Nations, especially on all the decolonization process, starting with the Togo case in 1956, to a similar recent intervention, East Timor ( ). However, it has not been in the universal level where there has been more development in matters of electoral observation. Latin America has added impressive numbers and very significant qualitative changes on this matter. Even if the origin of electoral observation in the region is given rather by a present political circumstance (in 1962 by means of the Organization of American States in Dominican Republic), the institution is established in the Inter-American level and, as it has been indicated, is diversified thanks to the contributions of different institutions and orientations. The appearance of CAPEL and its link with electoral bodies explains that now, only in this instance, we are at the doors of the two-hundredth electoral mission (Table 1), while 20

22 the OAS has continued with missions approved through governments and other institutions such as the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the Carter Center and the United Nations Electoral Division, have also organized missions with a similar purpose, although in each case, it depends on the emphasis of each institution for the purposes, the means and the instruments. Table 1. IIHR/CAPEL electoral observation missions, COUNTRIES MISSIONS YEARS Argentina , 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2007 Bolivia , 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 Brazil , 1994, 1998 Colombia , 1990, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 Costa Rica , 1990, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006,

23 Chile , 1989, 1993, 1996,1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 Dominican , 1990, 1994,1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, Republic 2004, 2006, 2008 Ecuador , 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994,1995,1996, 1997, 1998,2002, 2004, 2006, 2007,2008 El Salvador , 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006 Guatemala , 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2007 Haiti , 1990 Honduras , 1988, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005 Jamaica Mexico , 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006 Nicaragua , 1990, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2006 Panama , 1992, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006 Paraguay , 1989, 1991, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2008 Peru , 1989, 1990, 1995, 2001, 2006 Puerto Rico , 2000, 2004, 2008 Spain , 2004, 2007 Uruguay , 1994, 1999, 2004 Venezuela , 1993,1998, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, COUNTRIES Source: IIHR/CAPEL. Updated on 10/7/

24 Perhaps a crucial moment to see the interaction between the different modalities of electoral observation was lived on the 1990 general elections in Nicaragua, where all the instances recently mentioned attended, along with other rather informal mechanisms (syndicates, international partisan organizations, foreign parliamentary groups, among others), given the interest on the definition of the electoral contest between the Sandinists in power and an opposition alliance recently created a few months before the polls. In any case, electoral international observation has gone forth in the region, including other actors, such as the European Union and inter-parliamentary instances (European Parliament, Latin-American Parliament, Andean Parliament), to the point that it is highly unlikely that there would be election days without the presence of several international observation missions. On its side, national or domestic electoral observation has had a less systematic, but every time stronger, development over the recent years, and it is linked to the diversity and professionalization of nongovernmental bodies or civil society entities. Latin America has also contributed in this segment of electoral observation and alliances such as the Lima Agreement, which gathers experienced non-governmental organizations in the promotion of democracy and the defense of political rights, which means that that it can already be talked about an internationalization of domestic observation, thanks to the exchange of experiences and the mobilization of observers of different nationalities to cooperate with their peers in the respective country in the corresponding observation displays. Frequently, domestic observation, which we will characterize later, goes hand in hand with other devices that acquire sense in the electoral processes, such as vote motivation campaigns or speed count or parallel count exercises, on which there are many experiences in the region. Latin America has also contributed to the generation and development of other forms of electoral observation, for instance, the one carried out from the Ombudsman offices. The first experience in the world originated with the Peruvian Ombudsman in 2001 and has gone forward, regularly with exercises based on reciprocity and 23

25 regional exchange. It may be said that this kind of observation (from the Ombudsmen) is a qualified variable of national observation, since its emphasis shall go in terms of the validity of the fundamental rights linked to the polls and not only to the politicians: freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of meeting, principles of non-discrimination, among others. In brief, currently we have a wide variety of electoral observation forms in concurrence with instances and bodies who contribute with their specialty (although a minimum of coordination is required for the final message to be congruent and non-contradictory). Electoral observation, apart from its successful development in the region, has extended through the world, sheltered on institutional or integration frameworks, or by the appearance of national bodies interested in the validity and consolidation of democracy. However, let us continue with the questions. At the base of electoral observation, there is the question of what conditions should or must an individual or group of individuals have to issue an essential judgment that qualifies or disqualifies an electoral process and which could seriously affect the trust that these results have. III. The Observer and Types of Observation The question formulated is a key question, since the image and validity of an electoral process to designate authorities or solve national interest topics may depend on the average and informed judgment of an individual or a group. As it has been previously indicated, observation is usually related to an institutional or organizational framework, in which case, what is adequate is that this framework becomes explicit, and as such, the observation procedures are clarified, including the identification of potential observers. A frequently criticized element is the selection of members of an observation mission based on their political credentials. Although it is true that political campaign experience is a relevant element when issuing an opinion on an electoral process, it should be accompanied by 24

26 other minimum qualities: experience on similar observation processes, updated knowledge about the valid electoral regime, mastery of the language used in the country observed (preferably), among others. With the permanent incorporation of technology in the different stages of an electoral process, a topic of undoubtedly currency is the need to have mission members who are specialized on this field; think about the utilization of electronic voting modalities and the limitations that this could mean for many individuals, who may also be highly qualified on electoral topics, at the moment of expressing an opinion about the regularity of the elections. The composition of a mission, that is, the characteristics of the observers individually usually determines the emphasis of the observation: the more political the mission is, probably means that the focus will be more political; the more accumulated experience the members have, probably means a more integral evaluation and more recommendations for the future. It is also frequently said that the condition of an observer should exclude other characteristics, such as previous mediation or provision of advisory. However, both hypothesis have encountered significant exceptions: the OAS and the Carter Center conducted mediation duties between the Government and the opposition forces, and also sent important observation contingencies in the case of Venezuela ( ); the United Nations and the OAS have given technical advisory in processes to which they sent observers (Peru, 2001); CAPEL has restructured its observation missions since 1999 to be integrated by members of electoral bodies and produce fundamentally technical reports, emphasizing on recommendations for the continuous improvement of electoral devices, which is the reason why it has conceived observation as a stage within a wider accompaniment, which eventually includes technical advisory (as an example, Peru 2001, Ecuador , Guatemala ). 12 The truth is that the electoral bodies and the governments ultimately prefer observations 12 In this sense, see Boneo, Horacio et al, La Observación (internacional y nacional) de las elecciones, in: Tratado de Derecho electoral comparado de América Latina, op.cit., p

27 coming from groups who know the country and the electoral system, and regularly, the way for this is previous technical advisory. Nationality was traditionally a determinant factor at the moment of electing the observer, with a clear predominance in the sense of not including nationals of the country in which the observation takes place. Although this principle is still valid in general for international observations, the growing expansion of domestic observation, based precisely on the participation of nationals, has become relative. In fact, in certain legislations what is not allowed is the figure of the foreigner observer, 13 understanding that observation is a kind of fiscalization reserved to nationals (foreigners do not intervene on internal politics). Frequently, the denomination foreign visitor is reserved for the task that an international observer would carry out. The characteristics of the observer, the methods applied and the products obtained from the observation will determine the type or shade of the electoral observation; however, there are differences in the essence between international and national observations, on which it is worth briefly analyzing. IV. International Observation and Domestic Observation In spite of being much more recent than the international dimension, domestic observation has considerably grown over the last years. There are substantial differences between both types of observation. In fact, national observation should be always posed by avoiding crossing the frontier of fiscalization, 14 which separates them, as there are many elements in common. 13 Thus, Mexico and Argentina, although in either one of the cases provisions prevent the form of cooperation or accompaniment practiced by entities such as CAPEL. 14 There are moments in which this frontier becomes less clear: in August, 2007, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Costa Rica dictated regulations on the figure of national observation (Acreditación de fiscales y observadores nacionales para el proceso de referéndum (Accreditation of national supervisors and observers for the process of referendum), available at for the referendum of the Free Trade Treaty between Central America (and Dominican Republic) and the United States. Given the nature of this electoral process, in which fiscalization corresponded to the political parties, but the more direct interest was from the movements of the YES and NO, the status of national observer approached 26

28 There are historical differences between both categories: international observation is older and more consolidated; national observation has only recently been mentioned in legislations and regulation attempts. Still more important is that there are differences in the essence itself of observation institutions. When it is about international observation, the foreign observer is a guest who should comply with the limitations that the host country national legislation imposes, 15 among them, for instance, the issue of statements that could, due to their political character, be understood as intromissions. On the contrary, national observation is an extension of citizen political rights, that is, the power to corroborate the regularity of a process in which indeed participation is through the vote and authorities are designated, for which the limitations should be kept at a minimum and be justified by the protection of other rights or the needs of the process. National observation usually has advantages in respect to international observation as it could be wider, that is, it could reach more points of the territory of the host country, if it is supported in an efficient display; in general it is less costly, as from the observer mobilization itself consumes less resources; individual observers know the political and electoral situation (frequently, also, the juridical situation) in which the process is developed, topics in which the foreign observers have to be introduced; it could easily be more lengthy in time than national observation. Nevertheless, international observation usually has more impact in public opinion, especially for constituting an extension of the institutional framework. National observation is usually blamed, with the tasks of fiscalization, thus allowing the movements to designate national observers to control the development of the process. However, not even in these circumstances the distinction between fiscalization and national observation was completely eliminated, since the representatives on the polling stations were always members of the political parties, as set forth by the legislation of this country for every electoral process. 15 Provided that these limitations do not make impossible or denaturalize their observation duties. If this is the case, the correct thing to do seems to denounce these limitations as unacceptable restrictions and retreat from the exercise of observation. Unacceptable restrictions could be the impossibility to move freely around the territory or to freely design the observation program, among others. 27

29 no reason, with the division that could produce the political-electoral preference of the majority of its members or leadership. In any case, between both categories of observation, there could (and often should) be a relationship of complementariety and not of exclusion. If both reach similar conclusions in a determined process, there will be more strength at the time of submitting them to their audience, the public or interested institutions. As it has already been said, national observation is progressing in the construction of spaces for the international exchange applicable to national processes, feeding from the experience that international observation has accumulated, good part of which is due to the exchange and comparison of practical experiences. V. The Observation Method If something distinguishes the observations practiced by institutional frameworks is the method they utilize, beyond of how explicit it is. 28 Every observation should include, then: Mechanisms for the selection, determination or recruitment of individual observers. Training, transmission of information on the host country, the electoral process and its normative framework, including, in this last case, the regulations about the observation itself. Contact program with political and social actors in the host country. Relationship of the mission with the host country institutions. Design of observation instruments and communication about their use to individual observers. Preparation of the display for the Election Day. Determination of the concrete product of observation, the report in which the exercise s conclusions are posed. In the same way, the procedure for which these conclusions are reached.

30 Establishment of communication channels with the host country mass media and authorities. Conduct parameters or ethical principles with which the institution who promotes observation is affiliated. Each one of these main topics should be clarified, first, internally at the mission, and, frequently, with the (restricted or general) public in such a way that it could be previously known the form of operation that this mission will have. Some institutions, such as the OAS or the United Nations, usually sign an agreement in which most of these determinations are consigned. Others, like the European Union, have the basic observation rules for everyone interested previously available. In regard to the ethical principles and conduct patters expected from each international observer, in year 2005, the Declaration of Principles for Elections International Observation and the Code of Conduct for Elections International Observers 16 have been adopted, with the participation and subscription of approximately twenty organizations and institution, which jointly contribute with a very wide experience on this field. VI. International Electoral Observation from CAPEL In the determination of its modality of work in this field, which has been evolving along the twenty-five years since the foundation of CAPEL within the IIHR, observation has been tightly linked with the duty of the Executive Secretariat of Electoral Body Associations that CAPEL exercises in all the region, in the following manner: the Electoral Body Association for Central America and the Caribbean (Protocol of Tikal), the Electoral Body Association for South America (Protocol of Quito) and the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations (UNIORE). 16 Both instruments are available on the institutional portals of the Carter Center, United Nations Electoral Division or the European Union. The specific address of one of these sources is eu_election_ass_observ/docs/code_conduct_es.pdf in ec.europa.eu. 29

31 30 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America Observation is seen, then, as part of a continuous technical accompaniment process to electoral bodies, 17 of which are also part the conferences of the associations and the liaison that the bodies electronically keep between themselves and the Executive Secretariat. Therefore, observation in this context is not only not even mainly an evaluation mechanism for the elections, but also an input for the determination of the technical areas to strengthen or share in application of the essential philosophy of the continuous improvement of the electoral processes, and assigning special value to the horizontal cooperation in electoral matters, nourished in great measure by the technical specialty developed in this region, which, since the recuperation of democracy, has lived much more than a hundred elections. In consequence, some of the distinctive characteristics of this international electoral observation are: A double institutional framework, that is, the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights and its Electoral Promotion and Assistance Center on the one hand, and on the other, the applicable electoral body associations statutes. This means a direct relation with the relative validity of political rights and of the other fundamental rights of the human person, but also a link with the objectives of the strengthening of democracy through the elections to those who aspire both to CAPEL and the associations themselves. Missions fundamentally formed by electoral body members and officials, who due to their duties should be specialized on electoral matters. Co-participation of the host electoral body, with a joint design of the observation program and with frequent application of the reciprocity in the invitation to their colleagues, the member bodies of the same association. The programs are wide and include contacts with different technical and political sectors 17 Remember the autonomous character of the electoral bodies in this part of the world, which makes possible the conformation of non-inter-governmental associations like these, with direct agreements with the electoral entities, that is, without the approval of the respective governments.

32 and incorporate the liberty to organize the visits that it considers adequate before, during or after the Election Day. Direct communication with the host organization to inform about anomalies, irregularities or areas of concern in the framework of a determined process. Emphasis on the technical character of the report that the mission produces, and the fact that the host electoral body is the first recipient of this observation product. It is worth mentioning that every time more, electoral bodies make this report public through their Internet portal or the media that they consider pertinent. 18 Technical, normative and institutional recommendation especially addressed to the organization of future electoral processes in the corresponding country. The preparation of these recommendations, the same as the conclusions on which the report is based, are made starting from an inter-subjective analysis in the form of an evaluation session, from which the priority lines that will guide the report are defined. Follow-up through missions to the country in question, or by direct contact with the electoral bodies in the other activities carried out in the framework of the associations. This type of observation is a kind of qualified technical accompaniment and, despite how consolidated its history, should permanently redefine its objectives, methods and above all, how to better take advantage of the presence, for a relatively short time, of a group of observers who, thanks to the institutional framework from where they come, could contribute in political situations that often become delicate depending on the interests in dispute. 18 CAPEL has also applied the guideline that if the host electoral body publishes only part of the mission s report, this entitles the Executive Secretariat to do the same with the rest of the document. 31

33 VII. The Elements Observed and the Impact of Observation For some, 19 electoral observation has already passed beyond a first generation, in which minimum conditions were requested for the legitimacy of an electoral process: an electoral register with an acceptable error margin, general rules for electoral competence with reborn partisan system after the precedent authoritarian times, a logistics that would generate a minimum of conditions for the election day, with emphasis on the secret vote and the modern guarantees of Electoral Law; and in which, at least in this part of the world, the observed was, fundamentally, the electoral body or bodies involved in the respective elections. Each one of these aspects, and those bodies, were the main focus of observation. A second generation of observation now asks, among others, for a comprehensive electoral register with minimal error margins, precise rules for all those involved in the elections, established conditions for the campaign, including those that would ensure equity between the contestants, which for many include such specific aspects like access to mass media and the coverage that these may do of the campaign and the electoral offers, regulation of the relationship between money and politics and the effectiveness of the system on this matter, utilization of electronic vote modalities, application of mechanisms that would guarantee the internal democracy of political groups and the effective representation of all the national sectors (men and women, ethnic diversity, genuine geographic representation) and opportunity and efficiency of conflict resolution on electoral matters. The observed, the electoral body or bodies certainly, but also the political parties, the congresses, electoral justice and even the mass media. As it may be seen, the observable elements have diversified, and the observation agenda has become more complex, although it can be well understood that it is not possible to solve all the debate topics in the political-electoral level by means of observation, in particular 19 See Boneo, Horacio et al, La observación (internacional y nacional) de las elecciones, in Tratado de derecho electoral comparado de América Latina, op. cit., pp ss. 32

34 because international observation should be respectful of the host country s legislation and peculiarities. It would be, then, an illusion to think that observation could cover all the topics that make up the discussion on electoral matters, just as it would be to think that it has the same impact at every moment and every place. When there are any doubts about the regularity of an electoral process, whatever the (real or imaginary) reasons, electoral observation, especially international observation, as a greater effect and could more strongly shape (national or international) public opinion. In moments of high suspicion or strong transition, as in Nicaragua in 1990 and El Salvador in 1994, or of high expectation for the reconstruction of an electoral system (Peru, 2001), that has been the case. As we will see in the conclusion, this factor is still relevant in the current years. VIII. As a Conclusion On the period between the end of November, 2005 and December, 2007, more than fifty electoral processes 20 took place in Latin America and about five-hundred million citizens attended the polling stations to pronounce themselves about the designation of authorities or to answer questions at the national level. These blunt numeric data clearly speak of the vitality of representative democracy on this part of the world. However, this unprecedented accumulation of elections in a relatively brief period has also meant a challenge for electoral observation and, in regard to us, for the network of organizations constituted by electoral associations. It has been a challenge due to the amount of processes and the obligation, clearly and gladly assumed, of being present in all the cases required, even in the moments in which elections coincided in different 20 Understanding that each election has its own entity, although the elections include several of them simultaneously. During the period in question, of continental Latin American and the Dominican Republic, only the Eastern Republic of Uruguay does not appear on the list of countries with national electoral processes. 33

35 34 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America parts of the continent. 21 It has also been a challenge because the exercise of reciprocity also implied that the members of the electoral bodies and the Executive Secretariat (CAPEL) had to multiply to attend the different invitations and requests for support. And it has been a challenge, finally, because there were tight results in different elections (in the presidential elections in Costa Rica in February, 2006, in the decision for the Mayor s Office of San Salvador in March, 2006, in the presidential elections in Mexico in July, 2006, in the confirmation referendum of the constitutional reforms in Venezuela in December, 2007) or because technical or political problems negatively affected the transmission of results (in Honduras in November, 2005, in Dominican Republic in May, 2006, in Ecuador in October, 2006), and these circumstances generated a rather crisp environment in which international electoral observation acquired a different dimension. No more than five years ago, more than one individual warned about the possible fall and eventual disappearance of electoral observation, in a part of the world that every time more was acquainted with a greater predominance and consolidation of representative democracy. Time showed that these were judgment without foundations. Electoral observation, far from disappearing, has diversified and, hand in hand with international missions, there is a multiplication of efforts and complementary national platforms on this matter. The political obstacles in the Western Hemisphere gave observation a place and role, even in situations of high political tensions. The progressive complexity of the electoral agenda has not meant the postponement of observation, but it has rather found in it a valuable input for reflect about the future and give a direction to the political and electoral reform. Democracy is alive and active in Latin America, and electoral observation is accompanying it. But we would be deceiving ourselves if we did not recognize that, judging by the surveys and polls, the population is far from being satisfied with the performance of the political regimes that have come to power in more recent years, that institutions so fundamental for the democracy as the political parties 21 For instace, in March, 2006, in El Salvador and in Colombia and in October, 2007, in Argentina and Colombia. In all these cases, there were missions of the Inter-American electoral network, with the presence of CAPEL.

36 are in the last place of citizen credibility and that in many countries there are pending reforms, which are essential to consolidate the effective exercise of political rights. These are the challenges that transcend the field of observation, but which cannot be separated from it. Let us be optimistic and trust that Latin American democracy will know how to find the way to solve the dilemmas posed and so many other questions that are pending. At least from the experience gained through electoral observation, there are good reasons to not fall into pessimism. 35

37 Bibliography Boneo, Horacio. Observación internacional de elecciones, in Diccionario Electoral, IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, (et al). La Observación (internacional y nacional) de las Elecciones, in Tratado de Derecho Electoral Comparado en América Latina, Volume II. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico, CAPEL. Memoria. Primera Conferencia de la Asociación de Organismos Electorales de Centroamérica y el Caribe, San Jose, Elecciones y democracia en América Latina, Memories of the I Inter-American Elections Annual Course, San Jose, Legislación electoral comparada: Colombia, México, Panamá, Venezuela y Centroamérica, San Jose, Proceso electoral y regímenes políticos, Memories of the II Inter-American Elections Annual Course, San Jose, 1989ª.. Elecciones generales del 15 de noviembre de 1989, Brasil, in Dossier, Misión de observación, San Jose, 1989ª.. Transición democrática en América Latina. Reflexiones sobre el debate actual, Memories of the III Inter-American Elections Annual Course, San Jose, Memorias del IV Curso Anual Interamericano de Elecciones, 5 volume, San Jose, Cuéllar, Roberto. Centro de Asesoría y Promoción Electoral, in Diccionario Electoral, IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, Diccionario de la Real Academia Española. XXII. Edition available online: IDEA International. Code of Conduct for International Observers. Stockholm,

38 . Normas electorales internacionales: Directrices para Revisar el Marco Legal de las Elecciones, Sweden, Instituto Federal Electoral. Código Federal de Instituciones y Procedimientos Electorales, Mexico, 1994ª.. Acuerdo para establecer las bases y criterios para normar la presencia de visitantes extranjeros invitados; interesados en el conocimiento de las modalidades del desarrollo del proceso electoral federal, Mexico, 1994b.. Guía temática para el visitante extranjero invitado, Mexico, 1994c.. Regulaciones sobre el financiamiento público y privado de los partidos políticos. Estudio comparado de 17 países Latinoamericanos, Mexico, 1994d.. Seminario internacional sobre el voto en el extranjero, August 11 and 12, 1998, IFE/TEPJF/ONU, Mexico, 1998ª Molina, José Enrique. Elecciones estatales y municipales: Venezuela, 3 de diciembre de 1989, Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano, II, IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, 51-55, La reforma electoral venezolana y sus consecuencias políticas, in IIHR/CAPEL (ed.), Memories of the IV Inter-American Elections Annual Course, vol. III, San Jose, Los sistemas electorales de América Latina, CAPEL Notebooks, 46, IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, Nohlen, Dieter. La reforma electoral en América Latina: seis contribuciones al debate, IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, Sistemas electorales, elementos conceptuales, alternativas y efectos políticos, in Elecciones y democracia en América Latina, IIHR/Capel, San Jose, 1988ª.. Presidencialismo, sistema electoral y sistema de partidos políticos en América Latina, in Elecciones y democracia en América Latina, IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, 1988b. 37

39 . Ampliación de la participación política y reducción del abstencionismo: ejes de una cultura democrática y una nueva ciudadanía para el siglo XXI, paper presented at the XVII Conference of Central American and Caribbean Electoral Bodies, Protocol of Tikal, San Jose, Núñez, Eduardo. Observación nacional de elecciones, in Diccionario Electoral, vol. II, IIHR/CAPEL, ONUSAL (Electoral Divison). Directrices para la actuación de los observadores internacionales de Naciones Unidas, San Salvador, 1994c. Picado, Sonia. Estudios básicos de Derechos Humanos, vol. I, San Jose, Participación política de la mujer: un reto de ayer, hoy y siempre, Revista Parlamentaria, vol. 9, August, San José, Derechos Políticos como Derechos Humanos in Tratado de Derecho Electoral Comparado en América Latina, vol. II. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico, Thompson, José. Democracia, participación y derechos humanos, Revista IIHR, 34/35, San Jose, Abstencionismo y Participación Electoral, in CAPEL Notebooks, number 49; electronic version only, San Jose, Tuesta, Fernando. Sistema de partidos políticos en el Perú , Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Lima, (ed.). Simposio sobre reforma electoral, Memoria, IFES/USAID, Lima, Perú, in D. Nohlen (ed.), Elections in the Americas, vol. 2, Oxford University Press, Oxford, Valverde, Ricardo. Transparencia eres tú, Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano, XIV, IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose,

40 . Banco de datos de políticos argentinos: Dime quién eres y te diré si te voto, Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano, XVI, IIHR/ CAPEL, San Jose, Vincenzi, Sofía. Asociaciones de Organismos Electorales, in Diccionario Electoral, vol. I, IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, Zela, Hugo de. La OEA y la observación electoral, Análisis Internacional, 4, October-December, Lima,

41

42 Electoral National and International Observation Erasmo Pinilla* Conceptual Introduction International electoral observation is normally defined as the systematic search for information on an electoral process, in order to reach an adequate evaluation of it, based on the information gathered, as stated by International IDEA in That popular definition emphasizes one of the most usual objectives of electoral observation: the legitimacy of an electoral process. The purpose of the evaluation is to be able to reach to a conclusion on the degree in which the process may be considered free and equitable, to use one of the most frequent concepts in observation matters. Sometimes this concept is qualified, defining the process as partially or reasonably free and equitable. The legitimization of an electoral process is not, in my humble opinion, the only objective of international observation, and other actors may have additional purposes when requesting or performing it. In the Latin American context of the last years, one of the important purposes of international observation has been the exchange of experiences. Such is, for instance, the basic purpose of the activities of technical observation of the electoral bodies who integrate the Protocols of Tikal and Quito, coordinated by the Center for Electoral Assistance and Promotion (CAPEL). * Magistrate President of the Electoral Tribunal in Panama. Paper presented at the IX Conference of the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations (UNIORE), held in El Salvador, September 3-5,

43 Thinking about the definition, challenges, potentialities and lacks of international electoral observation is something that has proven necessary. The experience accumulated shows how, in spite of the advances in the configuration of the observation processes, there are still open old topics that need solutions. Likewise, the common thought demonstrates the presentation of new and urgent challenges. Thus, the idea of electoral observation requires of a continuous revision to give an answer to old and new demands. Therefore, it is every time more necessary both the debate between the different actors that are involved in the observation and the coordinated performance of them in the totality of the electoral process phases. According to the above, it is necessary to highlight certain topics that are important in my opinion: 1. In the first place, in relation to the electoral observation definition, it can be affirmed that it is understood as a process, whose main objective is the defense, consolidation and depth of democracy, pacific conflict resolution and universal human rights. This process, linked to the international cooperation mechanisms, should be carried out with the absolute respect to normative, social and cultural contexts of the space in which the observation is carried out. 2. In the second place, the observation s context. There are three moments in electoral observation: pre-electoral, electoral and post-electoral. All of these should be attended with the same interest, surpassing traditional practices that were centered on the evaluation of voting phase, leaving the pre and postelectoral phases on a second plane. 3. In the third place, in regard to the figure of the observer. There is unanimity in considering essential that related to independence, impartiality, responsibility and professionalism of the observer. It is a shared experience that in no case international observation missions can be seen as instruments of involvement in the recipient State s political life. 42

44 I. History of Electoral Observation The first elections subject to international electoral observation, according to some historians and experts on the topic, were those carried out in 1857 in Moldova and Wallachia, organized under the supervision of a Commission integrated by representatives of Austria, France, England, Prussia, Russia and Turkey. In spite of the above, the observation was just a common instrument of the international community since the First World War. A high number of plebiscites were verified under international control on independence, according to that previewed in the treaties of Versailles and Saint Germain and the Protocol of Venice. Let us briefly see some organizations and bodies that participate in international observation. United Nations Organization (UN) In the case of the United Nations (UN), its participation in electoral observation goes back to the 1948 Korea elections, but it only gained significance in the decolonization period (decades of 1950 and 1960). This institution carried out close to thirty missions between 1956 and A common characteristic of these operations was their small dimension. They rarely included more than 30 observers, even in cases in which there was a high degree of mistrust or a high potential of conflict with neighboring countries. The United Nations Transition Assistance Group (known as UNTAG), reached 8,000 individuals, including about 2,000 civil employees, 1,500 policemen and 4,500 militaries. Around 1,800 UNTAG officers supervised 2,500 counterparts in 358 polling stations. I would like to highlight three rarely mentioned UNTAG aspects: 1. In the first place, it was the first mission that included the development of trust in its mandate, as its duties included the creation of conditions for a free and equitable election. In order to achieve these conditions, UNTAG organized a massive 43

45 public information campaign by using radio, television and printed material, as well as direct contact with the voters. 2. Second, UNTAG was the first United Nations electoral mission resulting from a wide political agreement, which in the following years would become the usual procedure in missions of great dimensions. 3. In the third place, the good results, the visibility and the dimensions of UNTAG contributed to the creation of the myth that the success of an electoral observation mission is directly related to the number of observers. Even when the success of Namibia in 1989 could be better explained by the political will of the parts rather than by the number of observers, the magic of the numbers resulted in the overrating of other missions in the region (South Africa 1994, Mozambique, also in 1994, or was utilized to explain the failure of others, such as the case of Angola in 1992) On the same year in which the United Nations supervised the elections that brought the independence of Namibia in 1989, it also observed the elections in Nicaragua, in the first case in which the Organization observed elections in an independent country. Organization of American States (OAS) The OAS has been observing elections since the first years of the 1970 s. After the assassination in 1961 of General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, who was the President of the Dominican Republic, his successor, Joaquín Balaguer started to introduce democratic reforms and requested the attendance of the OAS. Between 1962 and 1990, the OAS participated in more than twenty operations in the region. However, these were small operations of limited duration. The 1990 elections in Nicaragua constituted the first experience of the Organization on a large-dimensioned and limited-duration electoral process. As in the case of the United Nations, Nicaragua also constituted for the OAS a field of experimentation with new methodologies and new approaches. 44

46 British Commonwealth Secretariat Another organization that has made a significant contribution to electoral observation has been the British Commonwealth Secretariat, created in 1965 to coordinate the relations between the countries that were once part of the British Empire. Similar to the case of the OAS, the Commonwealth is expressly addressed towards the promotion of democracy. European Electoral Observation The Council of Europe, the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have supported democratic values for many years. They started to observe elections more recently, in the 1990 s. Non-Governmental Organizations Several international non-governmental organizations have developed numerous activities in the widest field of assistance to democracy. The oldest organization is probably the International Human Rights Law Group, which started with an electoral observation project in On their side, both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), both from the United States of America, have developed activities in the field of electoral observation and have organized numerous observation missions. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is probably the biggest non-governmental institution that provides electoral technical assistance, and it has also organized an important number of observation missions. Another important participant has been the Carter Center, through the through the Council of Freely-Elected Heads of State. The special characteristic of the Center s missions is the renown of its observers, 45

47 which frequently include Ex-President Carter and other Heads or former Heads of State. II. National Electoral Observation National observers are part of an observation effort by organized civil society. Individuals may also play an important role of integrity as supervisors. When this type of electoral observation is carried out with seriousness, it is an excellent contribution to democratic strengthening. The advantages that these groups have over the others are that they are natives of the country they are observing, and therefore know it better. Their observation takes place for a longer time and has a higher number of observers. The weakness of local observation is usually the lack of adequate training to its members. Moreover, as a general rule, they usually find good international financing. The electoral observation monitoring performed by organized civil society groups is one of the main integrity mechanisms. These groups gather information from their observation groups, analyze the observations, assess the quality of the election and publish their conclusions. How effective are these groups as mechanism of integrity? That depends on their organization strength, on their training on the rules of the game and on their financial capacity, on how the civil society is considered, and their duties within a particular system. III. Political Party Observers Political party observers are an essential component to obtain and keep the integrity of an election, according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). I quote: The role of political parties in electoral observation is very important, since the parties are the most interested in the monitoring of an electoral process. They are in the best position to evaluate the political environment, identify the impediments to the freedom to do campaign, the implications of the election of the electoral system, etc. Moreover, the strong parties which can establish national presence of the polling stations on the Election Day are, in general, in a more 46

48 adequate position to act as an obstacle to the irregularities and the attempts of manipulation. Political party observers are the agents of the parties and the candidates who are participating in the election. As such, they are given authority in most of the systems, not only to monitor the electoral process, but also to intervene if they see that the legal requirements are not respected. Likewise, they can be an integral part of the administrative process as they validate ballots, count sheets and minutes of the polling stations and scrutiny meetings through their signature and participation in the administration, reception of the votes and the scrutiny. Although this is a voluntary role in most of the systems, there are some countries in which neither the voting nor the scrutiny are carried out without the presence of political party observers. In fact, in many countries, these party representatives are who integrate the polling station and the scrutiny boards. In other countries, like mine, the party representatives are supervisors in the electoral corporations, with the right to speak, but not to vote, and they seek to leave proof in the minutes of any irregularity that they discover for possible impugnations. IV. Center for Electoral Assistance and Promotion Observation Electoral observation has had more development in Latin America than anywhere else in the world, and there has been CAPEL, specialized program of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (IIHR). This Center is the one who has contributed the richest experience to the continent s electoral processes. The IIHR/CAPEL observation missions, given within the framework of the agreements of the Protocol of Tikal, Protocol of Quito and the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations, have been technical missions, mainly composed by the highest-level members from Latin American electoral bodies (magistrates or equivalents) and have, as it is known by all, the purpose to foster horizontal cooperation, promote the exchange of experiences, detect the technical support and electoral reform requirements of the electoral bodies whose processes are observed. 47

49 48 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America This technical approach of the observation constitutes an instrument that is addressed to analyze the organization of electoral processes from a technical and jurisdictional perspective, helping the electoral actors governing the processes to identify future work areas for the strengthening of the electoral bodies and systems. The organization governing the process is left a detailed report of the strengths and weaknesses observed. It usefulness or not, as well as the diffusion of these qualified opinions is the sovereign faculty of the country that receives it. Since 1985, CAPEL has benefitted 20 countries in the region, with more than 195 electoral observation missions, record that can hardly be compared with those of other international observation missions. I have had the honor to be part of 48 of these observation missions over the last eleven years. The rise of CAPEL and its relation with the electoral bodies of our continent speaks for itself, and the number of electoral missions is currently reaching two-hundred. I should proudly say that we at the Electoral Tribunal of Panama, through our International Affairs Advisory, for seven years and in common agreement with the IIHR/CAPEL, are contributing to keep the international electoral community informed on the daily news generated around the elections, through the International Service of Electoral News (SINE, for its name in Spanish). Many already know this news service, and many electoral bodies in the region even use it as informational material to be submitted to the international observers on the previous days to each electoral act. As we have already mentioned, the experience of these observation missions, as well as the conferences regularly organized by CAPEL, have constituted and extraordinary contribution to the continent s Electoral Law, in which, every time more, can be seen how valuable models to guarantee the efficiency and transparency of the electoral processes are becoming a standard. Through these missions, we cannot only give the country organizing the elections observed an absolutely technical report about the strengths and weaknesses noticed, but also we return to our countries with experiences to be applied in our own electoral systems. Panama has imported, thanks to these missions, important models from other countries in the continent; for example,

50 the electoral register and its depuration methods, the unique ballot, the use of multiple cardboard divisions to guarantee the secrecy of vote, the Body of Electoral Delegates, among others. V. Conclusions As a conclusion, we have that elections represent a part of a country s internal work, and its final judgment should come from their local participants. There are certain cases in which the presence of international observers is indispensable to keep peace and provide trust in the celebration of the elections, or in countries in which the transition to democracy presents difficulties, or where there are not impartial groups to represent civil society or are not very functional. Nevertheless, at the long term, an essential part of a country s democratic development will be the establishment of local observation groups who are enabled to monitor their own elections; in particular, the capacity of parties to install observers, supervisors or polling station board members with a good profile and high training. To conclude, and as publicly known, we, the Electoral Tribunal of Panama, for some years now, keep two electoral news international services, the SINE in Spanish, thanks to an agreement with the IIHR/ CAPEL as we already mentioned, and the ISEN in English, also thanks to an agreement with the United Nations. Both internet news services are addressed to the international electoral community, and we have satisfactorily seen that great part of that material is used by electoral bodies as information submitted to the members of the different international electoral observation missions, previous to the election. I cannot overlook mentioning the last electoral tool we have created to be studied and seen by the international community: I am referring to the Mundo Electoral magazine (edited in Spanish and English), which has been created to exclusively inform about electoral topics, and in whose three editions specialists on electoral matters have participated, and in its first edition an article written by me about UNIORE was included. This magazine is already edited and printed in our Tribunal, and is spread internationally through the international electoral news services SINE and ISEN. I kindly invite 49

51 you to contribute to this initiative through articles that would allow us know about the electoral realities in your countries. To conclude, I thank many of my colleagues and other authors who made the preparation of this paper possible with their written work on the internet. 50

52 (International and National) Electoral Observation Horacio Boneo Manuel Carrillo Ricardo Valverde* Introduction Electoral observation has become a co-substantial part of democratic electoral processes. However, it has not had the same profile and meaning since the world experienced the so-called democratization wave starting on the 1970 s. The importance and relevance of electoral observation has been linked to the purposes, objectives and requirements given to it by political parties, mass media, civil society organizations, governments, electoral bodies, the international community and national and foreign public opinion. Probably, for Latin American, the decade from 1990 to 2000 has been the peak for elections observation. In 1977, only three countries were recognized as fully democratic: Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela; most of the countries in the region lived under authoritarian regimes. For year 2004, that is, 27 years later, practically all countries, except Cuba, have made electoral democracy theirs in order to regulate access to the main political positions. * This text is an excerpt of the article published on Tratado de Derecho Electoral Comparado, Second Edition, Horacio Boneo is an international advisor. Manuel Carrillo is the International Affairs Coordinator of the Instituto Federal Electoral de México (Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico - IFE), and Ricardo Valverde the IIHR/CAPEL Programs Official. 51

53 By the end of the 1980 s and during the ten following years, the celebrations of foundational elections or elections for the rebirth of democracy were the distinctive note. The topics related to free, transparent and trustworthy elections constituted the main axes of electoral organization. This type of elections required social accompaniment to legitimize the impartiality of these processes. For this, observation missions played a fundamental role, both at the national or domestic and international levels. Electoral observation, from a society perspective, was established to accompany the organization of the elections and to thus contribute to the democratic transitions 1 in a pacific fashion, through electoral processes. These missions had several purposes: to inhibit electoral fraud, to dissuade political actors willing to alter popular will, and to legitimize the organization of democratic elections, mainly. At the beginning of the XXI Century, Latin America has significantly advanced on the democratic mechanisms to access public powers. In this new stage, observation is changing its profile, nature and object. While electoral practices are being established with the periodical celebration of elections, the foundational purposes of observation no longer enjoy the same attention as in other times. Today, in Latin America there is a new reality in our representative democracy. The purpose of this academic contribution is to place electoral observation in view of the new requirements of contemporary representative democracy. Although there is no longer the old need to legitimize the elections, there are new demands in regard to the transparency of the party and candidate resources, the quality of the electoral campaigns, the equity in the contest conditions, the application of electoral justice, among other new topics facing electoral observation. I. The Concept of Electoral Observation Starting from the concept of electoral observation used by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance 1 Espinal, Rosario. Transición a la democracia. Diccionario Electoral. IIHR/ CAPEL, San Jose, pp

54 (International IDEA, Code of Conduct for International Observers), it could be defined as the systematic gathering of information on an electoral process, with the specific purpose of drawing a founded opinion on the adequacy of this process, based on the data gathered by specialized individuals or organizations who are not inherently authorized to interfere on it. This definition of the process highlights one of the most common purposes of electoral observation: granting, or in some cases -, denying, legitimacy. This legitimacy could be relevant for internal issues, such as the case of the existence of national actors who doubt the government or the electoral authorities impartiality, or rather, occasionally, for external motives. 2 Although the evaluation of the adequacy of an electoral process is the most common of the observation purposes, it is not the only one. Sometimes, the objective sought could be to contribute to create trust, to consolidate an openness process, or to limit the possibilities of violence. The guidelines provided by ONUSAL to its observers in the case of El Salvador hint to this direction: To provide a clear international presence during the electoral process... In the international field, the most known experience of this type is the 1994 South Africa elections, where the important international participation was clearly addressed to try to decrease violence. The incorporation of security observers, in the case of the UN in 1991 in Haiti had this same purpose. Another frequent objective of electoral observation is to contribute to detect or prevent frauds. This is the case of the careful inspection of the data processing procedures in the 2000 Peru elections, or the one of the so-called speed counts obviously focused in detecting and preventing frauds in the compilation of results. 2 The most known case if the Council of Europe, which requires the realization of free and fair elections in its member countries. In the case of Latin America, although the Santiago Commitment with democracy and the renewal of the Inter-American system (1991) established similar principles, they were not put into practice in the case of the 2000 Peruvian elections, although the topic was addresses in special OAS sessions, in which the critical report prepared by the Organization s observation mission in these elections was analyzed. 53

55 54 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America A last objective is the exchange of information. This way, for instance, the IIHR/CAPEL observation missions do not only contribute to the legitimacy of the processes observed, but are also an instrument for the exchange of experiences among the region s electoral magistrates (principle of horizontal cooperation between electoral bodies). Electoral observation accomplishes, rather frequently, different duties that are not considered an integral part of it. Mediation, for instance, seems to be incompatible with impartial observation, although rather frequently the observers are called to mediate in conflictive situations. The most known example is the one of President Carter and the Council of Democratically-Elected Heads of State which, often, has performed this role. Similarly, electoral observation should be incompatible with the provision of technical assistance, as, in principle, it would be difficult for an observation organization to criticize electoral process aspects that they have contributed to configure. This is a frequent dilemma for international bodies such as the OAS or the UN, which develop both types of activities, and a practice that has been present in different opportunities in Latin America in the framework of the IIHR/CAPEL activities. In those cases, the adequate solution seems to be using different mechanisms. As a complement of the above, it is worth mentioning the thoughts of Vega, 3 who apart from reiterating the polysemic character of the electoral observation concept, deepens on several possible manifestations or typologies referring to several aspects: Depending on the character of the observation (active rather close to the notion of fiscalization (see Hernández Becerra, 2000), 4 for which some do not consider it exactly electoral observation or passive). According to the aspects of the election that are being observed (integral observation of the process or the electoral act itself). 3 Vega R. de. Participación ciudadana y observación electoral, Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano, XVIII. IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, 1997, pp To clarify the modern notion of horizontal reporting, see Payne et al. La Política Importa. IDB, Washington, 2003, pp. 237.

56 According to the nationality of the observers (international or national (domestic) observation). According to the type of electoral process to observe (about elections themselves or about other type of consultation, like the referendum or plebiscite). II. Electoral Observation in Latin America: Experiences and Main Actors 5 It is important to note that the first elections subjected to international electoral observation were those carried out in 1857 in Moldova and Wallachia, organized under the supervision of a Commission integrated by representatives from Austria, France, England, Prussia, Russia and Turkey. However, observation has only been a habitual instrument of the international community since the First World War; then various plebiscites were verified under international control on independence, according to that previewed by the Versailles and Saint Germain treaties and the Protocol of Venice. In America, this is a practice that reached its peak in the 1980 s, and since then it is still a much extended figure in the framework of the continent s political-electoral reality. Some of the main actors in electoral observation in the world and America are: a) United Nations: the participation of the United Nations in electoral observation goes back to the 1948 elections in Korea, but it only gained significance in the decolonization period (decades of 1950 and 1960). The United Nations operations followed a common pattern. The first step consisted in determining in which moment and under what circumstances an election, plebiscite or referendum should be carried out. This decision was taken, in most of the cases, by the government in charge of the territory s administration, which communicated it to the Organization by inviting it to provide assistance in the observation or supervision of the process. The first mission 5 The fundamental basis of this section is found on Boneo, Horacio. Observación internacional de elecciones. Diccionario Electoral. IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, 2000, pp

57 of the Trusteeship Council including an electoral component took place in Togo in 1956, then under British administration. The United Nations carried out close to thirty missions between 1956 and A common characteristic of these operations was their small dimension. They rarely included more than 30 observers, even in cases in which there was a high degree of mistrust or a high potential of conflict with neighboring countries. Even when the 1989 Namibia elections formally correspond to the category of decolonization, the level, scale and duration of the operation turns it into a category in itself. The United Nations Transition Assistance Group (known as UNTAG), reached 8,000 individuals, including about 2,000 civil employees, 1,500 policemen and 4,500 militaries. Around 1,800 UNTAG officers supervised 2,500 counterparts in 358 polling stations. The rate of five observers per polling station has not been equaled since then and will be hardly equaled in the future. There are three rarely highlighted UNTAG aspects. In the first place, it was the first mission that included the development of trust in its mandate, as its duties included the creation of conditions for a free and equitable election. In order to achieve these conditions, UNTAG organized a public information mass campaign by using radio, television and printed material, as well as direct contact with the voters. The UNTAG political offices also developed a network of contacts with relevant actors. Second, UNTAG was the first United Nations electoral mission, resulting from a wide political agreement, which in the following years would become the usual procedure in missions of great dimensions. In the third place, the good results, the visibility and the dimensions of UNTAG contributed to the creation of the myth that the success of an electoral observation mission is directly related to the number of observers. Even when the success of Namibia could be better explained by the political will of the parts rather than by the number of observers, the magic of the numbers resulted in the overrating of other missions in the region (South Africa, Mozambique) or was utilized to explain the failure of others (Angola). 56

58 In the same year in which the United Nations supervised the elections that brought the independence of Namibia, it also observed the elections in Nicaragua, the first case in which the Organization observed elections in an independent country. The number of polling stations and the context of the mission made it impossible to use Namibia s intensive scope, as close to 20,000 observers would have been required for the Election Day. The operation s reduced scale brought about the systematic use of statistical verification methods, a standard approach since then, used in such diverse countries like Angola, El Salvador, Eritrea, Haiti, Mozambique and South Africa. The 1993 Cambodian elections are not discussed here as the United Nations duties there were the organization of the elections, not their observation. b) Organization of American States (OAS): the OAS has been observing elections since the first years of the 1970 s. After the assassination of General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, President of the Dominican Republic, in 1961, his successor started to introduce democratic reforms and requested the attendance of the OAS. Between 1962 and 1990, the OAS participated in more than twenty operations in the region. However, these were small operations of limited duration. The 1990 elections in Nicaragua constituted the first experience of the Organization on a large-scale and limited-duration electoral process. As in the case of the United Nations, Nicaragua also constituted a field of experimentation with new methodologies and new approaches for the OAS. Contrary to the United Nations, whose constitutive documents do not make reference to democracy, the OAS constitutive agreement and later resolutions (particularly the one of Santiago de Chile in 1991) take a strong and defined position in relation to representative democracy. The OAS created the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD) in The UPD has kept an intense activity since then. c) Center for Electoral Assistance and Promotion: another important actor in electoral observation matters in Latin America is the Inter- American Institute of Human Rights Center for Electoral Assistance 57

59 58 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America and Promotion (IIHR/CAPEL) 6 created in The IIHR/CAPEL observation missions, given within the framework of Electoral Bodies association (agreements of Protocol of Tikal (1985), Protocol of Quito (1989), and the Inter-American Union of Electoral Bodies (1991), are technical missions, mainly integrated by members of American electoral bodies, and their purpose is to foster horizontal cooperation, foster the exchange of experiences, detect the technical support and electoral reform requirements of electoral bodies whose processes are observed. This observation technical approach, whose major emphasis has been in Latin America through the action of IIHR/CAPEL, is an instrument addressed to analyze the organization of electoral processes from a technical and jurisdictional perspective, helping electoral actors who rule the processes to identify areas of future work for the strengthening of the electoral systems and the electoral bodies themselves. This institution has carried out 148 observation missions in 20 countries between 1985 and d) European institutions: the Council of Europe, the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Security. These started to observe elections more recently, in the 1990 s. The Council of Europe, defined by Yves Beigbeder (1994) as an exclusive club of European democracies, requires that its members hold elections through secret vote at reasonable intervals in order to ensure the free expression of the populations in the election of their governments. As a consequence of this requirement, the participation of the Council in electoral observation is usually related with the requests for membership or status of observer in the Council. On its part, the European Council, which includes the heads of state elected in the European Union countries, decided in 1991 to support human rights and democracy. It started its tasks with the observation of the 1992 constitutional referendum in Madagascar, carried out through the International Commission of Jurists. Since then, the European Parliament and other European Union institutions have observed important elections and have taken a more important role at the electoral observation level. 6 See in this respect, R. Cuéllar y S. Vincenzi. Centro de Asesoría y Promoción Electoral. Diccionario Electoral. IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, 2000, pp

60 These European institutions have carried out international observation in different emblematic processes in the Americas, such as El Salvador (1994), Peru (2001) and Ecuador (2002). e) International non-governmental organizations: several international non-governmental organizations have developed numerous activities in the widest field of assistance to democracy, in different countries in the world, and in particular, in America. The oldest organization is probably the International Human Rights Law Group, which started with an electoral observation project in 1983 and published in 1984 the pioneer work of Larry Garber (Guidelines for International Election Observation). Both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), created on the first years of the 1980 s by the National Endowment for Democracy, have developed activities in the field of electoral observation and have organized numerous observation missions. Another important participant has been the Carter Center, through the Council of Freely-Elected Heads of State. The special characteristic of the Center s missions is its renowned observers, which frequently include President Carter and other Heads or former Heads of State. In Latin America, the Center for Electoral Assistance and Promotion (CAPEL) usually organizes missions integrated by high electoral officials from the region, as part of its duties as Secretariat of the Protocols of Tikal, Quito and UNIORE. These activities have helped establish an effective network between electoral organizations and have helped transfer lessons and experiences among the countries in the region. f) Other experiences: over the last years, in Latin America it has also been common to have the presence of observers coming from the Andean Parliament, the Latin American Parliament and international (such as the Socialist International) or regional (like ODCA) partisan organizations, among the most significant. Obviously, these have a more political profile rather than a technical-electoral one. 59

61 III. Normative Basis: Constitutional and Legal Provisions From a juridical point of view, the strictly constitutional regulation on the electoral observation topic is non-existent. This remark is valid both for international and national observation; nevertheless, for the latter, some of the main experts on the matter and the members of organizations that work on this field are persuaded that its organization and development constitute a natural human rights and constitutional rights exercise. 7 This interpretation is possible if we depart, as is the case of this text, from wide notions of what political rights and electoral law are. In this sense, it is worth remembering the brief but significant work of master Rodolfo Piza, Los Derechos Humanos y las garantías mínimas para un proceso electoral democrático (Human Rights and Minimal Guarantees for a Democratic Electoral Process) (Piza Escalante, 1991), in which he claims that the inclusion of an electoral process within the frameworks of democracy and human rights at least assumes taking the following into consideration: The polls and electoral processes and systems are simple popular representation techniques, and as such, they are not objectives in themselves, but rather means for the realization of collective values that this representation tries to accomplish. The electoral processes are, at the same time, conditioners of democracy, and also, conditions for the existence of network of efficient and effective institutions and guarantees. This network of interdependencies produces a trilogy with the idea of national sovereignty (which is derived from the governees in or towards the leaders). Although elections are fundamental expressions of political rights, they require the validity of other rights and freedoms in order to reach 7 It is worth mentioning, however, that the constitutional regulations about political rights usually have a very classic wording, which basically goes around the rights to elect, be elected, those which are related (meeting, association, freedom of speech) and usually referred also to the figure of political parties and the partisan system. Special mention should be made to the Political Constitution of Guatemala, which directly and concretely denominates these rights with the qualification of Human Rights (see Title II, articles 3 and further). 60

62 plenitude; among others, there are: equality and non-discrimination, association and gathering, speech and information, and in regard to the system, its fundamental guarantees, that is, a set of procedural powers, bodies and means necessary for the action and execution of all these rights (including, of course, the need that jurisdictional remedies are finished). 8 In also a wide scope, Lechner 9 sustains that the changes operated in society and the political sphere generate new forms of citizenship. In regards to specifically the legal normative (Electoral Laws or Codes), there are very few regulations on the electoral observation topic, as national observation is treated much less quantitatively than international observation (although, paradoxically, the legislations that regulate this domestic observation do it adequately in its qualitative profile). In any case, the generic references in some of the Latin American legislations basically refer to international observation, thus showing certain lack of precision. What is regulated is not consistent with this sub-set of countries with legal regulations, of which Mexico and Peru have more integral guidelines (characterization, attributions, rights, duties and prohibitions of national observers). In other legislations, the few references appear within the attributions of the electoral bodies so that they, through a regulatory means or an administrative resolution invite and credit guest observers. Only six of the countries have some sort of legal reference on this topic, in which in some, like Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, it is a simple association to the attributions of which these bodies are responsible on this matter. 8 In this aspect, it could be said that Latin American constitutions are profuse and varied, as the treatments go from the approach of classic political rights, to relevant principles such as the declarations, rights and guarantees enunciated will not be understood as the denial of other rights and guarantees not enumerated expressly; the link of political rights with popular sovereignty; the non-alteration or limitation through laws that regulate their exercise; the complementariety of representative democracy with participative democracy, etc. 9 Lechner, N. La problemática invocación de la sociedad civil. Espacios, 4, San Jose, 1995, pp

63 62 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America IV. Normative Basis: Latin America Electoral Body Regulations In most of Latin American countries, the figure of international observation and its participants (which in countries like Mexico and Chile are called foreign guests and not observers), is made concrete through invitations from the host electoral body, either through the corresponding Chancelleries or directly through the electoral bodies, usually in coordination and communication with the Executive Secretariat of the Associations of the Protocols of Tikal, Quito and UNIORE. In some cases, the establishment of observation missions which could be at a medium term, for a follow-up of greater geographical coverage of different stages of the process; or at a short term, very concentrated on the final stage of the process, the election day and the days after it are made concrete with memoranda of understanding or specific agreements or are exercised through the simple acceptance of the invitation submitted by the body that organizes and/or judges the election. These regulatory faculties or successive authorizations via administrative resolution, as there is a lack of concrete electoral regulations, have an advantageous connotation, but it is also problematic. The first, as it is easier to adequate them to the political situation experienced, without the rigor of an inconvenient or out-ofdate valid law; the problematic situation comes from the risk that the electoral body, due to political or other motivations, would like by this means to limit or modify some of the schemes and practices previously applied in some of the spheres in which, both for national and international observation, this figure could be manifested (invitations, requirements, prohibitions, obligations, time, accreditation, access to certain places, etc.). Among the countries that have regulated electoral observation via regulations are Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela. The resolution of the Supreme Electoral Council in Nicaragua of April 5 of 2001 ( Provisions referred to national and international

64 observation ), applicable to the elections of President, Vice-president, Deputies to the National Assembly and Deputies to the Central American Parliament of November 4 of the same year, had five chapters divided into 19 articles that regulated: the objective of these guidelines, the voting process, invitations, accreditation and final provisions. The agreement approved on the extraordinary session of the General Council of the Electoral Federal Institute of Mexico of October 21, 2002, after long considerations related to attributions, the figure of reciprocity, the United Nations regulations in regard to the right and duty to protect the fundamental rights and the need to give more certainty and security to the activities of the foreign guests who travelled to that country to know and be informed about the 2003 federal electoral process, established the new bases and criteria on which these visitors could participate on these elections on any of its stages. In Venezuela, the National Electoral s Council resolution of June 23, 2004, denominated Guidelines about the international observation regime in the revocation procedures of the mandates to popular election positions, regulated in eleven articles various aspects such as: object, exclusive competence of the CNE, nature and content of international observation, governing principles, conditions and aptitudes of the international observer, accreditation, faculties and powers, duties and obligations, final report, revocation and condition for the electoral observation of international bodies. Also, in El Salvador, 27 articles of the Regulations on electoral process international observation issued by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of that country considered the guidelines on the electoral process, period of observation, invitations, observer categories (a) official observers invited by the TSE; b) official observers of the Government of El Salvador; c) guest observers), accreditation, rights, facilities and prerogatives of observers, duties and final provisions. Another recent situation that assumes sometimes hard discussions and decisions for the electoral bodies is the request for accreditation associated with some potential observers that are not the ones coming from the typical and specialized organizations on the matter (for instance, representatives of political parties from other countries or foreign study centers). Moreover, in the case of national public 63

65 institutions that feel entitled to participate in the electoral process as observers, such as the case of representatives of the Ombudsmen office (Peru, Guatemala, Panama) or the Public Prosecutor s Office of the Republic (Colombia). In brief: in most of the American countries, electoral national and international observation is regulated on infra-legal provisions (regulations, administrative decisions of the electoral bodies or memoranda of understanding between the body and some of the guest institutions), or simply, there is normative absence. For the case of domestic observation, usually this total lack of regulation does not prevent that the observation is carried out in practice. V. Civil Society Organizations and Electoral Observation Following the path that the National Citizen s Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) in 1986 to denounce and contain the fraudulent elections organized by the then dictator Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, the entire world as the experience has been disseminated throughout all the continents, with emblematic countries such as Albania, Rumania, Burundi, Kenya and Namibia has known this figure of national electoral observation. As Boneo indicates, 10 the organization of these NGOs, sui generis expressions of the so-called civil society, 11 could be given on three formats: Starting from a pre-existing organization. Creating a new organization. Establishing a coalition between several organizations. Although the list could be longer, these organizations who carry out national or domestic observation are recognized the accomplishment of at least the following duties: a) to dissuade illicit acts of fraud or unbalance of the conditions of participation and the electoral results; 10 Boneo, H. (2000), op. cit. 11 Borja, R. Enciclopedia de la política. FCE, Mexico,

66 b) to inform and educate the citizens on electoral practice; c) to bring legitimacy or not to the elections; d) to correct and improve the system and electoral organization. 12 As it is obvious, one of the problems or central topics around this figure of national observation is, independently of other attributes such as political neutrality, independence from the State, the massive display of citizens throughout the country, the operations based on volunteer work, pluralism, the diversification of financing and the conception of observation as an integral process, 13 the one of the juridical statute that accredits this condition as national observer, 14 of 12 Núñez, E. Observación nacional de elecciones. Diccionario Electoral. IIHR/ CAPEL: San Jose, 2000, pp Apart from these aspects, contained in an internal work document of the Transparencia Civil Association (whose authorship or date are not registered), Bernbaum (2001) highlights other strategic decisions associated precisely with the creation of Transparencia in 1994, among which there were: being neutral and independent from any particular affiliation; to fundamentally operate as a group of volunteers; to form a Council that has directive duties rather than advisory ones; to incorporate in its Assembly individuals who would lead the operative personnel; to establish the greatest amount of contacts possible with civil society in order to mobilize volunteer observers for the elections; given that the future of the country is in the hands of youths, to give university students a space where they have the opportunity to politically participate in a wider sense. 14 See Vega, De. op. cit. In this same sense, it is interesting to see the balance that Valverde does (1995: 190) of what happened on the 1995 Peruvian elections: with a great sense of opportunity and understanding of the cooperative potentiality of national observation, by April the National Elections Jury had conceded Transparencia a juridical status (Observer Statute). This allows to reedit an impressive structure of national coverage that involved more than ten thousand person (observers, watchers (specialized observers with the additional mission of transmitting electoral results), those in charge of the location, provincial committees, etc.); thus, by November the polishing of the structure allowed to give a qualitative leap in the coverage of new tasks such as electoral information to the citizenship, the citizen education sessions (with contents such as democracy and citizen rights, municipal elections and participation of neighbors in local governments), and electoral promotion for citizen participation in emergency zones, with populations affected by violence and living the harsh reality of the growing number of displaced persons. But the task, far from being limited to only that, the aperture of the system and its own inventive and initiative, allowed Transparencia to accomplish key duties of social articulation and mediation between the main actors and citizenship: fluent and sincere relationships with the political movements, groups and structures that represented or not candidacies in the elections; public meetings with the main candidates to the mayor offices of the country; establishment of cooperation agreements with different academic and professional entities who voluntarily worked to establish the observation process; forums with personalities who create opinions, etc. 65

67 which derive other relevant normative and practical aspects, like for instance accreditation (if it should be given individually or through organizations) or the regime of rights or impediments. This is a good starting point to understand the sometimes complex, and surely varied, organizational schemes practiced in Latin America since 1988 (in which the Chilean organization CIVITAS developed a pioneer experience during the process that concluded with the referendum summoned and lost by Dictator Augusto Pinochet, who should then leave power). To illustrate this organizational diversity and complexity, we will review two relevant experiences lived in the American continent: the Lima Agreement (see and ETONU-MEX (United Nations Technical Team in Mexico, 1994). The Lima Agreement is a network of Latin American civic movements, constituted in September 2000, whose mission is addressed to the strengthening of democracy in America, and whose goals are the following: To promote citizen participation in public affairs as a form of exercise of constitutional and democratic rights. To exchange successful experiences and methodologies addressed to deepen the democratic processes in the region. To carry out observation and monitoring of the electoral processes from a civil society perspective, according to the free and fair elections international standards. To promote monitoring and incidence actions on strategic topics for democratic governability. Table 1 could be a guide in regard to the complexity and wide spectrum of organizational possibilities and exchange of experiences that a network of this nature can offer (in fact, more recent experiences such as the one of Participación Ciudadana in Ecuador, has been nourished and enriched of the work and organizational scheme of pioneer entities such as its homonym in Dominican Republic, 66

68 Transparencia in Peru or Ética y Transparencia in Nicaragua, and in good measure it reproduces many of these successful practices). Table 1. Organizations comprising the Lima Agreement Country Organization addressed Main areas in which it works Argentina Poder Consruction of Ciudadano org.ar citizenship Action for justice Action with politicians Action with entrepreuneurs INFOCIVICA (news agency) Citizen participation Chile Participa Citizen participation and rights Incidence in electoral processes Institutional strengthening New technologies for participation Colombia Viva la Lobbying and Ciudadanía org legislative development Economic and social development Education Comunications 67

69 68 Country Organization addressed Main areas in which it works Dominican Participación Electoral education Republic Ciudadana Civic education Public administration mointoring Judicial and police reform Electoral Observation Speed count Ecuador Participación www. Espacios cívicos Ciudadana participacionciudadana. para promover org la participación ciudadana en la vida democrática Observación de los procesos democráticos Actividades académicas y de investigación Educación democrática Información y difusión de los resultados de los procesos electorales El Salvador Consorcio Citizenship de ONGs de incidence Educación Cívica Democratic (COCIVICA) governability Electoral reform National citizen forum

70 Country Organization addressed Main areas in which it works Guatemala Acción Citizenship Ciudadana acciongt incidence in the Congress of the Republic Promotion of transparency Municipality and citizenship Center of national and institutional observation and monitoring Guyana Electoral Electoral Assistance observation Bureau Haiti Conseil s.i. Civic education Naitonal d`observation Electoral (CNO) observation Jamaica Citizens for Electoral Free and Fair monitoring Elections (CAFFE) Advisory on electoral matters Electoral reform 69

71 Country Organization addressed Main areas in which it works México Alianza Equity and Cívica org.mx cleanlines of electoral processes Strengthening of the network with Movimietno civic and citizen Ciudadano por mcd bodies that seek la Democracia the strenghthening of democracy Defense of human and political rights New relationship State-society Democratic culture Link and articulation of citizen groups Nicaragua Ética y Electoral Transparencia observation Citizen participation Moderation of of national dialogue Citizen consultation processes Municipal performance evaluation 70

72 Country Organization addressed Main areas in which it works Panamá Justicia y Paz Economic development with equity and social justice Political participation of popular groups with a critical awareness Honest and transparent public administration Independent, expedite and impartial administration of justice Environment Cultural values of respect to life, the individual, solidarity and responsibility 71

73 Country Organization addressed Main areas in which it works Paraguay Decidamos Citizen Observación participation Electoral observation Speed count Democratic culture Youth organization and training Institutional development Perú Transparencia Development org.pe of democratic institutionalism Citizenship education and promotion Citizen participation Electoral observation and vigilance Speed count 72

74 Country Organization addressed Main areas in which it works Venezuela Momento de www. Legislative la Gente momentodelagente. initiatives org.ve Monitoring, follow-up or observation of electoral processes Citizen education Evaluation of public power administration Source: Based on the information contained on the electronic pages of the Lima Agreement and the organizations that compose the network. Although it is evident that not all of these groups do electoral observation in the strictest sense (follow-up and registration of the incidences of an electoral process in a wide geographic level and through the integration of a considerable mobilization of volunteer citizens, associated with a public information system about the development of this process), and much less some of the most recognized complementary tasks (such as the monitoring of what certain actors, 15 or rather certain key areas of current elections, do or stop doing, such as is the case of the follow-up to electoral expenditures 16 ). In the framework of this group of national organizations that do or promote national electoral observation, the Lima Agreement network is joined by others such as the United States National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Inter- American Institute of Human Rights, through its programmatic area, the Center for Electoral Assistance and Promotion (CAPEL). 15 In this sense it is worth mentioning the initiative of the Poder Ciudadano (Argentina) denominated Let us light the dark room. Database of Argentinian politicians, Elections Buenos Aires: Poder Ciudadano, 2003 (see also Valverde 1996). 16 Particularly relevant the experiences or initiatives of Poder Ciudadano (Argentina), Participación Ciudadana (Dominican Republic) and Participa (Chile). 73

75 There is a special situation in Paraguay, where even if Decidamos is that country s Lima Agreement network organization, the pioneer experience on national electoral observation (since 1989) and in particular on the design of (parallel and speed) results counts, comes from a situational and specific network for these purposes that has been articulated in view of the summons to certain electoral processes and is disarticulated once it concludes. It is the network called Sakä, whose meaning is transparence in Guarani language, and of which Decidamos has been part when it has been active. There are no news of organizations who comply with this specific role in electoral processes although it is possible that some citizen organizations get prepared or have some other type of support or follow-up in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Brazil or Uruguay. In regard to ETONU-MEX, this experience constituted an exercise on advisory and information that the United Nations provided to Mexican NGOs who were interested in carrying out national electoral observation in There was previous clarification that the United Nations technical team would not carry out evaluations, qualifications or comments on the development of the electoral process or its results (this is the exclusive responsibility of Mexican NGOs), the assistance was provided in stages, with guarantee that the participating organizations would respond to the principles of impartiality, pluralism, professionalism and transparency, always in the spirit of correction of the problems presented, depending on the possibilities, more than with the intention of the formulation of complaints. The project expected that the performance of the NGOs responded to the following aspects: Coverage of the electoral process in its integrality (and not only the Election Day). Capacity to cover all the national territory (representative coverage). Objectivity in the compilation and interpretation of data (in particular, distinguishing irregularities of fraud or attempts to manipulate the vote). 74

76 That the observers highlighted both the errors and the successes of electoral organization. Several conditions were previewed for the exercise of the figure of the speed count (reliable instrument to estimate electoral results, based on a representative and consistent statistical sample, which due to its own nature is a preliminary method to systematize and inform about the electoral results) and the expected coverage for the development of the observation responded to the following criteria and principles: The verification of elements that should be carried out to evaluate the impartiality of the electoral authorities. The verification of elements that should be carried out to evaluate the access of citizens to the right to vote. The verification that should be carried out to evaluate the impartiality of electoral authorities. The freedom of organization, speech, movement and assembly during the campaign and the compliance of legal norms. The assignment of time and spots in social mass media. The quality and security of indelible ink. The custody and transportation of electoral material, before the Election Day. The events on the Election Day. Calculation of results at the district and federal levels (including speed count or other procedures to verify the election) The custody and transportation of electoral material, after the voting has concluded. The procedures used to inform the public about the results of the elections. 75

77 76 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America VI. Common Practices and Approaches to Electoral Observation Since the third democratization wave started in the world (1974), most of the countries have advanced in the opening of their political system and regime of freedoms. More than eighty countries took measures to reform their representative democracy, in such a way that there are currently 140 countries, of the almost 200 that exist in the world, who hold competitive and multi-partisan elections. Latin America has been a pioneer in the institutional construction of electoral organization systems that protect the political rights of its citizens and in promoting the observation of elections. In this long period that extends up to 2004, we could mention two big phases or generations of electoral observation. The first-generation observation is a type of practice directly related with the transition processes from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one. In view of the distrust in the organization of elections in the old regimes due to irregular or fraudulent practices, both the international community and the national community launched electoral observation. First-generation electoral observation has been centered in promoting free, transparent, clean and periodic elections. Based on these objectives, the practices and approaches to be developed were limited in the following attention fields: impartiality of the authority responsible of organizing the elections; existence of enough guarantees in the preparatory stage of the election to ensure that the citizen vote counts and is well counted; efficiency and security on the instruments to organize the election, such as the electoral register, the documentation and the electoral materials that would prevent double voting. In the stage corresponding to the election day, that there is an adequate distribution of the documentation and electoral materials; impartial integration of the polling stations; security in the polling centers to dissuade the attempts of intimidation or manipulation of the elector; the scrutiny of votes and due and preliminary results programs. In the stage after the Election Day, there has been a very restricted action field, limited to the diffusion of the electoral results.

78 The development of this type of observation has had a work hypothesis based on the distrust on the organization of the elections, which altered citizen s will as a consequence of the irregularities with which these were organized by authoritarian regimes; hence the emphasis in the cleanliness of the elections and the regime of freedoms that it implies, with full respect to the citizens political rights. All of this has had an important contribution in most of the Latin American democracies: the construction of electoral bodies and instruments capable of organizing trustworthy elections for the citizens, for the political parties and for the national and international public opinion, in conformity with international standards. This type of observation also focused its tasks almost on one actor: the authority responsible of organizing the elections. The other phase or generation of the observation has started to be present while the topics of concern of the first generation have been reasonably solved or the political actors pose new needs and requirements. Second-generation observation starts from a work hypothesis that demands a determined quality of the election. Based on this, at least four objectives have been established for electoral observation: to improve the administration of the elections; to make the management of the resources in the political-electoral contest transparent; to improve the conditions of equity of an election (in the availability of financial resources and access to mass media); and in the application of electoral justice and conflict resolution. Secondgeneration observation is no longer posing the legitimacy of the election, but rather the quality of the legitimacy. The following action fields are points of interest for the observation: The quality of the organization in terms of costs and effectiveness in the execution of the legal mandate of organizing the elections. The quality of the electoral campaigns in regard to the offer of the political parties to the citizenship. The debate between the different proposals and the definition and strategies to solve the main demands and needs of society. 77

79 The conditions of the contest, that is, seeking a better equity and transparency in the use of resources to finance the electoral campaigns and on the access to mass media to promote their political offer; and The attention to electoral justice resolution to solve controversies and conflicts presented between the different political actors during the electoral process. This new approach to the second-generation observation s generic purpose is to observe various actors by different interested sectors. Now there is not only one actor to be observed or a group that is mainly interested in observing the elections. All of this forces us to rethink the usefulness of electoral observation in this second generation. Now there are new paths for cooperation and technical assistance. By observing the quality of an election, there are new opportunities to share the strengths of electoral administration, as well as the possibilities of technical assistance are identified in those aspects that present weaknesses or insufficiencies. Now electoral observation is a laboratory for elections administrators who are interested in improving the efficiency of electoral bodies, or in the case of electoral justice, to know the jurisprudence that is being generated in atypical cases in a determined country. The quality of the campaigns now is a point of attention, not only for society, but also for the parliamentary and the parties in regard to the offer made to the electorate. The topic of money in the politicalelectoral contest constitutes an issue of major relevance in the new millennium political agenda. Observation may help not only to improve the equity in the contest conditions, but also to make the use of resources for public interest affairs transparent. Second-generation observation, contrary to the first-generation, requires of small groups with good professional background and practical experience, as well as with a considerable capacity to form observation networks in the different phases and stages of the electoral process. Even when the second-generation observation approach is not generalized, it has started to gradually develop in some elections in the region, like: Argentina, Colombia and Mexico in In regard 78

80 to observers with this new approach we may highlight, as NGOs, Poder Ciudadano (Argentina), Participa (Chile), Transparencia (Peru), Alianza Cívica (Mexico), Participación Ciudadana (Dominican Republic) and other important organizations grouped under the Lima Agreement. As electoral bodies, we may highlight the observation missions coordinated by the Center of Electoral Promotion and Assistance in Mexico, Central America and South America. VII. The Impact of Electoral Observation For the case of the last fifteen years of the last century, we have considered eight elections cases, whose examples could help us build an interpretation in respect to the impact of international observation in America. The cases selected are Chile (1988), Panama (1989), Nicaragua (1990), Haiti (1990), Mexico (1994), Dominican Republic ( ) and Peru (2000). We could frame the impact of observation in two levels: political and technical. This classification has to do with the nature of observation itself. All of them have a technical component of different magnitude, but the political component is always identified with high levels of influence and impact. Under the hypothesis that with or without electoral observation the same would have happened in the cases mentioned above, we could claim that international observation always had a generally positive impact, although limited and of short reach (contrary to what happened in the case of national or domestic observation, which resulted fundamental in some experiences like Paraguay in 1989 or Peru in 2000). If we take into consideration two axes for our analysis, in which Y represents the political density of the observation (political impact from 0 to10), while X represents the technical level of the observation (technical organization from 0 to 10), under this perspective we find that probably the observation of the plebiscite of Chile in 1988 had a basic technical component level (2 in the technical organization axis), but an international impact presence of the highest level (9 in 79

81 the political impact axis), which affected not only to inhibit possible manipulations, but also to legitimize the organization of the plebiscite and its result. Under this perspective, although the electoral observation in Panama in 1989 had a technical component that went beyond the basics (4 in the technical organization axis), its international component and repercussion was of the highest level (10 in the political impact level). The electoral observation denounced the electoral fraud, with which the government of General Manuel Antonio Noriega was left in an international isolation that, among other causes, produced his replacement as a leader. The exercises of electoral observation of a medium-high component in the technical and political axes were Haiti in 1990 and Dominican Republic in (7-7 in both axes, political impact and technical organization). The international presence in Haiti during this situation considerably helped to ease internal violence and facilitate paths to process the differences. Moreover, the international presence supported in an important way the technical organization of the elections by offering security to the citizenship and considerably decreasing the outbreaks of political violence. In the case of the Dominican Republic, international presence had a greater impact and relevance by identifying a series of deficiencies and irregularities in the 1994 electoral organization, which were attended mostly for the 1996 elections. Between one and the other election, there was a difference in regard to the quality of electoral organization, in which electoral observation played an important role both to identify the problematic and to offer improvement and correction programs. The presidential election in Peru in year 2000, in which Alberto Fujimori sought a second reelection, generated a deep expectation both in regard to internal politics and on the international community interested in the political transition processes. Large and qualified groups of national and international electoral observation groups were displayed, thus creating a context of democratic demand in the electoral organization (10 in the political impact axis and 8 in the technical organization one). Even when Fujimori was victorious in this 80

82 process, his government was left without legitimacy and international support, thanks, among other political factors, to the large and welldocumented reports that the observers elaborated on the irregularities. Months later, the President left office. The presidential election in Nicaragua constituted an important referral of the supporting role that electoral observation may have to facilitate democratic elections in very polarized political contexts, like it happened in that country that had just concluded an internal war. Probably this has been one of the electoral experiences that concentrated a greater number of international observers. These were extremely watched-over elections, with good technical support and a wide range of political expressions (9 in the political axis and 9 in the technical organization one). The general elections of Mexico in 1994 generated great interest for the international community, the same as for millions of marginalized citizens, about the observation tasks. In a high-density internal context, a guerilla in the state of Chiapas and the assassination of a PRI candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, international observation and the presence of foreign visitors were finally allowed in the Mexican elections. Although there were no big personalities of international politics, the participation of a great amount of international observers from America and Europe were a justification to accelerate a series of electoral reforms that significantly improved the elections in this country (7 in political impact and 9 in technical organization). Without a doubt, observation has different magnitudes in its consequences and impact on the organization and legitimacy of the election. The technical aspect of the observation is closely linked to the political factor. Hardly would there be an observation without the respective political impact within and outside the country observed; therefore, apart from a good technical support to develop observation, a good doses of political responsibility is required, as its performance may contribute to inhibit or accelerate internal processes. In certain cases, observation has had an impact that goes beyond the Election Day and has been able to develop, with different levels of depth, efforts for institutional strengthening and political culture. 81

83 There have been cases in which in spite of the strong investment made, democratic consolidation has slowly advanced, such as the case of Nicaragua, while in other countries there is a clear decline, as is the case of Haiti. GRáFICA GRAPHIC 1 DE 1 OF LA ELECTORAL OBSERVACIóN OBSERVATION ELECTORAL Political Impact Source: Prepared by the author Technical Organization On its side, national electoral observation in the Americas has not only been varied in experiences and organization formats, but it also constitutes a referral of credibility, legitimacy and creativity for a great quantity of countries for the political participation of individuals. Undoubtedly, the balance is very positive and is about experiences developed by organizations that, since the 1980 s and until 2004, have demonstrated a great capacity to renew their (institutional and contact with donors) alliances through time and its methods projected in a wide range that goes from the organization to civic education, and even, the generation of democratic and technical doctrine in national observation matters. Since the Peruvian case (2000), the lessons for Transparencia and in general for the national observation groups who operate in 82

84 transition contexts (Bernbaum, López Pinto, Sanborn 2001), could be summarized as follows: Successfully conducting an integral electoral observation in a transition and highly polarized context requires an organization of national observation that is mature and organized. When the political parties are weak, the national observers in electoral processes need to be prepared to assume the control duties that are normally assumed by political parties. A well-prepared national observation body could make an even more significant contribution by undertaking an integral monitoring role. The above implies about demanding the capacity of national observation organization. In situations in which it is clear that the process is being manipulated by the government and/or the electoral authorities, national observation entities should be prepared to consider the risks and focus their observation on the irregularities incurred by these entities. The national entity should give the steps to keep and demonstrate its impartiality. It is important to promote wide support and collaboration networks. The work and coordination relations with observers and governments from other countries are beneficial for the national observation scheme. On its side, the lessons learned for the international observers in this same case 17 were: The national observation entities can become an invaluable source of useful and constant information about: a) the country s electoral context; and b) the nature and depth of the irregularities of the process observed. 17 This reference seeks to highlight the incidence of national observation in a concrete case. 83

85 The national observation entities can complement the work of the international observers through its wide presence throughout the country on the Election Day. A national observation entity with experience in very precise speed counts is in conditions to accomplish a fundamental role. A well-organized national observer can provide support to numerous international observation delegations, both before and on the Election Day itself. VIII. National and International Observation: Strengths and Weaknesses The subdivision of the electoral process in its components, and the analysis of the most effective approaches for the observation of each one of them, suggests that most part of these elements could be adequately covered through qualitative evaluations carried out by small teams of experts. The main exceptions, which require of a high number of observers, are the observation of the respect for the freedoms of assembly and movement, of the absence of fear or intimidation, and of the events during the Election Day, including the recount of votes in the polling stations. Even when the current techniques of observation of the register of voters also require of an elevated number of observers, the alternatives based in analysis from experts are more adequate. Given these differences in the need of resources for the observation of the different electoral process phases, what are the relative advantages of national and international observation for the observation of its different aspects? An almost obvious conclusion is that international observers are particularly costly only for the gathering of information, with the exception of certain areas in which knowledge and experience are particularly important. On the contrary, the observation for the respect of basic freedoms is the typical focus of attention of the long-term observers displayed on the different regions. However, the success on this task will depend on the capacity of development of effective networks and contacts with their national counterparts. But their main 84

86 impact is not the gathering of information, but rather the fact that their presence will constitute a dissuasive factor that could importantly contribute to the consolidation of trust. This impact cannot be easily replaced by national observers. The differences between national and international observers in regard to gathering of information are particularly evident during the Election Day. The typical international operation has the surprise element that gives it mobility, and well-designed samples may provide an adequate overall representation. However, the information gathered by international observers during their visits to the polling stations is basically incomplete and impressionistic, and only provides sample quantitative information of a limited number of variables. On the contrary, the typical static national observation allows the gathering of complete information on the events on the observed polling station. As the national observers supervise all or almost all the polling stations, their presence ensures adequate information and creates an important dissuasive factor. Even when some of the international missions carry out speed counts, it is common that the national observers carry them out with similar effectiveness. The differences between national and international observers in the case of observing electoral process aspects that require specialized knowledge vary from country to country. In countries such as Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua or Dominican Republic, this specialized knowledge already exists at the national level and can be easily incorporated to the national observation methodologies. Nevertheless, in some countries this knowledge and experience do not exist, which makes the participation of international observation necessary. Another important difference between national and international observers is given in the impact of the information transmitted to the public. The national observers main audience is within the country, while the opposite is true of international observers. It is important to remember that the impact of observation on the legitimacy of a process does not always result from detailed reports, scrupulously based on the gathered information and carefully and respectfully analyzed by the mass media. It should not be assumed that the greater 85

87 the quality and detail of the information on which the report is based, greater will be its impact on public opinion. In too many cases, public opinion is effectively influenced, or manipulated, by statements made immediately after the closing of the stations, and which are based more on global political evaluation of the situation than in a detailed analysis of the information gathered by the mission. The mass coverage is more frequently based on the opportunity of the statement and the public image of who gives it, than in the quality of the information on which this statement is based. The diffusion aspects should integrate the planning of the mission with the same importance than technical elements. Electoral observation, both national and international, will continue to constitute an important part of the democratization processes in the short term. However, the observation organizations should carefully preview their observation approaches by selecting those that better fit to the field situation. That is particularly valid in regard to those electoral process elements that are better covered by teams of experts than by a high number of observers. The revision of the observation approaches is also necessary to achieve a better integration between national and international observation, establishing links between both that will have a synergic effect. International observation is expensive, and its use should be carefully evaluated case per case. It started as a phenomenon based on a situation of real demand, as a response to urgent needs in difficult situations. As time went by, it has started to develop certain characteristics of a situation of offer: the existence of a request by the country is the main aspect on the decision, and not too much attention is paid to the real situation in the field or to the effective need of such a costly tool as international observation. Finally, and in a general fashion, it can be said with absolute certainty that this topic of electoral observation, in regard to the treatment given in Latin American national legislations given the lack of coverage, integrality and uniformity that it presents -, is a fertile land for electoral reform. 86

88 Bibliography Boneo, H. Observación internacional de elecciones. Diccionario Electoral. IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, Borja, R. Enciclopedia de la política. FCE: Mexico, 1998 Cuéllar R. y S. Vincenzi. Centro de Asesoría y Promoción Electoral. Diccionario Electoral. IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose, Espinal, R. Transición a la democracia. Diccionario Electoral. IIHR/ CAPEL, San Jose, Lechner, N. La problemática invocación de la sociedad civil. Espacios, 4, San Jose, Nohlen, D. et al. Tratado de derecho electoral comparado de América Latina. FCE: Mexico, Núñez, E. Observación nacional de elecciones. Diccionario Electoral. IIHR/CAPEL: San Jose, Payne, M. et al. La Política Importa. IDB: Washington, Valverde, V. Transparencia eres tú. Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano, XIV. IIHR/CAPEL. San Jose, Valverde, V. Banco de Datos de políticos argentinos: Dime quién eres y te diré si te voto. Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano, XVI. IIHR/CAPEL. San Jose, Vega R. de. Participación ciudadana y observación electoral, Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano, XVIII. IIHR/CAPEL, San Jose,

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90 Electoral Observation from an Academy Perspective Gabriel Medrano * Introduction I thank the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, its specialized program, the Center for Electoral Assistance and Promotion (CAPEL), and the El Salvador Supreme Electoral Tribunal, for their invitation to participate in this panel, together with such dear colleagues and friends, experts in electoral matters, and for being able to share some time with such appreciated members of UNIORE electoral bodies, and international institutions specialized on the matter, which constitute the large electoral family of the Americas, to which I had the honor to belong for many years, and to which I have the privilege to visit in one way or another. I. Current Scopes of the Participation of Academic Sectors in Elections National Observation A true, continental humanist, Dr. Carlos Martínez Durán, provost of the San Carlos University in Guatemala, in the prologue of a book on the Latin American University, edited in 1949, after the First Congress of the Union of Latin American Universities (UDUAL), held in Guatemala, indicated that: * Gabriel Medrano, ex-magistrate of the Guatemala Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Lecture given at the IX Conference of the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations (UNIORE), organized by the IIDH/CAPEL and the El Salvador Supreme Electoral Tribunal. San Salvador, September 3,

91 Latin American universities should not and cannot be ruled exactly following the examples of Europe and North America, as peculiar environmental circumstances impose different modalities, and moreover to accomplish with the three universally acknowledged purposes, professionalism, research and culture, should imperatively spiritually guide their peoples, affirming the nationalities and American nationality, contributing in the highest and most serene fashion to the establishment of American reality, in order to reach the economic, social and cultural transformation of the youngest and most promising part of the current world. Why take this quote into account? For various reasons: 1) The first, to remember, in all its dimensions, the importance that the continent s integration has had, has and will continue to have. In electoral matters, the exchange of knowledge and experiences has been fertile, as with the same roots and similar problems, the search for solutions is, if not easier, at least less complex to analyze, derived from the richness produced by recognizing errors, sharing findings and posing technical and scientific challenges. 2) The universities and other study and social research centers in the region have the essential mission to raise the improvement of the life conditions of all the populations; the electoral area, which has been so overlooked less than 50 years ago, is today of great importance to overcome the problems of our underdevelopment, starting by accepting that we still have much to research, find, explain and forecast the electoral behavior of Latin American electors; and 3) The academy has the ineludible duty to teach, spread and increase human knowledge, as well as to propose solutions to the problematic of the different countries. In electoral matters, higher education institutions should include in their study plans teaching principles and guidelines related to democracy to insist that this is the best formula that drives to the growth of societies, but above all, starting from our own realities, those factors that obstruct and stop the path that leads to electoral perfection, that is, to the realization of elections in which all the 90

92 political community can exercise the right to vote. This implies that both citizens from the capital and from rural areas are inscribed and documented, as without it, it is practically impossible to exercise political rights; that there are no restrictions to the presentation of political offers, as through poor-constructed guidelines the possibilities of random and whimsical interpretations increase, to say the least, that are translated into restrictions to participation, in an unfair and illegal way; that the fight to reach power is free, transparent, equitable and competitive, with financing from political organizations and under clear and understandable game rules applicable by impartial operators who have been previously trained, as well as provided with the necessary technological tools to efficiently comply with their delicate duty; and last, to create awareness in that the only way to access public power is through elections carried out under conditions that make real the ideal of having honest, capable and visionary leaders in a society in which solidarity and fraternity are possible in the near future. II. National Electoral Observation: from a Fascinating Object of Study to a Space for the Intervention of the Academy. Dilemmas Involved in this Challenge Electoral observation, in its strictest sense, is limited to the final observation of the electoral process. There is emphasis on the voting stage itself, in such a way that both domestic and foreign observers start their duties a few days before the so-called D-Day, and although it is true that over the last years some missions are set a few days after the official summons, it is also true that most attention is placed on the election day. However, there are exceptions for this, and there are even permanent centers of study, but they are few, which is paradoxical, as the electoral topic is an opportunity of exploration. What electoral aspects can be addressed by the academy? The answer is simple. Simply, all of them, as after all, democracy and its practice are dynamic processes, and therefore, what is true today might not be true tomorrow, which gives place to a new approach and intellectual challenge to search for a solution of the problem, previously knowing that the new approaches will bring about new challenges 91

93 and problems that will lead to study and research to continue finding politics, methods, techniques and others, in search of excellence. 1 The dilemma is to what extent we want to hide and deny our deficiencies, contradictions and points to improve. The advance on electoral matters that the region has registered over the last years is impressing; it is an undeniable reality, just like the fact that we have many problems that are pending a solution in order to achieve the perfectioning of the system. The dilemma for the academy is to define if we are satisfied with accepting the electoral processes as good and efficient only because these are developed periodically, under conditions in which the exercise of freedom, in some cases, is poor, with organizations that present deficient intermediation performances with society and which conduct leaders with little or no capacity for social transformation; or, on the contrary, if we should put science and technology at the service of men, inquiring, searching, exploring, informing and publishing to society the reasons, motives, circumstances and factors behind the exercise of power, in which the elections are a first-order aspect, as according to the principles contained on the universally-applied international instruments and the constitutional texts themselves, it is under them that the exercise of power is reached, through which the State complies with its basic duties. Unfortunately, the former seems to be the prevailing. The academy has the responsibility of revealing, in a scientific way, the motivations and other factors that affect the citizens electoral behavior and to propose new models that seek the plenitude of democratic life. 1 The most important electoral aspects that are in the interests of the academy may be summarized on the following topics: knowledge and application of electoral legislation; electoral authority activities; citizen inscription process and elaboration of electoral registers; delimitation of electoral districts; training, inscription, operation and fiscalization processes by the political organizations; planning and organization of electoral logistics; development of the electoral process; behavior of social mass media; perceptions and behavior of society during the electoral processes; contents of the civic education electoral campaigns; costs of the first political journey, both for the organization of the process and for the party financing. Impact of this on national economy, electoral justice and compared law. 92

94 III. What Lessons Have Been Learned from the Academic Sector? In general terms, it could be affirmed that both national and international electoral observation strengthens civic culture in our populations, stimulates participation on electoral processes, discredits or inhibits electoral fraud and corruption, and increases the trust of electoral and the international community as a basic and essential element to democracy. On the last processes held in different countries, domestic observation has been a new source of participation and work, mainly for youth groups, who with their enthusiasm have brought dynamism and fresh ideas to this activity, whose exercise requires energy, knowledge, skills, and, in no few cases, puts courage and character to test. Its exercise incorporates elements that contribute to tolerance, openness and the necessary transparence. The reports from different electoral observation missions, which constitute the most important documents of these organizations, offer an overview of the electoral process development, and usually these include a characterization of the event, problems found, conclusions and punctual recommendations. In them you may also find a list of the complaints and accusations presented on the different stages of the process. In such reports, the corresponding authorities are encouraged to investigate, take measures, but in many cases only during the postelectoral stage, for which there is no follow-up, and the processes are not substantiated, so these reports are saved on a drawer. This space should be filled in by the academy. These works, without doubt, have opened the doors for scientific investigation in the best way. Thus, the production of graduation theses or works for a postgraduate degree ( licenciatura ) on topics related to the elections has increased; there are punctual investigations whose results are offered publicly, but the needs in this aspect are not yet totally satisfied. Electoral observation has flowed with resistance. Electoral bodies still do not fully accept it, so the access to information, which should 93

95 be easy, is not always provided with celerity or at the appropriate moment; some information is never known, for which there are several explanations, of which the most common is security. However, there is already a population that strongly demands data and numbers. In regard to (governmental and municipal) public officers and employees, the resistance is sometimes higher, as it is precisely on public entities with state funds and goods that, in some cases, certain candidates or organizations are favored or harmed. In regard to political organizations, there are still politicians who consider observation as an intromission, and they yield themselves in that it does not matter what it does, as at the end, so they say, the citizenship has the last word, but they forget that, independently from that, the citizenship is entitled to know about these organizations and their processes, in terms of ways to practice democracy, given that it mainly strengthens or weakens a healthy and committed electoral observation, which sometimes, as a consequence of improvisation and ignorance of the competent authorities, steps into areas that do not correspond to them, thus provoking conflicts. Just as the electoral processes should be carried out according to certain international guidelines and standards of legitimacy and transparency, also electoral observation should adjust to measures and procedures that guarantee their due and correct exercise. Experience advises that this activity should be in charge of duly trained operators. 2 2 In my country, the San Carlos University of Guatemala, autonomous state institution, has performed several electoral observation exercises. At the Provost s Office level, along with the Human Rights Attorney General and the Metropolitan Archbishop s Office, the Guatemalan population has been summoned to observe the general elections. In this way, around 9,000 gave oath in order to promote and protect the civic and political rights of the Guatemalan citizens on the last elections celebrated. At the level of faculties and schools, as well as of regional higher education centers, observation groups were integrated, with which there was university student presence in all the national territory. Also, professional colleges have participated on national electoral observation. Also in Guatemala, the group called Mirador Electoral, which is a non-partisan initiative and interested in strengthening democracy, has been carrying out electoral observation in a more structured way. During the 2007 general elections, it was constituted by non-governmental, academic vocation, renowned institutions, among others, the Latin-American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) and the Central-American Institute of Political Studies (INCEP): 94

96 The universities should have the ethical mission to help launch the transformation of Latin-American societies to more just ways of coexistence, where we all reach and enjoy better levels of life. The academy, on the electoral level, should not be satisfied by only verifying the compliance of constitutional guarantees. Its vision should be wider and in alliance, in the first place, with the electoral bodies, identifying the points that affect electoral participation, in order to, with the other sectors of society, impulse the changes that lead to the strengthening of democracy as a lifestyle. IV. Reference to the Indicators Related to National Electoral Observation, from an Academy Perspective, for the Construction of a New Political Culture (New Paradigms) in Latin America The literature on democracy basically argues that it: 1º. Assumes an idea of the human being as superior creature in the universe, with his/her own rights derived from his/her condition as such. All of us have the same rights. Each one of these institutions approached the process observation on different aspects with their own methodologies. This is how an analysis of the legislation and the way in which it is applied was carried out; after the performance of the political parties; coverage by social mass media, political violence, citizen participation and management of the event, giving follow-up to the planning, organization and implementation tasks that electoral authorities have at their charge, through serious studies. On the 2003 elections, the Human Rights Attorney General s Office, in coordination with Rafael Landívar University s Institute of Political Management, made an effort to identify the departments and municipalities where the highest levels of electoral conflict could be generated. This effort allowed mapping this topic. In 2007, also young students of the Francisco Marroquín University integrated an electoral observation group. Although in Guatemala the universities have accumulated experiences in regard to electoral observation, perhaps the greatest academic effort registered on electoral matters has been an electoral participation and abstentionism study which, supported by the Guatemala Electoral Supreme Tribunal in 1996 due to the recommendations of the electoral observation on the 1995 general elections held in 1995 and which had little citizen participation, allowed, with international assistance, to group and involve the San Carlos University of Guatemala, the Rafael Landívar University, the Association of Investigation and Social Studies (ASIES), Latin-American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), National Center for Economic Investigations (CIEN) and other entities, for an investigation titled Por qué no votan los guatemaltecos? (Why Don t Guatemalans Vote?), which to this date it is still a reference to interpret the electoral behavior of my country. 95

97 96 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America 2º. Is a form of the organization of power that implies the existence and good functioning of the State, both in that related to the production of laws and in the provision of services. It seeks to protect and achieve harmony in all of its inhabitants, with no discrimination of any kind. 3º. Implies a total citizenship, not only political citizenship. Society should develop within a framework in which civil, political and social rights are fully guaranteed. 4º. Each population has and presents its own characteristics, and it should be understood and studied in function of these; and 5º. Demands the celebration of periodical, free, competitive, transparent and fair elections. I believe the effort of the academy should seek to gather information on the different thematic aspects related to the electoral regime, that is, more empirical works with enough numeric support. This could be starting from a serious, planned, independent electoral observation, with defined objectives and subject to the rules established by the electoral authority. To begin, there is the topic of documentation. It is not a secret that the civil registry system does not achieve coverage in all countries which would allow it to establish the data related to the birth of the people with enough time and legal certainty. This deficiency has greater impact in the rural population, is prolonged until becoming of age, and although the legal texts recognize that one becomes citizen at a certain age, if the corresponding documentation is not presented, this precept stays in an ideal world. Then, there is the electoral register. In spite of the important efforts carried out in respect to its improvement in several countries, there are still no exhaustive and precise data. The census and the electoral registers still present certain incongruities, that although are explained in function of the population s mobility, currently there is the technology that would allow doing the relevant cross-referencing. The topic of the composition, requirements, attributions and degrees of performance of the electoral bodies is another first-order aspect. The

98 resolutions made, the quality of these and impact and effects on the system are important to study. The law recognizes a series of duties, but there is no empirical evidence on how they are carried out and the effects that they have. The data on the size of the assemblies, congresses or legislative chambers, the composition of the representative bodies, defectors, comparison between the set of ideas and ideologies of the political parties with the proposals and behaviors at the interior of the Senate of Congresses are other interesting aspects to approach, and that, if systematically managed, in depth, debated at the interior of the higher education institutions and spread among youths, could lead to new political culture, as, supported by data, the demagogic and histrionic discourse with which the sincere and feasible offer capacity is substituted. Of course, there are other important topics that should today be object of observation by the academy. For each one of those topics, a series of indicators may be proposed. It is transcendental to work with professionalism in order to investigate, without fears, why our continent does not yet reach a better-quality democracy. Electoral observation by the academic sector which should also transcend to the observation of political decisions -, should be integral, permanent, as permanent as investigation, study and analysis of that observed should be. All of this is to propose, announce and recommend whatever drives electoral processes to improve, given their essential relevance for the democratic systems, as is well summarized by José Ortega y Gassett in its book The Revolt of the Masses, 3 in the such repeated and known phrases: The health of democracies, whatever its type and degree, depends on a wretched technical detail: the electoral procedure, everything else is secondary. (...) without the support of the authentic suffrage, democratic institutions are in the air. 3 Ortega y Gasset, José. La Rebelión de las Masas, Second part, chapter VII, Madrid,

99 Bibliography Ortega y Gasset, José. La Rebelión de las Masas. Second part, chapter VII, Madrid,

100 II Section Experiences and lessons acquired through the domestic observation of elections

101

102 From the Latin American Electoral Bulletin XVII (1997) to CAPEL Notebook N 53 (2008). An Updated Reading on the National Electoral Observation 10 Years Later Ricardo Valverde* Introduction National electoral observation (in the broad sense, understood as the actions of civil society organizations that develop incidence activities in the political and electoral environment of a country), is an institution that is here to stay in Latin America. What is most surprising is not only the capacity to adjust to change in difficult times, or the level of influence of these organizations who take on, from the organized civil society, an incidence task, but the overwhelming democratic potential that this figure represents, blended with the citizen ethics which is necessary for its viability, development and success. Latin America an outstanding student who has learned from the experiences of its origins in other latitudes is a tangible evidence of this broad scope of political events and actions that is the national observation, in which we can see significant and successful cases, along with others that barely resist the weight of the situation and get lost in the folds of history with not much relevance in the annals of the political participation of their countries. * Costa Rican lawyer, university professor, specialist in International Law (University of Costa Rica) and in Human Rights and Democratization Processes (University of Chile). IIHR/CAPEL Programs Officer. The opinions of the author are personal academic reflections and do not institutionally compromise the aforementioned universities or IIHR/CAPEL. 101

103 The independence of the actors, their reliability, audacity, creativity, articulation of democratic forces, probity and honesty are then revealed not only as the virtues one should be inclined to, but as the sine qua non key elements to explain the existence itself and the tolerance to the new demands that the development and the political conditions that appear constantly. There are no valid shortcuts or tricks to deceive reality. The format and the principles are the same. The attitude and the way in which each country interprets the score of the national observation is what makes the difference. For this reason, the lessons in each of these countries are nothing but referents which sooner or later have been tested and reconsidered in realities so different in our America, like the cases of Paraguay, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Honduras, Argentina, Venezuela, Panama, Chile, and most recently, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica or Bolivia. But the survival, and above all, the challenge to maintain the quality of the activities organized by these organizations that have an incidence in the political processes in their countries are not in any way easy tasks. It is for this reason, with these brief reflections I want to give recognition, ascertainment and tribute to these efforts. Just as the time when Eduardo Núñez and I wrote in the discontinued Latin American Electoral Bulletin in the year 1997, titled More citizen participation equals more democracy 1, the reflections that today take shape in this new contribution, while taking due account of those first experiences at the end of the eighties and early nineties, are part of this same tribute, but they try to contribute with some ideas and notes about what has taken place during the last decade. 1 Valverde R. y E. Núñez. Más participación ciudadana es igual a más democracia. In: Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano XVII, January-June 1997, IIDH/CAPEL, San Jose, 1997, pp

104 I. Basic Doctrinal Reflections: We Cannot Forget We Walk through the Path of Democracy 2 From the times of ancient Greece and the emblematic polis where the active citizens of this political expression were male, free, and owners of specific resources to our days, things have changed substantially. Nowadays there are certain figures connected to democracy, which responding to complementary legal, sociological and ethical schemes (gender approach, rule of law, human rights, the broadness of the concept of citizenship, the kind of link the countries have in the development chain, etc), make us value democracy in an entirely different way. The previous statement restates the basic idea that law is a cultural product, and therefore, any of its expressions as is the case of human rights, and political rights particularly are always referred to a specific time and place, to historical and sociological factors that cannot be denied. The democracy we want to approach is not an abstract and univocal concept (if that were possible...), but a notion referred and blended by these factors of the current reality. Apart from the explanation made in the sense that democracy today is different from the one experienced in ancient Greece, or even from the one outlined by the fathers of the classic liberalism or the enlightened encyclopaedism, what is true is that at the doctrinal level we have reached a degree of preparation, diversification and sophistication that, at times, it can make the analysts enter complex conceptual polemics, when in reality they are talking about the same thing, or even worse, they are using common words to refer to topics or things that are not comparable or even compatible. Nowadays, rhetorical statements such as democracy is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer have the same basic and dramatic meaning that it used to have. 2 Vid. Valverde, R. Algunas reflexiones y lecciones aprendidas en torno a la democracia y la calidad democrática. El poder de la doctrina y de las metáforas al servicio de la causa democrática y de los derechos humanos. In: Revista de Derecho Electoral, Lima, Escuela Electoral del Perú, Year I, No. 0, 2007, pp

105 Democracy is a polysemic and complex concept which involves many factors. Actually, its Greek origins take us to the words demos (people) and kratos, which means government. However, the doctrine always warns us about the historical and sociological differences that we pointed out before, therefore, the people today is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively the same as it was in the times of the Greeks. Towards the end of the long period of Roman supremacy and feudalist rule we find in the charters of rights, and later, in the modern constitutionalism what allows the rebirth of the notion of democracy. Of course, the emphasis in now on new components such as the limitation to the unlawful holders of power, and the sovereign will of the ones that now form the people, under the supposition that equality among them is an essential factor and a permanent attribute of the new social and political reality that was being built. It would, of course, be many years before they would enjoy the full benefits of citizenship, with the acknowledgement of the rights of women to participate in the political life or the integration of foreign people. However, this takes us to the fact that the rules that democracy works with start having a determinant role together with the values that the emerging ideology (liberalism, capitalism) needed to state: liberty, equality, tolerance and pluralism. In general, the values that give content to what we now know as civil and political rights closely connect human rights and democracy. 3 From this derives that the representativeness factors and the formal legitimacy mechanics in the election of the representatives started acquiring a surprising relevance, to the point that nowadays in a majority portion of the popular imagery prevails the idea that (representative) democracy is synonym of free, just, periodical, clean and competitive elections. The problem turns more complex when during last century, complementary or alternative notions like political participation, which 3 Picado, S. Derechos políticos como derechos humanos. In: Nohlen, D. et al (Comp.). Tratado de Derecho Electoral comparado de América Latina. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico, 2007, pp

106 introduce the distinction between the representative profile and the participative profile of democracy started opening their way. 4 Other historical events, like the arrival of a socialist political system, made the problem more complex, because then, there were conceptually antagonistic and at the same time blurred notions like capitalist democracies and popular or socialist democracies. The thematic interrelation that the construction of a complex and multidisciplinary world supposes also conducted to the distinction between formal democracy, political democracy, electoral democracy, social democracy, and even economic democracy. We now live in the world of academic specificity (Law, Sociology, Political Sciences) highly seduced by the recurrence to metalanguage and to codified notions which, despite being genius sometimes, are only understood by specialists. To make matters even more complicated, we cannot overlook the fact that nowadays there are other notions around democracy that are essential for the philosophy of law, the theory of State or other social sciences: State, and especially Rule of Law, citizenship and all the debate about its scope, (democratic) governability and democratization. The connection of all of these for the notion of transition to democracy is more than relevant. All these aspects are essential to understand democracy as a political regime, but at the same time they conceptually dilute and make democracy appear problematic as a theoretical notion even more. In this way, from saying that the democracy is the government of the people and its relation to all these other components, there is a sea of hues that distance us from having a simple answer to the simple question of: what is democracy? 5 4 One of the latest discussions that has taken place in this sphere is found in the Inter-American Democratic Charter (2001), in which the Venezuelan government struggled for the Charter to emphasize the participative factor, which was rejected by others claiming the representative traditions of the American political regimes, and others, with an intermediate position, saw in the discussion a false dichotomy and insisted the document to have an eclectic position on the subject as a compromise solution. 5 The issue is much more complex as democracy is related to factors such as trust and legitimacy (which carry the notions of enchantment disenchantment ), being decent societies, according to the category proposed by the Israeli Margalit or the just society defined by Rawls. 105

107 106 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America In the broad sense, another sector of the democratic doctrine attacks the notion of polyarchy as the government of many. For Dahl, this is a term that is distinguished from democracy at the abstract level because it is a political regime in which the public institutions guarantee and protect that: The decisions of the government are adopted by representatives elected by the citizens. The elections are free and clean. The political representatives are elected and removed though periodical elections. Almost all the adult citizens have the right to be eligible for public positions. People can exercise freedom of speech. People can exercise the right to free organization. People can exercise the right to information. Therefore, we must agree that today most of the Latin American countries comply with the conditions of a polyarchy, however with different degrees of coverage and depth and what is true is that this helps us understand the democratic content of life in these regimes. This is a relevant theoretical figure for the quality of democracy, but it is not complete. By quality of democracy we understand the degree to which, within a democratic regime, a political coexistence is close to the expectations of the citizens. In other words, it is the higher or lower capacity of the citizens to develop democratic practices in the management of public issues. This concept allows us to enter the understanding of democracy not only as an institutional group, but as political life, i.e. as the citizen experience the different spheres of political coexistence. As no citizen experiences democracy in average, the perspective of the democratic quality allows to distinguish its strengths and weaknesses within the same regime its good and bad practices- the areas in which the political practices come closer to the democratic aspirations of the citizens, or those in which there is a divorce because

108 clientelistic, authoritarian practices or the weakness of the public scrutiny mechanism and rendering of accounts prevail. 6 Even though these reflections emphasize the sense of democracy as a political regime, it is not possible, or consistent to deny that it has its (better or worse) performance in the framework of structural situations that are substantially related to the economic and social factor. This relationship of necessity is coherent with the idea that the different human rights that the doctrine acknowledges (civil and political, economic, social and cultural 7 and solidarity rights, or the ones some people call from the third generation ) coexist and interact, emphasizing their correlative and interdependent nature. All the considerations above are important, especially if we want to stress the fact that from the Greek bucolic polis to the democracy in the Americas in 2008, things have changed. But we can also find these changes between the variant political reality of the nineties and the 2008 we are in. Precisely for that reason, it makes sense to study the current figure of the national observation, taking into account the perspective of what was done or what could be done then years ago. This perhaps long reflection about democracy and some of its edges is not innocent. Its purpose is to reveal or unveil only some of the many paths and turns in which the national observation of political and electoral processes can manifest itself. 6 Vargas, J. Calidad de la democracia. Diccionario Electoral, IIDH, San Jose, 2000, pp. 109 y Fortunately, some specialists in economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) put their eyes on the enforceability and justiciability of these rights, with interesting initiatives as the protection of social rights by other social rights, limits to the civil and political rights justified by social rights or the information as a way of enforceability of social rights, resulting in a very clear dialectic relation between the possible protection and enforceability of both types of rights. Unfortunately, this factor has not been thoroughly studied, an in some way is part of the great intellectual and practical challenges regarding democratic theory or the visualization of mechanisms and spaces aimed at the democratization of our Latin American countries, above all, the ones that have suffered processes of democratic cracks and have been forced to start democratic refunding processes. 107

109 108 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America II. What did We Want to Prove in 1997? The Latin American Electoral Bulletin XVII 8 of 1997 mainly wanted to stress that in the American continent existed organizations of the civil society that were in charge of consciously, orderly and responsibly influencing the political and electoral processes of their countries functioning as one more actor. For that reason, it was necessary to clarify the historical origin and the scope of the national observation (in its strict and broad sense), the implicit imprint of the citizen organizations in their origin and development, as well as their operating techniques. For that matter, we wanted to highlight: The necessity of dealing with these subjects with high academic rigor: in this sense we included an article from the Costa Rican academician Oscar Fernández, titled The vicissitudes of the notion of civil society. The fact that it was a work with great conceptual clarity: we entrusted the task to the Peruvian academician and, at that time, distinguished leader of the Civil Organization Transparencia, Rudecindo Vega, whose contribution was the article Citizen Participation and Electoral Observation. The article was especially valuable in the treatment of the polysemic nature of the concept of electoral observation and the clarification that observing does not mean controlling 9, attempting at the end a series of proposal about the usefulness of the figure. The relation of this matter with democracy: Eduardo Núñez and myself tried to elucidate some relations between the citizen participation and political participation, the visualization of a 8 IIDH/CAPEL. Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano XVII, January-June 1997, IIDH/ CAPEL, San Jose, 1997, 235 pp. 9 This is a task that is mire related to what some authors call horizontal rendering of accounts (for example, it is what the General Controllership of the Republic or the National Electoral Board of Peru do in relation with the National Office of Electoral Processes and all the electoral regime in that country). The opportunity is right to clarify that the national electoral observation does not supervise, which is the task of the Ombudsman or Commissioners for Human Rights, as is the case of Panama and Honduras.

110 new comprehensive action of CAPEL then for the challenges that the region posed regarding politics, and the thesis that more citizen participation equals more democracy, stating that this is a field that then (and still today) must not be considered as a closed and exclusive preserve for the political parties and those who arbitrate their contests. The main activities developed by these organizations: this was mainly approached through a rich illustration with the national cases of Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Argentina and Venezuela. This showed the diversity of tasks that the national observation had already assumed in its few years of operation in the American continent. An attempt of typology: posing the thesis that the profiles of these organized groups to influence in the political and electoral reality of their country could be classified at least in the following categories: a) the ones that perform national observation in the strict sense, i.e. qualitative follow up of the process and the election day, with the organizational and technical resources that this implies; b) the ones that perform quick counts or parallel counts of the electoral results, also with the specialized mechanisms and techniques required for this purpose; c) the ones that specialize in activities of public control and denounce; d) the ones that support the citizen mobilization to increment the electoral participation, for example through massive campaigns of depuration and updating of a civil register or the obtaining of identity documents, and e) the ones that provide civic education, citizen training and promotion of the political participation. Obviously, some organization could belong to more than one of these categories. The end of the nineties was still somehow a trial and error stage from the type of democratic society originated from the different countries in America after the authoritarian experiences lived in the previous years. The processes of democratization were still in uneven stages of construction (of national reconciliation, institutional strengthening, combat of impunity, etc.). There were still doubts 109

111 regarding the legitimacy of some political processes of the continent. Some nations were still going out of long and bloody fratricide wars, in some countries the conditions for the alternability of the power seemed very distant, in others countries figures as the self coup d état had originated and been executed, such as the case of Fujimori in Peru or Serrano Elías in Guatemala, which forewarned neo-authoritarianisms incompatible with the democracy that was emerging in the continent. It was then impossible that in the civil society did not emerge, in the best of the cases, doubts and the necessity to take precautions regarding the role of the electoral bodies that operated in the countries of the continent. This explains, among other things, the belligerence of the collection of information and denounce of the Civil Alliance in Mexico, and the articulation and development of Citizen Participation in the Dominican Republic, the role of civil training that Decidamos played within Sakã in Paraguay, and the origin of the Civil Association Transparencia in the Peru ruled by Fujimori. The strength of these and other groups that existed at that time, which is independent from the vision and in some cases, even the political militancy of their members never stopped focusing on the efforts to promote the citizen and conscious political participation, jealously observing and informing what was gathered, faithfully transmitting the results derived from the ballot boxes with a technical rigor and an outstanding accuracy. In other words, they have always shown an ethical behavior, without political party flags, which in some cases were contrary to the official or pro-government thesis 10 and in some other cases had to coincide with it because that was what reality stated It the Dominican Republic, there is a cycle in which the party in power denounces the support of Participación Ciudadana to some of the main opposing parties. When the party in office changes, the denunciations change direction. 11 The bravery and the legitimacy earned by Sakã became almost mythical when in the time of General Rodríguez, it was the pronouncement of Sakã what got the country out of a severe crisis, by acknowledging that the Colorado Party had won the elections. This also took place with Transparencia in Peru in the period of Fujimori s rule. 110

112 This, at the same time, was in 1997 closely accompanied by the international cooperation, which in a very generously way supported the initiatives and was a fundamental factor for the emergence, consolidation and development of these new experiences of citizen and political participation. III. Ten Years Later The formats and the sense of the national observation are somehow the same today in the year 2008, but the context these groups work in has varied substantially, motivating their effort to creatively adapt to the new circumstances, without losing as possible the relevance of the influence in the societies and the regions where they operate. 12 It is not for space or relevance reasons that we have seen the transformation of the globalized world of 2008, with an exponential development of communication and resources, and with a galloping deepening of the crisis of representation of political parties, in relation with 1997, in whose context the world was still adapting to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and in America there still existed ideological parties with strong masses interacting with societies that were still healing wounds from the autoritarisms vanished by the third democratization wave that reached us. Today, at the end of the first decade of the XXI century, it is not necessary to inform anymore about the figure of the national observation (in the broad sense), about its innovation or about the legitimacy of the organizations which develop these activities at the national level. The strength of their work is highly renowned in the media, among the main political actors and in the international media. Among the characteristic aspects of the national observation in this new stage, we can mention: 12 One of the best updated overall references: Boneo, H., Carrillo, M. y R. Valverde. La observación (internacional y nacional) de las elecciones. In: Nohlen, D. et al (Comp.). Tratado de Derecho Electoral. Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007, pp

113 In the practice, when there are elections in a country nowadays, it easier and more common to see the gathering and the reciprocal collaboration between the national and the international observation than it was in These communicating vessels also allow for the sensitivity training and the exchange of information (even before the international observers arrive at the country) which can be very valuable for the worthy understanding of the conditions in which the election develops. Internationalization of the experience: one of the characteristic aspects of the work of these American citizen organizations that perform the national observation of political processes is the effort to come together and obtain benefits from the direct and horizontal relation among them. This is directly expressed in the creation and functioning of the Lima Agreement, from the year 2000 to the date. The Lima Agreement is a network of Latin American and Caribbean civic movements, created on September 15th, 2000 in the city of Lima, Peru, by a group of civil society organizations of various countries in the region, committed to strengthening democracy. These organizations established an alliance to promote the exchange of experiences, a mutual political and technical support system for electoral monitoring, and the development of joint activities and projects. 13 Nowadays, the Lima Agreement has, among other things, its own webpage ( which is a meeting point and, at the same time, an information and broadcasting point. 14 It has a clear Mission: it specifically informs on the profile and the activities of its members 15 and it has produced informative bulletins since the year Vid The webpages of the organizations that form the Lima Agreement are also found in this webpage. 15 This is one of the main sources to understand the organizational richness and diversity of the work that this civil movements perform. 112

114 Extension: apart from the high intensity of the work that each of them performs in their countries, the map of the Americas also reveals an extraordinary and extensive development of the national observation, which practically covers the whole continent. Transference of experiences: one of the characteristics of the national observation work nowadays responds to the principle that as new countries are included, new experiences are accumulated. With generosity and dedication, the older pass on to the newcomers all the theoretical instruments and the practical experiences that allow them to outline their own scheme and scopes of the activity. Therefore, nowadays we have a national observation that has diversified its work because it has wanted to or because the contraction of the generous international cooperation for democracy that prevailed in the nineties determined it in a substantial manner. Among other things and only as an example we can mention: diverse tasks of citizen construction, action for justice, active participation in international networks of regional or global dimension, social forums, conflict solving, processes of agreement of social actors, technical training and assistance, studies and research, development consultancy or organizational management, lobbying and legislative development, economic and social development, analysis and spreading of information for a responsible public opinion, electoral reform, monitoring of the legislative agenda, promotion of transparency and integrity, moderation of national dialogues, citizen consultation processes, environment, promotion of the right to life and national culture values, organization and training for young people and work on gender issues and women participation in politics. Different state of the electoral democracy: the strength and we could even say that the legitimacy and the consolidation of the electoral democracy in the Americas in 2008 is substantially different from 1997, even though the challenges we face now are also different. One proof of that is the regularity and periodicity of the elections held in the American continent: only between 113

115 114 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America the end of 2005 and 2006, forty electoral processes of different kinds were recorded throughout the entire continent 16, and the countries that did not hold elections during that period, had or will have them in the months or years that their constitutions establish. 17 Certainly, they are stable electoral democracies, although with serious difficulties to take care of the social and economic needs of their people. To the increment of the poverty indexes, inequality, marginality and insecurity we need to add the problems associated to a severe crisis of representation of the political parties and a reality greatly affected by the impulse of constitutional reforms from the power that, in expressions from the right as well as form the left, have taken the successive presidential reelection as their workhorse. Demonstration of quality work even in the most difficult situations: this is very noticeable in the case of the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) recently articulated in the difficult conditions of Colombia 18, or in the internal discussions and precautions that the national observation bodies need to take in Nicaragua in view of the refusal of the electoral body to authorize their registration for the elections of November 2008, particularly in a context in which there have been several acts of political and party violence they understand can affect them. Development and improvement of skills in relatively new technical issues: from 1997 to the date there are at least to spheres that have been object of treatment and gradual specialization in the organizations of the civil society: a) The monitoring of the coverage that the media perform of the electoral and political processes, revealing the conditions of equality or inequality in which this important figure, also called 16 Thompson, J. and R. Cuéllar, (Academic coordinators). Elecciones, democracia y derechos humanos en las Américas. Balance analítico IIDH/CAPEL. CAPELNotebooks 51. IIDH, San Jose, 2007, 66 pp. 17 Of course, with the exception of Cuba, where there is a different constitutional and even electoral regime. 18 Vid. Electoral Observation Mission (EOM). Electoral Challenges, Risks, and Recommendations. Elections in Colombia. October 28, Bogota, EOM, 2007, 220 pp.

116 the fourth power acts; b) The follow up of the financing and electoral expenditure control, of the work of the political parties and the electoral campaigns. In both cases, it is a task that is becoming increasingly specialized (related to new and friendly strategies, models and formats, even with the potential to be applied in different national realities). An indelible mark: whether the main political actors (parties and electoral bodies) like it or not, the national electoral observation in the Americas is a beloved, respected and even admired institution for having adapted a figure that was originated in other regions of the world to the reality of the continent, taking it to very significant levels of development. The importance of this in not only depicted in the practice of relations of great relevance and magnitude 19 at the global level, but also in the way in which the electoral law as an independent branch and the academic treatment of this issue approach it and give it a seat of honor in the effort for the democratic consolidation of our societies. At the internal realities of some countries in the continent, these organizations which generally have in their boards of directors outstanding figures of the academic, cultural and political world of the nation enjoy a legitimacy and credibility that turns them into a true institution and an informed and respected source of information (Transparencia from Peru, Participación Ciudadana form the Dominican Republic, Participa from Chile or the EOM in Colombia are only some examples). Political neutrality? Perhaps this is neither the correct nor the necessary expression, since the seriousness, the professionalism and the respect for the technical aspects within the complexity of a political scenario have more to do with the fact that these groups are renowned as a guarantee of impartiality more than the idyllic and utopic neutrality, which is not demanded from any other of the actors in the political processes. Leaving the 19 It is not unusual that the leaders of the most consolidated organizations travel the continents sharing the experience or taking part in networks of global dimension, as Transparency International or Partners of the Americas, among others. 115

117 political parties aside, which are interested actors from the start, the problem is not that the electoral bodies, its members and the media need to do an act of faith for the citizens to look at them as politically asexual, as if they were angels. It is enough that, regardless of their political and even party preferences, they behave and are renowned as guarantees of impartiality that do not generate undesirable inequalities in the political and electoral process. 20 As a general rule, the movements alluded to in this study are respectful of the norms and principles that frame the political or electoral processes in which they perform their work. Today we acknowledge with dazzling clarity that it is preferable that the public institutionality establishes the framework in which the observation can take place, and only if this does not exist or is arbitrary, evaluate the possibility of performing the national observation or not. In an almost generalized way, the electoral bodies in the region authorize, even though they do not agree with the approaches and the public handling of the issues, the national observation operation. The political cost of not doing so is too high nowadays. The historical or classical issues that the movements knew in their early stages of their entrance in the political scene in Latin America (civil registry / electoral registry /sole identity document, updating and depuration of the electoral registers), reemerge with new vigor at the dawn of the XXI century and reveal themselves as very current questions without conclusive 21 answers. Ethical challenges: assuming that these organizations are judged by the quality and, many times, by the technical accuracy of 20 Of course, this is a topic that is connected to the ethics (political ethics by the way) and the observance of the transparence and the probity of the people. Now then, in this minute detail is that reality has shown the success or the failure of this organizations lies. 21 Although in a less significant way than in 1997, these issues continue to be very topical in countries as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Bolivia and Guatemala. 116

118 their work 22, it is clear that they are more exposed to the public scrutiny regarding their honesty and probity as their influence or activity is more significant in the country. However, there is an ethical challenge which was not as significant in 1997, due to the still limited development of these experiences: how much and in what ways should the organization avoid the existence of a kind of revolving door 23 that allows people from the national observation to walk into popular election positions or government positions, at least resulting from the elections recently observed and monitored by the organization. The position regarding this issue which apart from the image could objectively end up damaging the movement in the future performance of their activities or in its internal organization and cohesion is not pacific, and while some make a public commitment that this will not happen, other organizations regard this as natural and even express the idea that it is a factor that can add quality to an electoral campaign or to a government position. It is really difficult to know where the limit or the frontier lies between opportunism (for some the opportunity to build a career in a movement of this kind and then use it as a springboard to the party or the public sphere, or the other way round, after a career in a government institution or an electoral body, to drink in the waters of the civil society), and the interests of the community, since these are supposedly experienced and proven teams regarding atypical ethical rigors and commitments, or in the best of the cases, in the political activity or in public management. 24 I reach the point 22 v.gr. In the organization of a complex and numerous structure of observers located throughout the country, and which represents, each one of them, the prestige of the organization; or in the millimetric planning, execution and reading of a simple exercise as it is a quick count of the electoral results. 23 A thoroughly studied topic in political cultures such as the Japanese, where it is not rare the same is in many of our countries that businessmen start, at a certain point, to occupy government positions and vice versa. 24 It is evident that the departure of Rafael Roncagliolo from Transparencia in Peru to organize the National Dialogue called by the former president Toledo lied in his vast experience and in the legitimacy of his organization, or in the recent designation of Omar Simón, Sub Director of Participación Ciudadana from Ecuador as the President of the first National Electoral Council in the country is 117

119 of problematizing the issue that could the object of a deeper discussion in another time, expecting that it is the conscience and responsibility of the representative of the organization who is in this situation who puts the general interest of the movement before his or her own if there is a risk that the former is harmed by a decision of this nature. It is evident that there have been changes from 1997 to But have these changes been for the best? I think the answer is yes, not only because the ascertainment of a quantitative development of the national observation experience in the American countries, but also because of the strength these organizations have acquired in the light of the difficult survival conditions (for budgetary reasons but also for creativity and adaptation to the new circumstances of the democratic reality), undoubtedly making a qualitative change of special importance. These organizations are today main actors of the new conditions in which the political game of our countries is settled. We cannot block the sun with a finger, although some remaining of the authoritarian regimes want to. IV. Challenges for the Next Decade? This article does not expect to be a program for the non party citizen organizations that have an influence on the political and electoral processes of their countries. Therefore, the format will be only a pointing out of topics which, from my perspective as an observer, could or not be taken into account in some of these realities. From the start, I fervently hope that the action of these movements continues to be connected to the deepening of democracy in the Americas. Some of the challenges could originate in the following spheres: Not abandoning the practice of articulating big contingents of citizens, and even of young people over or under the legal age in the different observation tasks, since this is a democratic 118 a designation that will benefit and will bring a breath of fresh air to the complex Ecuadorian political scenario.

120 school of commitment and civic training. Of course, this calling and articulation task can only be performed by a transparent, fresh and legitimate organization, which in a creative and secure manner proposes this space which is becoming increasingly missed, as it is the sphere of citizen and political participation. 25 Claiming rights (even the constitutional rights, if it is necessary) to provide space for the observation is correct, but that needs to be consistent with the fulfillment of the obligations related to the seriousness, responsibility, veracity, and in general to guarantee that the operations of these organizations do not respond to the caprices of the power or to one of the political actors in particular. Refining the self-management capacity (specialization and even some kind of sale of concrete services, such as studies, field works, etc.) and above all, being less dependent on the substantial contributions of the international cooperation, which nowadays are more limited, harder to find and less generous. 26 More and better systematization of the information about what these organizations do, and how they do it. Developing capacities to monitor the improper use of public resources through authorities of another level (local or 25 Undoubtedly, working on this is much more difficult than it was in The national observation, thanks to its efficient and legitimate work, is still awarded with the loyalty of some cooperation agencies that have always supported its work, although they currently do so in a smaller proportion. On the other hand, the arrival and the multiplicity of non traditional donors to support them has generated experience in the organizations that receive, take advantage and render good accounts of these resources, that not because they are smaller should be less important. Obviously, the honesty and rationality of the budgetary execution is a highly recognized and valued asset in the stage of development that the international cooperation has at the moment. Pending for another study or essay is the analysis of whether the contraction of the international cooperation has generated changes in the structure and operation of these movements of citizen origins with an articulation of a great amount of volunteers. This writer stops at the limit of posing the issue. 119

121 municipal 27, legislative or executive 28 ). This is a very clear issue in which the conditions for the observation, and eventually, for the public reporting of the situation can be dealt with in a better, more correct and legitimate way, by national observers, since the international observers always have a chance of being accused of meddling in issues of the internal nature of the country. Better use of the current and future development of telecommunication to exchange information and develop joint actions and projects. Insisting in seriously resuming the approach of the classic electoral issues, but with the means and resources that the current state of communication allows (internet, satellite support, more developed and precise informatics systems, better security and control mechanisms, digitalized cartography, cellular and more efficient communications, etc.), and much more importantly, to the extent that the crisis experienced by the political parties reaches the objective point that they are completely absent from the supervision, which is natural their duty. Working for the consolidation of the electoral bodies as arbitrators of the political and electoral processes of each country, independently from the clarity or the attitude they show towards the national observation. Fostering in a strategic way a more inclusive political participation, particularly for women 29, young people, ethnic groups (at least indigenous and African descendant people) and people with disabilities. These could be eventually considered the keystone of the work performed by these organizations. 27 Due to its dispersion and multiform nature, municipal elections are a particularly sensitive scenario regarding this matter. 28 With particular interest when there is a President / candidate in the framework of an immediate reelection. 29 Vid. Iervolino, A. y C. Rossel. Género y democracia. Cuadernos para el Diálogo 7. Lima, Escuela Electoral del Peru, 2006, 45 pp. 120

122 Fostering better levels of human development in the diverse fields to the democratic quality. 30 Provide more and better clarification and spreading of the reasons why the electoral observation is an exercise of the constitutional rights, which in any case is complementary and should be privileged over the international observation, which is more limited and clearly less informed abut the reality of the country. Working more actively in the political education of their countries, ideally in support and coordination with the electoral bodies. Performing conflict prevention tasks, especially in those electoral processes that are predictably solved through tight electoral results. 31 Visualizing actions about poverty as the cause and effect of the violation of human rights, especially the political rights. Studying and developing activities to combat the abstentionism 32 and its negative effects on the political culture of the countries. 30 This makes sense not only because of a theoretical or doctrinal reason: people will continue to be disenchanted with democracy as it does not cover their deepest aspirations. 31 Vid. Multiple authors. Resultados electorales ajustados. Experiencias y lecciones aprendidas. In: Cuaderno de CAPEL 52. IIDH/CAPEL. San Jose, 2008, 115 pp. 32 Thompson, J. Abstencionismo y participación electoral. In: Nohlen, D. et al (Compilers). Tratado de Derecho Electoral Comparado de América Latina. México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007, pp This work is particularly relevant for the basic conceptual aspects, the causes and the extension of the abstentionism phenomenon. Another relevant study is: Raventós, C. Lo que ya no es y lo que aún no se forma: elecciones 2006 en perspectiva histórica. In: América Latina Hoy. Nuevas formas de inestabilidad política. University of Salamanca, Vol. 49, August 2008, pp The report of the XII CAPEL Course gathers the following reflection in the final presentation: Citizen participation is still a central element in the democratic life, but the variety of its manifestations from the participation in the life of the political parties, the work of the election day, its possible role in the fight for transparency, and even the fact of participating or not participating electorally speaking is an issue that arose with strength in the debates, and not always with the same point of view. Therefore, the abstinence is seen in the same way by everyone, it constitutes a challenge that makes us reflect about the function and relative importance that the citizen participation has in the consolidation of democracy in this part of the world. IIDH/CAPEL ONPE. Memoria del XII Curso Interamericano de Elecciones y Democracia. Lecciones 121

123 Promoting and supporting the institutional reform processes that are democratic and consistent with the reality of the country. Increasing the contribution to the internationalization process of the experience and valuable instrument that is the Lima Agreement. Promoting and supporting the strategic strengthening of the political parties. Looking for increasingly creative ways to assure the equity in the political and electoral contest, bravely battling against evils such as the clientelism and the buying and coercion of the vote. Undoubtedly, there are many lessons learned and lessons still to be learned in this field we are reflecting about today. What we cannot forget for one second is the centrality of the ethical commitment that is at the base of these citizen organization experiences, which has shown its relevance and viability in a political context, even if it has a citizen and non party imprint. aprendidas en la coyuntura y el futuro de la democracia electoral en las Américas, Lima, IIDH/ONPE, 2008, p

124 Bibliography Dahl, R. La democracia. Una guía para ciudadanos. Madrid, Taurus, IIDH/CAPEL. Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano XVII, January -June 1997, San José, IIDH, Thompson, J. y R. Cuéllar (Academic coordinators). Elecciones, democracia y derechos humanos en las Américas. Balance analítico In: IIDH/CAPEL. Cuadernos de CAPEL 51. San Jose, IIDH, Multiple Authors. Resultados electorales ajustados. Experiencias y lecciones aprendidas. In: IIDH/CAPEL. CAPEL Notebooks 52. San José, IIDH, IIDH/CAPEL. Diccionario Electoral. Vols. I and II. Second edition. San José, IIDH, IIDH/CAPEL ONPE. Memoria del XII Curso Interamericano de Elecciones y Democracia. Lecciones aprendidas en la coyuntura y el futuro de la democracia electoral en las Américas, Lima, ONPE/IIDH, Iervolino, A. y C, Rossel. Género y democracia. In: Cuadernos para el Diálogo 7, Lima, Escuela Electoral del Perú, IFE. Foro de educación cívica y cultura política democrática. México, IFE, Jiménez Llana-Vezga, L. Diccionario de Ciencia Política. Santafé de Bogotá, Ediciones jurídicas Gustavo Ibáñez C. Ltda, Electoral Observation Mission (EOM). Electoral Challenges, Risks, and Recommendations. Election in Colombia, October 28, Bogota, EOM, Nohlen, D. et al (compilers). Tratado de Derecho Electoral comparado de América Latina. Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Económica,

125 O Donnell, G. et al. Democracia, desarrollo humano y ciudadanía. Reflexiones sobre la calidad de la democracia en América Latina. Santa Fe, Argentina, Homo Sapiens editores, O Donnell, G., Iazzetta, O. y J. Vargas (comps.) Reflexiones sobre la calidad de la democracia en América Latina. Santa Fe, Argentina, Raventós, C. Lo que ya no es y lo que aún no se forma: elecciones 2006 en perspectiva histórica. In: América Latina Hoy. Nuevas formas de inestabilidad política. Universidad de Salamanca, Vol. 49, August Roca Serrano, E. Ciudadanía inconclusa. La participación social y política de los jóvenes en el Plan Tres Mil. Santa Cruz de la Sierra, ed. El País, Valverde R. Algunas reflexiones y lecciones aprendidas en torno a la democracia y la calidad democrática. El poder de la doctrina y de las metáforas al servicio de la causa democrática y de los derechos humanos. In: Revista de Derecho Electoral, Lima, Escuela Electoral del Perú, Year I, No. 0, Valverde R. y E. Núñez. Más participación ciudadana es igual a más democracia. En: Boletín Electoral Latinoamericano XVII, January - June 1997, San José, IIDH/CAPEL,

126 Ten Lessons Learned about the Electoral Observation from the Perspective of the Civil Society Percy Medina* Introduction 1 The experiences of electoral observation impulse from the civil society in the continent are diverse, and they have responded to the reality and to the conditions that these organizations have faced at some point. The electoral systems and the regulations that govern the electoral processes are, on the other hand, different in every country. Therefore, this text presents a personal selection instead of a systematization of the work of the citizen groups which have supported the observation processes in Latin America. From the hundreds of lessons learned that must be kept in the collective memory of these groups, I have made a selection of the ten that I consider might be useful for future electoral observation initiatives. I am starting from two assumptions on which I will not elaborate. The first is that we are talking about an effective observation, which means that it is organized, precise, impartial, focused, professional and * Percy Medina is the General Secretary of the Civil Association Transparencia from Peru. 1 Note to the reader: this article has been written in a format intended for the circulation of reflections and information about the electoral observation; therefore, the reader will not find academic quotations or references. Nonetheless, for the readers who are interested in broadening their knowledge about the topics that are briefly mentioned, in some parts of the text I recommend to visit some easy access sources, like web pages. 125

127 generating credibility 2. The second is that we have an adequate internal organization and coordination of the electoral observation 3, which means at least that: i) the observation plans are known by all the levels of the organization (Board of Directors, team of professionals, volunteers), as well as by the allies, ii) a clear definition of roles, with articulation among teams and a collaboration attitude from all the people involved, and iii) a work prepared with enough anticipation, with the capacity to anticipate new scenarios and to adjust the plans along the way. Taking these assumptions into account, I suggest the following ten lessons for discussion: I. All the Process Must Be Observed, Not Only the Election Day It is perhaps the main lesson that can be derived from the two decades of electoral observation in Latin America. Even though the observation groups begin by focusing on the election day, sooner or later they confirm that an integral look at the process is indispensable. This is because the events that take place in the weeks and months prior to the election shape the course of events in such a way that the validity of the electoral results cannot be evaluated independently from this context. On the other hand, this is the most effective way for the observation to promote a better electoral process. As we will see later, many of those tasks exceed the strict area of the observation, seen from the strict sense of the word but they are fundamental to promote the objectives that inspire it, and therefore, they are not only justified but they also result fundamental in order to collaborate with the quality of the process. 4 2 In order to find more information, I suggest to visit 3 The Dominican group Participación Ciudadana has made interesting reflections about this. I recommend to visit 4 About the purposes of the observation I recommend to see: Boneo, Horacio et al. (2007) The (national and international) electoral observation) In: Nohlen, Dieter et al, Treatise on Electoral Law of Latin America, Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Also available in the internet. 126

128 Among the different tasks that a national group can perform as part of an integral observation process, I mention the following, to continue with the decalogue: A. Perform an Evaluation of the Normative Framework of the Electoral Process The electoral observation is developed from the legislation in force in each country, it is more clear every time that we can talk about international standards for free and just elections. Therefore, it is legitimate that a national observation group makes a comparison between the internationally accepted standards and the legislation if force for the election. On the other hand, an evaluation of regulations with category of law can show that these are not compatible with constitutional provisions, and the evaluation of norms with regulatory nature can discover that these are not in accordance with the laws or with the Constitution. Therefore, from the evaluation of the normative framework we can derive precise recommendations aimed at the authorities about the implementation of the regulations, without discarding the possibility that the observation group itself promotes actions before the competent judicial body in order to achieve the non application of the questionable regulations. Finally, once the electoral process has concluded, the initial evaluation will be of great use to promote legal reforms, as we will se later. B. Monitor the Decisions of the Electoral Authorities Along the process, the electoral authorities make a lot of decisions, general as well as particular. A monitoring of these decisions and the corresponding evaluation of their legality and relevance can help that in the future the authorities act in a more predictable way. In some cases, the broad disclosure of some of these decisions, which 127

129 are sometimes included in particular resolutions or rulings and that the actors do not know of, is considered valuable. To this follow up can we can also include the evaluation of the work of electoral broadcasting and training that the authorities in charge of the election perform. Being familiar with what and how much these authorities do helps to know how these activities can be complemented from the civil society, and it also allows to make relevant suggestions. C. Observing the Primary Elections or the Way Candidates Are Selected In the countries where there are rules that establish the procedures through which the candidates must be designated, it is indispensable for an observation group to monitor if these procedures were respected or not. But also in the countries where there are no regulations it is best for the purposes of the observation to monitor the way the political organizations selected their candidates. This part of the process, because it is less visible for the citizens, many times hides vices and difficulties that will be regretted after the candidates are elected. In the case of primary elections, as in the universal national or local elections, the observation cannot be limited to the day of the election, and it must include at least the revision of the electoral regulations, the monitoring of the registration of the candidates and their possibilities of running a campaign, as well as the security conditions that the counting and scrutiny procedures offer. With the purpose of strengthening the democratic practices at the interior of the parties, it is natural that a number of suggestions are derived from the observation process, and that these suggestions are made to the corresponding parties, in some cases, for the immediate corrections to be made, if it is possible, or for the necessary changes to be made for future elections. 128

130 D. Evaluating the Compliance with the Quotas, the Effective Access of Women to Candidacies, and the Equity Conditions for the Participation of Men and Women Even though many laws in our countries state a minimum quota of female candidates in the slates, it usually occurs that these regulations are not followed, or if they are, women are positioned in non eligible places. For this reason, in order to make this matter visible, to verify the compliance with these legal affirmative actions, and to direct the attention on the importance of the participation of women in politics, it is very important that an observation group analyzes the organization of the slates, and indicates not only if the legal mandate has been complied with, but also if the presence of women in eligible positions is being promoted. Beyond the compliance with the quotas, the observation group can also evaluate the participation conditions for men and women using the following tools. The observers can evaluate, for example, the access of women to the mass media through a monitoring of the media itself. They can also evaluate the access to economic resources to hire publicity through the monitoring of the financing of the campaign. Or finally, during the verification of the election register, they can study if the problems that affect the participation of voters (lack of register in the civil registry or in the election register) affect men and women alike. Finally, this integral evaluation of conditions in which women have faced the electoral competition should promote, as we will see later, legal reforms in order to achieve a better effective participation of women in the election and in politics in general. E. Monitoring the Media The media, as we already know, have become very important actors in the electoral processes, and they can contribute in a decisive manner for the election to be the product of an informed decision of the voters, 129

131 or on the contrary, they can be accomplices of the manipulation of the popular will. Some legislations regulate the obligation of the media to have a balanced coverage among candidates, having a standard rate to sell them publicity, but in general, the regulations in this respect are still incipient. Therefore, an observation cannot base its evaluation in the mere observation of the law, but it will have to use what would be the ideal behavior of the media regarding the broadcast of the best information as reference for the voters as reference The monitoring allows to make a quantitative analysis as well as a qualitative one about the journalistic coverage of the campaign, and even of the paid advertisement. From the first analysis perspective, the minutes on television and radio and the square centimeters in the written press are taken into account. This is the simplest analysis to make and the most unbiased one; however, it is insufficient because a lot of time or space devoted to one candidate or topic does not necessarily mean a good coverage. From the second perspective, which is complementary of the first, the observers analyze the language, the bias, the use of graphics and photographs, the use of fonts, the contrast among different opinions, and not only what is said, but also what is not said, among other aspects. The equity and the objectivity of the coverage the media give to each of the candidates, as well as the type of coverage they provide to the campaign can be monitored. For example, if they cover the substantial propositions and programs, and they promote their discussion, or they give priority to the anecdotes, personal incidents and the attacks among candidates. In the same way, the access that the political groups have in order to hire paid publicity, and if they do so in equity of conditions can also be monitored. This information will also be very helpful for the monitoring of the financing of the campaigns, which we will cover next. In the countries where there is free electoral air time for all the parties, or spaces directly hired by the electoral authority, the monitoring should also inform about the way these spaces have been distributed and if the current regulation has been respected. 130

132 F. Monitoring the Financing of the Campaign It is pointless to dwell on the importance of the transparency of the financing of politics, and particularly of the electoral campaigns, which move millions of dollars. It is fundamental for the trust of the citizens in the politicians and in democracy itself, and it is the main antidote against corruption. Hundreds of scandals in Latin America have shown how the drug traffic, the organized crime and dark private interests have tried to infiltrate into the State though donations to political campaigns. Monitoring the origin of the money, and if the regulations for its use in proselytism are observed is fundamental form the perspective of the electoral observation. The political financing is as decisive for the electoral campaign as it is difficult to control. However, it is possible to approach the challenge starting from those aspects that can be measured objectively, for example the advertisement in the media, which constitutes the category in which most of the money is invested. The observation groups can have verifiable quantities of information about the broadcasting of advertisement during the campaign, hiring a company that systematizes the information or doing it directly with the help of well trained volunteers. In other words, they can know for sure the amount of minutes in radio or television and of square centimeters in the written press each of the political groups used, and from there they can estimate the cost or publicity investment. 5 With that it is possible to know if the legal limits for the broadcasting of advertisement (if there are any) are observed, and offering citizens information about the investment each party has made in advertisement. However, this exercise is not enough to show the origin of the money and how it was spent. In many countries, it is obligatory to submit this information to the electoral authorities, even though it is not disclosed adequately. From the perspective of the observation, it is useful to verify that all the parties have submitted the information to the corresponding electoral body, and if it is consistent, and to disclose 5 In the countries where the legislation forces the media to provide a standard rate to all the political groups, the task is easier. In the countries where there are no such regulation, and it is possible to apply discounts and special prices, it is important to commit the parties and the media to complement that information. 131

133 information in a way that can be easily understood by the average voter. The consistency is derived from the fairness of the numbers submitted from the crossing with other sources, like the monitoring of the media, the register and evaluation of proselytism activities among others. G. Monitoring the Improper Use of Public Resources In countries with weak institutions for the political and administrative control it is easy to use public resources in the electoral campaigns to favor or damage determined candidates. Since the neutrality of the State is a key factor to qualify an election as free and just, the evaluation that the observation groups perform in this regard is very important, and even though this kind of monitoring is neither easy nor cheap, there are important experiences that have helped to know which are the most used mechanisms used to deviate public resources to proselytism campaigns and how to prevent this practice that is banned by law. Among the most common ways of improper use of public resources is the hiring of advertisement to show government works with the purpose of favoring the pro-government candidates, the use of public officers and time for political labors, the use of public vehicles and buildings for proselytism activities and the deviation of funds to pay for the campaign. Even though in a more subtle way, clientelism actions through social programs aimed at linking the help with a specific candidate constitutes a form of improper use of public funds. In order to monitor the unlawful use of public funds, the observation groups have resorted to different strategies, most of the time appealing to the collaboration of the citizens who make it possible to document the cases through accusations. Particularly in this task, the alliance with the media is very useful, since they receive accusations and have the possibility of verifying them immediately. Another important effort, of a more specialized characteristic, is analyzing the public expenditure, the one particularly aimed at social programs in order to evaluate if the decisions can respond to political and electoral motivations and not to technical criteria. In more cases 132

134 than one could imagine, the crossing of the information about the social expenditure and the electoral results produces surprising findings. H. Verify the Electoral Register There is a frequent concern in relation with the electoral processes about how reliable the electoral register is. For a citizen group, with economic resources always limited, performing an audit of the electoral register is a titanic task. However, it is possible to perform a sample verification which allows to know with precision the degree of inaccuracy of the voters register. In order to do that, it is necessary to know if all the people who are registered should be so, and if all the people who are entitled to appear in this instrument, are indeed registered. In order to find out the first, a representative sample is taken from the electoral register and each person is visited at his or her house. In order to find out the second, the information is contrasted with the data from the electoral register. This operation, which naturally takes some months, can also be a wonderful opportunity to promote a citizen mobilization with the purpose of generating awareness of the importance of being registered and knowing in advance if every person appears in the electoral register. I. Verifying the Software and Giving Follow Up to the Security Procedures Even though more and more people every day are familiar with information technology, and they use it daily, the distrust about the computing procedures are still a challenge that needs to be overcome in many electoral processes. For this reason, the verification of the software to be used in the computing, as well as the design of the routes through which the information will be transmitted after the scrutiny has finished up to its typing, constitute substantial contributions of the electoral observation to increase the trust. 133

135 In order to perform these tasks the observation groups usually form small groups of experts in technology and communication, since a specialized knowledge, which an electoral expert might lack, is required. It is important to take into account that this aspect of the electoral process is the one that usually suffers the most dramatic changes from one election to the other due to the vertiginous advance of technology. Many times the political parties do not have members who are qualified to verify the cleanness of the procedure based on informatics, and it is useful for the process that the independent volunteers collaborate with the political parties in the selection and training of specialists. Needless to say, when an independent observation organization collaborates with the parties in any way that might help them protect their votes, it must offer the same service to all the political parties. J. Generating Information about the Electoral Process The observers produce a lot of information in order to evaluate the conditions of the process. Experience shows that making this information available to the electoral actors, the media, and through them, to the citizens in general, helps to focus more attention on the electoral process and prevent conflicts. On the other hand, producing relevant information about the electoral process better positions the observation groups as electoral experts and as sources of information for the media. The produced information can be about the different aspects that are being observed as well as national legislation and procedures that are used for the election. The information that compares the national situation form other countries from the region is equally useful. 134

136 II. Electoral Observation Particularly the Mobilization of Thousands of Volunteers Is a Citizen Education Process Even though the attention is usually focused on the most evident product of the electoral observation the reports of the evaluation process a fundamental component of every national observation effort is the calling, training and mobilization of thousand of citizens usually from all around the country. What many parties do not manage to do is indeed achieved by the observation groups, which mobilize for these purposes diverse networks of the civil society and independent citizens. For this reason it is legitimate to affirm that the national electoral observation is a manifestation of the diverse voices of society, because even in the cases when it is not a network but a single organization that conducts the exercise, in the mobilization of volunteers merge diverse networks, organizations and groups, and the mere confluence of these distinct sectors for a common task connected to the strengthening of society is formative in terms of citizenship. Among the groups and networks that usually merge in this joined effort we can highlight the ones connected to the different churches, groups of women, journalists organizations, cultural and sports organizations, youth networks, professional unions, and volunteers organizations from different areas. They usually participate in the observation tasks individually, but also many times in coordination with and in representation of their own organizations Even though the training of these volunteer citizens has very concrete operational aspects aimed at the vigilance of the election day, it also usually includes education on deeper issues related to democracy, citizenship, civil and political rights, participation, gender equity, and rendering of accounts. Some observation groups emphasize this kind of education for their volunteers, and others just take one or two of these topics put the observation work in context, but in general, the training processes tend to contain valuable information about the mentioned issues, as well as the relevant legislation. 135

137 This is also a mechanism for the inclusion of citizens in relative disadvantage, like women, young people, indigenous groups, and disabled people. If one analyzes the composition of the observation groups and the national structure that gives support to their mobilization, in general one can see that, either because of the composition of the networks or of the express decisions of the people in charge, there is an important presence of women and of citizen who belong to the less favored ethnic groups. In the case of the young people, I do not know of any observation experience in which they have not been enthusiastic protagonists, and finally in the case of the people with disabilities, there are interesting experiences of coordinated work with their organizations in order to include them in the observation work, including the development of ad hoc methodologies so that, for example, hearing or visually impaired people could observe polling places. III. We Are Looking for Preventing and Dissuading, Not Denouncing After the Fact The electoral observation is not hunting for irregularities to denounce fraud, but looking forward to detecting the possible sources of trouble for the election in time. This supposes loyalty for the process and also professionalism to react with the anticipation that allows the authorities to make the necessary corrections. On the other hand, taking into account that the political actors will always find temptations to commit fraudulent actions to obtain benefits for themselves, the electoral observation acts as a dissuasive element and contributes to place citizen spotlights on dark areas of the process. In order to achieve this dissuasive effect, in is indispensable to show technical proficiency and credibility form the beginning of the integral observation. 136

138 IV. Coordinating and Cooperating With the Electoral Authorities Is Useful For the Electoral Process and for the Observation Work A relationship of collaboration and constant dialogue with the electoral authorities contributes with the objective of preventing irregularities which could affect the electoral process, and it also allows for a better observation. A fluent work relationship with the electoral bodies increments the trust of the authorities in the observers, and it allows that the first receive and address the suggestions that derive from the observation. In the same way, this regular work generates favorable spaces to contribute, from the experience of the observers, with the improvement of the procedures and mechanisms to be applied in the electoral process. On the other hand, having access to direct and timely first hand information allows to perform a better follow up of the topics that are important for an integral observation. That is, coordinating with the electoral authorities without distracting the attention from the observation constitutes a considerable benefit for it. Needless to say, the observers owe loyalty to the electoral process and to the citizens, and not primarily to the electoral authorities. For this reason, it must be clear-cut that collaborating with them does not mean losing the capacity to evaluate their performance critically. V. Establishing a Close Complementation Relationship with the International Observers Contributes to a Better National Observation and a Better International Observation After two years of coexistence between the national and international observation it is important to understand that one does not compete with the other, and that both need to exploit the comparative advantages that the other kind of observation offers. As it is well known, the international observer can keep few observers for a short period of time, so it has to take advantage from 137

139 the fact that the national observation can keep many observers for a longer period of time to have a more complete vision of the picture. On the other hand, national observers find it more difficult to influence the public opinion (particularly at the international level, which is more and more important nowadays), must take advantage of the fact that the international missions are normally in the spotlight. Taking this into account, it is easy to coordinate viewpoints, diagnosis, travelling and information plans before and after the election day. VI. Generating Places to Meet and Exchange Information Helps Improve the Climate of the Election There are usually no institutionalized spaces in which the different actors of the electoral process can gather in order to exchange information and to evaluate the development of the process. For this reason, if an observation group promotes this kind of gatherings and contributes to build a climate for dialogue among the diverse political parties and between these and the authorities in a neutral space, it is definitely collaborating with the electoral process. These gatherings are good for building relationships of trust and to find solutions to the difficulties that emerge in the months previous to the election day. Among the actors to involve, we can also mention the authorities in charge of the security and the public order, as well as the authorities specialized in the prevention and persecution of crime, the few times that they have a connection with political organizations. VII. Each Election Constitutes a New Challenge The first temptation that the observation organizations must avoid is automatically repeating what has been done before, in their country or in other, without evaluating the particular context of each election. Understanding that each election constitutes a new challenge means thinking, every time, which the needs of this process are in order to focus on the fundamental aspects. 138

140 A useful exercise for this is preparing a risk map 6 which helps locate the major difficulties of the election to design a consistent observation from there. For a sound observation of the risk map it is convenient to consult the actors of the process to gather their worries. In order to have a more precise image, it is very useful to receive information not only from informants from the capital city who are the closest at hand, but also from other parts of the county. Among the entities that should be heard, it is important to highlight, apart from the national and regional parties if any, the security organizations, and journalists at the national level. VIII. The National Actors Must Be Committed to Making the Observation Process Possible Even though the contributions of the international cooperation are always fundamental to help pay for the high costs that the massive mobilization of citizens and the organization of activities that require a high level of specialization and professionalism mean, the financing of the electoral observation should not be based only on foreign funds. It is fundamental to commit the national actors to the efforts of making the electoral observation possible, and it is also important to make that collaboration visible. The first national or domestic electoral observation was developed by NAMFREL in The Philippines, and it was basically performed with Filipino resources, and many of the observations performed in Latin America in the next two decades have had important national contributions, mostly in kind, but in some other cases also in cash. As a matter of fact, the networks of observers constitute everyday micro-donors, not only of their time, but also of resources without which a national observation could not be performed. Can we imagine the amount of premises that would have to be rented for the training sessions and the coordination meetings? Or the amount of vehicles 6 In this respect, I suggest reviewing the Colombian experience of the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) at: 139

141 that would have to be bought to build a network that can access the furthest corners of our countries? Clearly, without these contributions, which are not normally visible, the budgets would be multiplied by several times. But not only are these little contributions important. It is also necessary to appeal to the business social responsibility, reiterating the idea that democracy is the political regime with more capacity to generate justice, social welfare, development and legitimacy, and that its strengthening is everyone s responsibility. Committing the Latin American companies to this effort is not an easy task. However, to make this duty easier, it is important that the objectives of the observation are clear, and that the civic group has a prestige and reputation of political impartiality. Experience shows that the best way of achieving this goal is involving them from the first stages of the planning of the observation, and linking their worries about the electoral process with the expected results. IX. Diversifying Donors Helps Generate Trust in the Observation Obtaining a donor for the electoral observation is not an easy task. Obtaining many is an almost titanic endeavor. However, doing the effort is an important task for the credibility of the exercise itself because the association with only one donor particularly if the funds come from another country can generate doubts about the motivations of the observation. This healthy practice, especially in contexts of high polarization and of tense relations with some countries, helps show the legitimacy of the national observation at the international level. No cooperation agency commits itself to an operation which does not have the minimum professional basis and the social legitimacy necessary to be successful. Exhibiting the commitment of several cooperation agencies also helps to strengthen the position of the observation group and of the observation process. 140

142 X. Promoting Legal Reforms (Before and After the Elections) Allows to Improve the Quality of the Electoral Process If one of the objectives of the observation is improving the quality of the electoral process, it is only natural to collaborate with recommendation to reform the normative framework that regulates them. Thanks to their work, the observers can have a close and critical look at each of the aspects of the electoral process. For this reason, and because of the relationships of trust built with the different political parties and with the electoral authorities, they have a privileged position to systematize the problems, suggest reform options, and even promote the necessary consensus for those reforms to be implemented. 7 XI. Conclusion The electoral observation nowadays is not the same as it was two decades ago. In its national branch, which is our topic, it encounters new challenges, and in order to face them, it can resort to important tools that have been built and validated in the last twenty years. In other words, it will be more common to see how the electoral observation not only monitors that the final ballot scrutiny responds to the votes casted by the voters, but particularly worries about the equity of the competition, the transparency regarding the economic resources used, the participation conditions for men and women, and the quality of the programmatic debate, among other issues. On the other hand, the groups that perform the electoral observation fulfill the role of active collaborators with the process due to the loyal work relation with the electoral authorities, the political parties, the international observers, and other relevant actors 8. Also, they contribute with the political dialogue, and they actively promote legal reforms. 7 In this respect, I suggest to review the experience of the Civil Association Transparencia in the process of formulation, search for consensus and approval by the Congress of the First Political Parties Law in Peru ( 8 However, in some countries, the national observers encounter obstacles and difficulties to be formally recognized, regardless of their reputation. 141

143 However, it would be a mistake to believe that we have reached a point in which there is nothing new to be created. The new forms of politics, the resurgence of authoritarian options and discourses in some countries, the changes in communication and technology, among other factors, force us to be permanently creative and innovative. What we can certainly affirm is that the electoral observation has earned its place in the electoral process, and it has stopped being an exceptional resource linked to elections that lack trust or which have been questioned. Nowadays, in its national branch as well as at the international level, it is part of the habitual scenery of most of the democratic elections in the continent, and apparently, it will continue to be for a long time. 142

144 SAKÃ: A Shared Experience Line Bareiro Óscar López* Introduction This article aims at summarizing the Paraguayan citizen participation experience called Sakã, an initiative for electoral transparence promoted by several national NGOs which began its activity in the year 1991 and has continued for 17 years, becoming active in those electoral processes that its organizers considered necessary. We will provide a summary of what was done in those electoral processes during this period, the general characteristics of the experience and the main lessons that we can learn from it, which has been nourished from other similar experiences since it was founded and has been able to collaborate with other processes. I. Our Experience A. Gestation of the Name and the Initiative Paraguay did not have any experience in competitive elections. In 1989, Alfredo Stroessner s dictatorship was overthrown, and a liberalization period started. Two years later, municipal mayors were elected for the first time. * Line Bareiro is the president of Sakä, researcher of the Center of Documentation and Studies, and member of the General Assembly of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights. Oscar López is the director of Decidamos: campaign for citizen expression and member of the board of Sakä. 143

145 In the still semi-competitive but free elections of 1989, some allied NGOs attempted a first national observation, but they did not produce alternative results. The initiative as such was not continued. A French socialist intellectual, Renée Fregosi, excited about the transitions in Latin America and Europe, landed in Paraguay, and since then she has never missed an electoral process in the country. At the Documentation and Study Center (CDE) she found fertile soil. The European Centre for International Cooperation (CECIEC) from France and the CDE from Paraguay are the two institutions that participated in all the Sakã, name that Fregosi gave to the national observation in Paraguay. How do you say transparent in Guarani? The name has to be in Guarani. Or transparent stone should be better The best option was Sakã, which means transparency, clarity in Guarani, the language spoken by 83% of the Paraguayan population. B. Characteristics Some characteristics of Sakã are: It is not a permanent organization, but it is formed by institutions that work on a permanent basis with diverse sectors of the society. Sakã adopted the business entity of a consortium because it allowed it to perform a specific action among organizations which usually perform another type of actions. It has specific recognition, even above the recognition that its member organizations have in their usual actions. Moreover, political actors recognize it as an interlocutor in the electoral processes, even though it only becomes active for those processes. Due to the characteristics of its action, Sakã is a space that moves a great number of volunteers from very diverse origins, who see in it a space in which they can take part in 144

146 the political processes without identifying with a specific political group. C. National Electoral Observation C.1 Municipal Elections and Constituent Assembly of 1991 The first experience in the parallel count coincided with the fist time that the Paraguayan citizens chose their municipal authorities directly. Until then, the governors were named by the Executive Branch. Moreover, in the main urban areas, the opposing party had a chance of winning the election after years of resistance against the dictatorship. In that way the alliance between the CDE, CECIEC, the Social Sciences Group (GCS), and the Institute for the Development and Integration of Latin America (IDIAL) was formed. This alliance promoted the initiative of creating this citizen participation organization. Even though a political opening was taking place, the electoral body was under absolute control of the Colorado Party, and along the process, it showed deficiencies that made it necessary for the citizens to have a close control over it. The exercise consisted in the parallel count of votes in twenty cities, and it allowed to offer alternative citizen information, which gained relevance in view of the difficulties that the electoral body had to inform the electoral results. A relevant fact was that General Andrés Rodríguez, the president at that moment, acknowledged the triumph of Carlos Filozolla, the candidate for the party Asunción Para Todos based on the data provided by Sakã, due to the lack of information provided by the Central Electoral Board. This fact broke the position of groups form the pro-government party who still supported authoritarian principles and refused to acknowledge the triumph of the opposing party in Asunción and other important cities. The great contribution Sakã made in this first experience was providing reliable information on which the political sectors acknowledged the triumph of adverse political sectors, a key element in a democratic system. 145

147 About four thousand volunteers were transported around the country with an organization strategy that included a central coordination team, department and district coordinations, precinct managers and messengers. Each precinct manager consolidated the results of the precinct and took them to the center where they were transmitted to a counting center. In December 1991, the conventional constituent elections were held with a resounding triumph of the Colorado Party. The organizations members of Sakã organized themselves to accompany the citizen participation in the process of the Constituent Assembly. For that reason, they did not perform observations or parallel counting during the electoral process. C.2. General Elections of 1993 In December 1992, Decidamos, an organization member of Sakã, observed the primary elections of the National Republican Association /Colorado Party (ANR). Very serious fraud allegations had been registered within the Colorado Party. These were attributed to the highest military leadership and to the pro-government sectors of the party, and they resulted in the rejection of Luis María Argaña s triumph, whose negative effects continued to be felt even in the recent electoral process, when a pro-government senator publicly acknowledged participating in the fraud. In fact, the Colorado Party has never been able to hold a primary election in the transition process without claims of fraud. This situation, the emergency of opposing candidates, and the strong interference of the military sector in the electoral process led us to the decision of forming Sakã. By the general elections of 1993, Sakã was formed by the CDE, CECIEC and GCS, the Center for Democratic Studies (CED), the Committee of Churches for Emergency Aid (CIPAE), the Center of Information and Resources for Development (CIRD) and DECIDAMOS: Campaign for citizen expression, with the support of Columbia University. 146

148 A parallel count was performed for the positions of president, senators, deputies, and department governments, counting 6041 polling places (72% of the polling places) and a sample counting of the results for the Presidency of the Republic, which covered 70 precincts in 40 districts. Five thousand volunteer messengers were transported. They are in charge of obtaining the results at the polling places and delivering them to the precinct managers, who are responsible for consolidating and transmitting them to the processing centers and delivering the information to the persons in charge of their district or department. A total of 250 people formed the central team responsible for the processing and dealing with the media. The results were published before midnight (president, senators, deputies, department governments) and as in all the other experiences, the data provided by Sakã coincided with the results revealed by the electoral body. Sakã suffered the retaliations of the sectors that feared the citizen control. On the day of the election, the premises where the operation center was located suffered a power and telephone cut, which was solved only after the energetic direct intervention of the former American president Jimmy Carter, who was part of the international observation group. On that occasion, and in view of the fraud allegations from the opposing sectors, Sakã offered to process the records that the representatives of the opposing party had with the result certificates from the polling places whose answers Sakã had gathered. However, the organization did not receive any answer from the opposing sectors who denounced the fraud. After the great mobilization and effort, and with the main leaders of the opposing sectors present at Sakã s premises, the result that gave the triumph to the Colorado Party by a little more than a percentage point candidate was communicated. That day Sakã earned the respect of all the political sectors because it provided legitimate results, even though they were not what the volunteers wanted (evidently their faces did not show contentment). Actually, the continuity meant a general 147

149 stagnation of the democratic process, but they were nonetheless the results that derived from the scrutiny records at the polling places. C.3. Municipal Elections of 1996 No vote counting was performed during that electoral process. To a broad extent, the organization supported the actions of the recently created Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE) 1. C.4. General Elections of 1998 The general elections of 1998 framed a new context with the appearance of General Oviedo and a new political movement into the electoral scene. In 1996, Oviedo had made an attempt of a coup d état, and therefore he had been discharged and he began a political career. The political climate was strained due to campaigns which tried to discredit judges, politicians and other figures, violent acts among participants, etc. In this new situation, Sakã decided to perform a sample count that covered about 16% of the polling places. In this opportunity Sakã was formed by the CDE, CECIEC, GCS, DECIDAMOS, CIRD, CIPAE, and had the support of IIHD/CAPEL and Columbia University. One thousand two hundred messenger, collector and typist volunteers were mobilized and trained. Once again, the premises of Columbia University, where the public operation center of Sakã operated, suffered damages and destruction of electricity and telephone services, and was burnt down in the morning of the election day. The results at the polling places were clearly in favor of the progovernment party, and even though there were opposing sectors who did not want to accept them and tried to put pressure for the results not to be made public, Sakã firmly completed its mission. It announced the information as an independent source, which allowed and still 1 In 1995 the Superior Court of Electoral Justice was created (TSJE) with a large participation of all the political sectors. This body managed the municipal elections of 1996 with great competence, and this made it earn the respect of the citizenship. 148

150 allows to maintain the seriousness of its work. The difference from the final result was less than a tenth of a percentage point. C.5. General Elections of 2003 and Municipal Elections of 2006 Taking into consideration the credibility of the Superior Court of Electoral Justice and its proven technical capacity to manage electoral processes, we had decided that it was not necessary to activate the Sakã consortium for these elections. However, Decidamos performed an observation of the polling places in order to make contributions to the training processes of the electoral agents and identifying practices that affect the transparency of the electoral process. C.6. General Elections of 2008 The emergence of the candidacy of Bishop Fernando Lugo leading a broad coalition of parties and social organizations, and the great discontent of the people from the Colorado government opened real possibilities of a triumph of the opposition. On the other hand, the members of the Superior Court of Electoral Justice were experiencing a deep internal crisis that threatened with ending the credibility earned by that body in the administration of electoral processes, and it stressed the distrust of the citizenship about its capacity to impartially manage the electoral process. In view of this scenario, several sectors expressed the necessity of exercising a strict control from the citizenship, and Sakã was its natural depository. For that reason, the CDE, CECIEC, DECIDAMOS, CIRD and CIPAE, with the support of the Columbia University decided to perform the task of citizen control. The organization was supported by the American Cooperation for the observation and the sample counting. However, since the political demand of the political organizations and the civil society was that Sakã performed a parallel counting of the elections, a search for economic resources began. 149

151 In record time, the necessary funding was collected from cooperation NGOs from Germany, Spain and Switzerland. However, what was special was receiving personal financing for the first time. An American philanthropist donated 25,000 dollars to Sakã, thanks to the negotiations made by Uruguayan NGOs. The funding that most supported the participants of Sakã came from the organizations, NGOs and people from Paraguay who contributed with their funds and voluntary work in order to make the parallel ballot scrutiny possible. The parallel counting processed a total of polling tables (77% of the total polling tables). A sample computing and observation was performed in about 1000 polling tables distributed among all the departments of the country. The organization worked with a central team, integrated by ten people and 18 department coordinators, who in turn worked with 500 district coordinators, plus a total of 4700 couriers and 244 precinct managers, who were in charge of transmitting the results from the polling places. This time, a total of 5900 volunteers were mobilized in order to cover all the planned activities, among them the visit of 300 young people from Uruguay who performed an observation experience as encouraging support to the citizen control. The use of text messages through mobile phones and the capture of direct information for the processing through new technologies accelerated the process of transmission of results, which was impossible to imagine in the earlier processes: at 17:50 the first cut was published with more tan 2900 processed polling places. At 18:30 another cut with 4260 processed polling places, and at 20:30, 9986 polling places had been processed. A clear advantage was that the diversity of the origin of the reports allowed for the results to keep the final tendency from the first cut. The sample observation of the functioning of more than 800 polling places and the respect for the legal provisions are being processed, and they will allow us to have relevant data that can help generate 150

152 proposals to enhance the applied procedures, as well as the training of electoral agents. It is important to mention the special invitation of international observers. 2 Certainly, these general elections presented very particular characteristics, since during every process of the electoral campaign the surveys showed a high probability for the victory of the opposing candidate, who led the Patriotic Alliance for Change. For this reason it was necessary to contribute to the international coverage, seeking the respect of the electoral results. With that purpose in mind, Sakã invited several ecumenical organizations, NGOs, and remarkable figures from the cultural, political, academic and intellectual world, as well as groups of young people of the region, achieving an important presence of these sectors during the election day. These groups were accompanied by members and volunteers of Sakã, at the polling precincts. II. Lessons Learned and Challenges of National Observation A. The Transmission of Knowledge and Experiences Must Be Permanent The history of Sakã has been giving and receiving. It is one of the first national electoral observations in our region, but it is not the first, since it derives from the fighters for democracy in Chile. In the same way, other national observations, like the one in Peru, received experience and knowledge from Sakã. We are not aware of electoral observations that perform a parallel counting of the votes, but we have been able to rescue its beginning in Latin America, since Paraguay continued with the experience of the Chilean plebiscite in October 1988, which has probably been the first experience in this regard. 2 Among the observers there were about 20 figures of the region, such as Frei Betto and Belela Herrera, as well as 300 young volunteers from social, political and ecumenical sectors from Uruguay. 151

153 152 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America Two Paraguayan partners 3 went to Chile to know and support the NO movement. They were particularly interested in two actions that had great importance in the triumph of NO, and which served as the basis for two Paraguayan initiatives: 1) the training of overseers at the polling places and, 3) the parallel counting of the results of the polling places. Without great hopes of using the material, but feeling enthusiastic about the experience, they brought back everything they could gather about both practices. However, three months later, in February 1989, Alfredo Stroessner s dictatorship ( ) was overthrown, and the elections were scheduled for March of that year. Even if the results of those elections were obvious, and the General who had overthrown Stroessner would win the elections, the liberty space made it possible for a citizen initiative to work on the training of overseers and the massive instruction of citizens for the vote and electoral control. DECIDAMOS was born on the same year as the democratic opening in Paraguay, and it took the Chilean experience that the CDE proposed to the group of NGOs, and which was accepted by a total of 13 Paraguayan institutions. The initiative was supported by a great number of Paraguayan volunteers, as well as persons like Francisco Estévez, the director of the IDEAS Foundation, who did not wait for an invitation in order to come and generously teach everything he knew. In 1991, the governors were directly elected for the first time in Paraguayan history. Sakã consortium was created on that opportunity, as it has been stated at the beginning of this article. Gonzalo Martner had directed the parallel counting of votes in Chile, and an article that recounts the genesis of that initiative can be found in his blog: The matter of the parallel counting of votes was derived from the idea that, due to the debilitation of the civil disobedience strategy initiated in 1983 through the protests, it was worth trying to win the plebiscite in 1989 against Pinochet. The scenario was not the best (possibility of fraud, lack of guarantees), but many of us thought that at that moment we could control, or at least make it more difficult 3 Benjamín Arditi and José Carlos Rodríguez from the Documentation and Study Center (CDE).

154 for that possibility of fraud to happen. After all, the Filipinos and the Uruguayan had achieved something similar. The political scene was somehow confusing, the renewed socialist had left the Democratic Alliance in order to look for a broader Alliance, and our left on the side of the Socialist Party, Communist Party and the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) were trying an insurrectional strategy (which many of us considered legitimate, but at the same time, noncausative and wrong). Around 1986, the Committee for Free Elections was formed with people from the Christian Democratic Party (DC) and from the non communist left, and within that context, a Technical Committee led by Genaro Arriagada was formed, which was later formalized with institutional support when the Concert of Parties for Democracy was created on 2 February A rather reduced group of us started working on the practical aspects of the plebiscite, and Genaro was able to produce a creative environment, departidized but with party representation (I was part of the direction of the Socialist Party ran by Nuñez), gathering diverse talents in order to discretely prepare a coherent strategy to confront the dictatorship at the polling places. This seemed pretty bold in that context, and (almost) everybody looked at us with complete skepticism, and sometimes with sarcasm because of the naivety if our attempt. One day, at Aconcagua Publishing House where Genaro had his offices, he told me as he was passing by Why don t you take charge of the control of the election? I looked at him in surprise, and I remember saying something like I had no idea how that could be done, but he answered that he needed somebody from the team we had formed to push the issue. So I accepted feeling pretty worried. In my 30 s and after the varied, and sometimes eventful hardships lived since the year 1972, when I got involved in politics (student struggles, coup d état, exile, return, protests, construction of alliances) it didn t seem so impossible, and, in any case, I had to give it a try. It is true that were weren t many people in the left either who agreed with the strategy of beginning to defeat the dictatorship from the plebiscite. In my party, I was supported with the cause. By the way, after my political affiliation with the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) and my later independent socialist stage, it was the Socialist Party directed by Nuñez, and later by Arrate the one I had entered in 1985, because, even though I was in the origin of the Party for Democracy (PPD) and revised the slates of the new party with a team so that they weren t rejected, and took them personally to the electoral service, the PPD was, for many of us, only an instrument, even though the unpredictable history said something different later on So I moved into the offices of Aconcagua Publishing House and then to the Command of the NO in Alameda with Lastarria. I approached the young people of 153

155 the Federation of Chilean University Students (FECH), led at the time by German Quintana, who was Christian Democrat, and people from all other parties to form a team that was up to the challenge and to the complexity of the task (by the early morning of 6 October we had counted 80% of the votes, and later almost all the votes, thanks to coverage of thousands of representatives and links throughout the entire country...). It is true that the DC wanted to do party work, and I suggested not to complicate ourselves and we invented that thing of the N line and the O line, with the idea of the complementing each other. People form all the countries worked in our line, with the tacit support of the leaders of the DC, which I was always grateful for because it was a great expression of trust, Glenn Cowan helped us with the design, and part of the team of the consulting firm Sawyer & Miller, linked with the American Democratic Party, who passed on to us their great experience in these fights, which we were very thankful for. But basically, the work was done by young Chilean engineers led by Germán Quintana, Didier de Saint Pierre, Hernán Saavedra, Maurice Saintard, Carlos Álvarez, Aldo Signorelli, Guillermo Díaz and tenths of professionals like Alberto Urquiza, Enrique Dávila, Marcelo Leseigneur, Jorge Navarrete, Joaquín Vial and so many other who worked so much in such a short period to collect, process and analyze millions of votes distributed in 22 thousand polling places, to whom the Chilean democracy owes so much in a time that was critical to put the history of a country on a more civilized path 4. The creativity of the experience was transmitted with generosity to the team of partners of Sakã who travelled to Chile to learn from Martner. Some time later, we had the chance to return what we had received. The team of Sakã, and especially José Carlos Rodríguez, taught what he had learned from the initiatives in diverse Latin American countries. However, the first and unforgettable was the Peruvian team, called Transparencia Peru. The wheel continued turning and Sakã continued giving and receiving knowledge. Without this, it would have probably been impossible to reach the high level of precision and reliability we have achieved. 4 In: 20 años no es nada, 3 September

156 B. The Independent Parallel and/or Sample Counting Is Relevant When: B.1 More than one candidacy has chance to win the election In the experience of Sakã, we have seen that the highest relevance has occurred in the municipality elections of 1991, in the general elections of 1993, and in the general elections of In the three cases there was a tight competition and there was more than one candidacy with possibilities of obtaining a victory, according to the public opinion surveys. In the first, the central government acknowledged the triumph of the opposing party in the capital city on the basis of the data provided by Sakã. In the second, Sakã confirmed the victory of the pro-government party, won by a tight margin. Specifically, it contributed to the opposing leaders to accept the victory, since the exit polls from different media gave different results. In the year 2008, the surveys claimed the candidate from the opposing party to be the winner, but most of them announced a technical tie, and those were the first results from the quick count performed by the Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TREP) uploaded to the Internet. Almost at the same time, the campaign manager of the pro-government party called the people to defend the victory. Sakã decided to communicate the data from the 47% of the parallel counting with a 10% difference in favor of the candidate for the opposing party. The data at the Superior Court of Electoral Justice were corrected quickly, and the candidate for the pro-government party acknowledged the victory of the current president of the Republic. On the contrary, in the year 1998, the pro-government victory by eight percentage points did not leave room for doubts, and nobody paid much attention to the contribution of Sakã. B.2 The electoral body does not have enough legitimacy The lack of credibility on the impartiality of the electoral body is probably the most important factor for the electoral observation, specifically the parallel and sample counting of votes, to be relevant. 155

157 Sakã was able to confirm this, since that situation was felt in the municipality elections of 1991, as well as in the general elections of 1993 with the Central Electoral Board (JEC), and in 2008 with the Superior Court of Electoral Justice. The JEC was an institution inherited from the dictatorship, and a manipulation of results was feared for the municipality elections of 993. That year s process was a significant advance regarding the conditions of the guarantees of electoral competence. The JEC certainly continued functioning as the electoral body, but the freedom of 1989 was accompanied by the legislation of 1990 and a first sanitation of the electoral registers, and the JEC did not even attempt to perform its own quick counting of votes. In 1996 and 1998 the respect towards the TSJE was growing, and in the elections of 2001 and 2006, and the general elections of 2003, the institutions members of Sakã did not even discuss the possibility of performing an observation. The cause for the absence was precisely the high credibility of the electoral body. However, the strong public disputes among the magistrates of the body, and the open loss of legitimacy practically made it obligatory to reassemble the observation in The organization considered that it was not enough to perform a sample counting, and it worked hard to obtain financing to perform the parallel counting of votes for that election. B.3 The popular will expressed in the polling places can be disrespected Ultimately, the national observation in any of its forms aims at informing what really happened at the polling places. In the case of Sakã, a simple adding of the result records from a sample with a low error margin of approximately 85% of the polling places is transmitted. We have the hope that the visibility of the real results can avoid them from being forged. 156

158 C. The Effective Independence Guarantees Credibility Until now, the political parties and the electoral alliances have announced they would make a quick counting, but they have never given the results of the elections effectively. They have used them as an element of propaganda before the public opinion, something like our results say something different, but they never showed them effectively. In the case of Sakã, the results have been given when the progovernment party won, which in the Paraguayan case, it was the same party that had governed for 61 years, as well as when the opposing party won in the municipal and general elections. That independence gives great credibility to the initiative, and that is translated in: The great amount of volunteers for the observation, courier and counting. The quality of the volunteers. We have hade the collaboration, for example, of the directors of important NGOs, scientists, leaders of social and neighborhood organizations, indigenous leaders, highly specialized technicians, intellectuals, artists, professionals, student leaders and religious leaders. The response to the search for resources and the local and personal contributions received for the last elections. The institutions that lend their premises, possessions and resources for free to help the functioning of the initiative. The agreement with the Superior Court of Electoral Justice, which allowed Sakã to inform the results of the elections as son as they were processed, being the only initiative that had that permission because in fear of more confusion, the Superior Court of Electoral Justice had forbidden the broadcasting of results before the Tribunal had given its own. The call for peace made together by Sakã, the archbishopric, and the leaders of the main evangelical churches in the country. The broad scope of international organization that finance the initiative. 157

159 Anyway, it must be pointed out that Sakã has received attacks from the defeated sectors of the elections, as well as proposals to settle in the quick counting of some of the political options being disputed. Maintaining the independence has been a very firm agreement of the organizations that form the initiative. D. The Political Soundness and Autonomy of the Directory Is What Permits Independence in Conflictive Situations From the first Sakã there have been highly conflictive situations, and it has been the political competence of the directory to confront the conflicts, and staying together what has made it possible to keep a high and growing consideration. The initiative has had to face extremely difficult situations, and we are going to provide two examples. In one of the observations performed, we invited an NGO to participate. This NGO was formed by very respectable people, academically and politically, and it was even offered the presidency. The style of the person designated by this NGO was completely different from the others, characterized by their austerity. In view of the growing difficulties in the board, and of the president with the technical team, we talked with the NGO, stating the problem and asking them to name another president, but the separation of the NGO was accepted and we continued working. In another occasion, an external organization was financing the main part of the sample counting, practically its totality, and that meant half of the total financing. Due to reasons that are difficult to understand, the financing organization started changing the terms of the signed agreement, demanding actions Sakã did not agree with. In view of a limit situation and the threat of withdrawing the financing a week before the election, the entire board of directors of Sakã resolved not to submit or to perform actions the organization did not agree with, therefore, the organization informed that the terms were not accepted and that the financing could be withdrawn. The mobilization to cover the newly created deficit was enormous, and in less than three days we received higher amount of 158

160 money than the one that had been lost by not accepting the conditions we did not agree with. E. The Electoral Observation Constitutes an Important Way of Doing Non-Party Politics Sakã is a way of doing non-party politics. Certainly, that expression has been used for the incidence from the society. However, in this case, it is an ample citizen mobilization that contributes to the representative democracy and guarantees the popular will. In this experience we have seen the slow incorporation of volunteers until approximately one month before the election, and a faster incorporation of volunteers as the election approached. In the last evaluation of Sakã we could highlight the value of generating a space that permits the active participation of people who are not part of the electoral campaigns. We must point out that in Paraguay, the polling officers are proposed by the parties, movements and alliances, and therefore, it is not a way of participation for the independent citizens. F. A National Parallel Counting Can Only Be Performed If There Is a Permanently Organized Base The members of Sakã, especially Decidamos 5, have a permanent organizational base for the articulation of networks and groups. This makes it possible to mobilize about five thousand people in a relatively short time. What is more, organized groups historically linked to Sakã complain when six weeks before the elections they have not been visited and integrated to the task. G. It Is Fundamental to Have Adaptation Criteria to the Technological Innovations The 17 years of Sakã coincide with a fast technological innovation, so that for each election, the technological approach, which is closely 5 Decidamos is a permanent campaign of civil education at the national level which moves more tan two thousand volunteers annually. 159

161 connected to the result transmission methodology, in other words, the backbone of the contribution of the initiative needed to be renewed. So, for example, for the elections of 1991, French equipment was imported. In the elections of 1993, phone calls were made to a computing center, and we had a network of private telephones to receive the calls in case the main reception center fell down, as it actually happened in the afternoon of the day of the general election that year. Practically, the country was in awe when we delivered the results before midnight, about seven hours and a half after the closing of the polling places. On the other hand, in the year 2008, the transmission was made via text messages transmitted from cell phone to cell phone, or from a cell phone to a computer, and for the processing of the parallel counting, a company specialized in processing the phone calls in television shows was hired. The results of 50% of the total polling places were ready two hours after the polling places were closed. The board of directors had members who were qualified to make technological decisions. Therefore, it was decided that the only volunteers that would be accepted were the ones who had a cell phone, since they would be using their own cell phones. All of them were given pre-paid cards for them to have enough minutes available for the transmission of the data and all the necessary information. Two tests were done, and the only telephones that were enabled were the ones which had complied with the steps, in order to avoid infiltrations. The transmission was impeccable. Along the process we received different technological offers, like for example, buying chips for the cell phones, which we decided to decline and simply register the cell phones the volunteers already had. The results showed the validity of the decision. To sum up, it is key for the people who make the decisions or who are in the senior management to handle methodological aspects, such as what makes a sample statistically good, and also the technological innovations, having criteria about what the volunteers can handle effectively. 160

162 H. An Articulation between the National and International Observations Is Key to Guarantee a Greater Impact In the elections of 20 April 2008, a so far unknown articulation was achieved between the group of national and international observations. This allowed a reciprocal support, a joined analysis, and an exchange of information which made the work incredibly easier and allowed an incidence that had not been achieved before. Certainly, Sakã had worked before with part of the international observation, particularly, IIHR/CAPEL, in the general elections of However, a general agreement without losing autonomy had not been achieved before. There are people who play roles and in this case, two women definitely contributed to that convergence and coordination: the observation chief for the Organization of American States (OAS), the Colombian María Emma Mejía, and the president of the Inter- American Institute of Human Rights, the Costa Rican Sonia Picado. The first conducted all the negotiations in order to achieve the maximum credibility in an electoral process in which distrust prevailed and called the most traditional national and international observations to share information and make a joint analysis. The second coordinated the meetings of a wide range of international observers with some candidates. The acknowledgement of the contributions was reciprocal, since in her final report, the OAS Observation Chief expressed: It is important to emphasize the commitment of the Paraguayan initiative of national observation, who worked under the coordination of the Alliance of NGOs called SAKÃ and the NGO Decidamos. These exercises represented clear examples of coordination and cooperation among different instances that perform citizen control in the country 6. 6 OAS. Report of the Electoral Observation Mission in Paraguay. Washington D.C. OEA: Washington D.C., May

163 Bibliography OAS. Report of the Electoral Observation Mission in Paraguay. Washington D.C. OEA: Washington D.C. May años no es nada, 3 September

164 Electoral Observation: New Tendencies in View of Today s Challenges Roberto Courtney* Introduction With the emergence or the resurgence of democracy in the countries of the Latin American hemisphere since the last decades of last century, massive electoral fraud gave way to smaller species of political manipulations, subscribed to reduced spheres of action and designed to unbalance the playing field and reduce the context of plenitude in which the popular will should be manifested within a democracy. In the same way as the extinction of the dinosaurs represented an opportunity for growth and prosperity for these minute and furry creatures which rapidly proliferated, instruments as the electoral roll or the electoral register, the political financing and the legal technical terms which did not have much importance when the authorities could simply ignore the popular will expressed at the ballot boxes, are now the available and frequently used mechanisms to accommodate the popular will when it is slightly alien or contrary to the will of the people who control those instruments. The national and international observation bodies, which were so useful to provide transparency to the electoral processes and guarantee the accuracy of the ballot scrutinies at the end of the last century, * Executive Director of Ética y Transparencia, Nicaragua. 163

165 find the necessity today of adjusting their process of validation and opinion about the justice of an electoral process, its attachment to the popular will and to the democratic principles, the accuracy of the vote countings and the assignments of elective offices, to numerous matters which require a much broader monitoring than the election day or the campaign itself, and in which the vote counting and broadcasting of the results is rarely the place where the wish of the people is distorted. The achievement of the electoral observation and the development of electoral systems in the area is that, even though these manipulation spaces and the way of using them has grown in number, its effects are determinant only in the context of tight elections. An even greater achievement is in process: closing these spaces and the potential governability crises that the elections with tight results generate, where, until today, the working capacity is more decisive than a handful of margin votes. The election monitoring at the global level reflects a growing tendency towards tight electoral results, which easily promote the fraudulent manipulation as well as the whimsical declaration of fraud. The explanations about this phenomenon go from benevolence (there are now more election processes in more countries than there used to be, since from 70 electoral democracies in the 80 s we got to 121 in 2007 according to Freedom House), to Machiavellian hypothesis which argue that the same mechanisms used to bias tight elections are also part of the causes for those tight elections to occur in the first place. Within this context, what should the observers do, and with what instruments? In the Caucasus, two recent elections of this kind brought instability to Georgia and Germany. In Belgium, it took them nine months to form a government, and that government only reflects a small proportion of the casted votes. Moreover, Congo, Mexico, Kyrgyzstan and the Czech Republic also had problematic elections and legitimacy crises derived from the tight results. In less developed countries in terms of democracy, the same phenomenon almost leads to a civil war, as was the case in Kenya a year ago and in Zimbabwe more recently. In Thailand and Fiji, coup d états originated from non conclusive elections. Even though it is true that many of these States have more 164

166 numerous and serious electoral problems than the almost egalitarian division of the electorate entitled to vote, but the importance of being able to clearly determine a tight triumph is undeniable, as a key to governability in each country where elections are held. In Nicaragua, Ética y Transparencia 1 works permanently in the refining and reviewing of electoral registers, the depolitization of the electoral mechanism, the equitable and transparent financing of the campaigns, as well as the legal electoral reform which is necessary to approach the vulnerabilities of the electoral system. From this field, in this paper we present the methodology for the auditing of the electoral register, leaving for another time the available information on other observation topics in the phases previous to the election day. Next, we will review what is being done to approach the recent epidemic of tight elections, in which the real or possible victory margin is already smaller than what the quick countings allow, the same which used to be the crown jewels in terms of guarantee of the respect of the popular will. In other words, we talk about the performing of universal vote countings, parallel to the ones the electoral state institution performs. Therefore, topics as the support to the observers in the process of resolution of disputes about the obtained votes and results, another of the territories to which modernity as moved the old vices of counting votes and giving results to the convenience of the ones in power, remain pending for another time. I. Audit of the Electoral Register The reason and the importance of the quality of the electoral register is evident: the presence and possibility of all the voters to effectively cast their votes in the place to which they attend to do so is the key to the universal vote, and an essential democratic requirement for the 1 The group Ética y Transparencia is a Nicaraguan organization which has existed for twelve years as an NGO. All this time it has conducted observations during the electoral periods, public consultations and it has helped fighting corruption, governability and citizen participation in all spheres being its main principles. This organization is member of Transparency International. 165

167 election of authorities. Therefore, it has to be possible for the voters to have a register in accordance with their real home address so that they can vote without any complications. Those complications that arise from quality or competence problems of the electoral authority must be an acceptable margin and without political biases. In other words, they must have an aleatory nature (and even in that case, they would represent a human rights issue; however, not an electoral fraud). On the other hand, the inaccuracy of the voters locations when they change their home addresses and do not report it are solved by legal exceptions or not, but in any case they relieve the electoral authority from the responsibility. It happens that political parties, with or without the protection of a legal void, move the voters from where they really live to places that have a more convenient effect for their parties. The auditing of the electoral register reveals these cases. In some Latin American countries, it is said that the electoral register does not contain the voters properly located in their vote center that corresponds to their addresses, and that the moving or relocation of voters in electoral registers far from their homes is one of the ways of subtracting voters from the opponent on the election day. This type of study also reveals this phenomenon in statistical and percentage way. It also occurs that there are omissions in the electoral register of persons legally entitled to vote, even those who already have their registration. This type of study also reveals that. For this reason, it is called a two-way study: from the register to the citizen, in order to establish mistakes, and from the citizen to the register, in order to establish omissions of different types. The following sections explain each of the ways. First Way The first way is obtained from a sample of the electoral register. The information of the cases obtained from the sample printed in the form is the following: identification card number, date and place of birth, gender, address (address, municipality, and department). 166

168 1. The case is searched according to the address reflected in the form. In order to prove the correctness of the electoral register, the following is verified: If the person is found, his/her personal information is compared to the information in the electoral register. If the person no longer lives at the address specified in the electoral register. If the person has never lived in the specified address. The person has expired. The person is in prison. The person is out of the country. If the person lives at the specified address, but for work or other reasons he/she spends most of the time in another town or department. Finally, the address does not exist. Second Way The second way consists in looking for a citizen who is old enough to vote (sixteen years old or more). The search for the citizen goes according to the instructions for the second way form. The form is filled in with the information, and finally the person is looked up in the electoral register. If the person is found, the following information is verified: Names and surnames Identification card number Date of birth Place of birth Gender Address (municipality and department) 167

169 II. Instruments First Way When the volunteers arrive at the address specified on the form, they must introduce themselves saying: Good morning / afternoon / evening, I work as a volunteer for..., according to the text printed in the upper part of the grey form. If the person who answers is a minor, the volunteer must require the presence of an adult. The survey interviewers must pay close attention to the personal information of the persons they have to search for. The information appears in the box in the upper part of the form. If the address does not exist, the next steps must be followed: The survey interviewer will take note of the case in the observations section. The survey interviewer will inform the departmental coordinator of the situation and hand the form to him/her. The coordinator will call to the offices of Ética y Transparencia in Managua informing of the case and referring it with its document number. Finally, the coordinator will send the form along with the packages of finished forms to the offices of Ética y Transparencia in Managua. When the location of the case is an inaccessible area, this is specified in the observations section and the case is closed. In the case of the P1 question: If the answer is option 2 (the person lives here), but when the person s presence is requested the answer is that the person is not at home and that the visit cannot be rescheduled for some reason (work in another department, studies outside of town or any other cause for absence inside the country), the interviewer must ask the adult who is talking to them if they have the identity card of the person to be interviewed. If the answer is positive, they continue filling in the form with the information 168

170 from the identity card, making sure that the person talking to them answers the additional questions about the owner of the identity card. If the answer is option 4 (the person has never lived here), the form instructs to look for another INFORMANT. We recommend the interviewer to ask the person who is talking to them if they know somebody who can provide information about the person whose information we are verifying. If the answer is number 7 (outside the country), the interviewer must ask when the person returns. If the person returns during the period of the field work, the survey interviewer must reschedule the interview. If the person does not return during the period of the field work, the interviewer must ask if the person will be abroad temporally or permanently and write the information in the observations section. If the interviewer considers that the answer to question P1 is doubtful, it is recommended to confirm it with another informant (neighbor, community leader, religious leader or any other informant), and to write the information in the observations section. For question P6 (identical data), the personal information in the box in the upper part of the form is compared with the information in the identity card (fist name, second name, fist surname, second surname, identity card number without the last letter, date of birth, place of birth, gender, address: municipality and department). From questions P7 to P12 the interviewer will write in only the information from the identity card or the supplementary document that differ from the information printed in the box in the upper side of the form. For example, if the Municipality that appears on the identity card is Tipitapa, and in the form is San Francisco Libre, the interviewer will write in P8 Municipality Tipitapa, an will leave blank questions P7, P9, P19, P11, and P

171 For question P15 (do you have an identification document with a photograph?), if the answer is option 2 (NO), the form instructs to continue with questions P18, P20 AND P21.In that case, the interviewer does not ask question P17 (complete name), since the interviewee has already answered in P4. In the case of question P17, the interviewer must write the name exactly as it shows in the identification with photograph. In order to determine if an interview is finished by exceeding the range of action (referred to in questions P3 and C5) the closeness to the new location must be taken into consideration. If that were the case, the interviewer must inform the coordinator or the members of the central technical team. Questionnaire: Questions for Other Informants and Control of Visits This questionnaire is used to record the information of the informants (3 maximum) and the visits we perform in order to give more riguroisty to the field work. We define Informant as the person who provides useful information to the location or situation of the citizen we are looking for. In field #1 we write the information of the person who answers in the house (even if we have spoken with a neighbor or a leader before in order to find the house). We write the name, profile and address. The informant s profile can be: relative, neighbor, religious leader, current occupant of the house, local leader. Informant #2 will be asked questions C1 and C2 if necessary, and Informant #3 will be asked question C3 and C4 if necessary. New visits: If necessary, the interviewer must reschedule a maximum of two visits, registering the times and dates in the CV1 table. When conducting the new visit, the interviewer must follow the process from the beginning as if it were the fist interview. The interviews conducted in different days are considered visits. 170

172 Second Way In the case of the second way, the interviewers will look for Nicaraguan citizens of voting age (16 years old or more). It does not matter if the person has an identity card or not. The survey interviewers must look for the same quota of persons they were assigned for the first way. The selection criteria for the second round will be: For people under 70 years old in the first way, the interviewer will look for people 5 years older or 5 years younger than the person in the first round (mandatory), and of the same sex (preferable). If the person is older than 70 years old in the first way, the interviewer will look for any person who is older than 70 (mandatory) and of the same sex (preferable). For example, if in the first way the person is 95, and in the house located for the second way, the interviewer finds a person who is 72 years old, the form is filled in with this person s information. The person for the second way will be located standing in front of the house visited for the first way, and moving three houses to the right in the urban area, if we do not find a person who qualifies for the interview; the interviewer must look in the following houses until a qualifying person is found. In the rural area, the interviewer will look for the person in the closest house. If the person is not found in the closes house, the interviewer must look in the following houses until a qualifying person is found. Once the person is located, the interviewer introduces him/ herself and explains the reason for the visit. For question S6 (identification document), if the person has several documents, the interviewer will take only one prioritizing them in the order they are listed (identification card, supplementary document...). If the person does not have an identification document, the interviewer must look for a 171

173 witness who can confirm that the person is a Nicaraguan citizen of legal age. In question S21 (Do you live here permanently?), if the answer is NO, the interviewer must write the new address in the observations section. Question S22 (How long have you lived there?) refers to the address where the interviewee was found. III. Parallel Counting Performed During the 2006 Elections The parallel counting that the Grupo Cívico Ética y Transparencia performed was aimed at obtaining the results of the Parliamentary elections. The observation we made in order to review the election of the department parliament representatives was the first time that Ética y Transparencia experienced a coverage of 100% of the Vote Counting Stations. The processing of this information was performed during the next days after the elections, and 96.18% of the total amount of vote counting stations in all the country was recovered (N=11274). Ética y Transparencia included the information of the results of the ballot scrutiny for the representatives election in Form #2, which was filled in by the speakers (quick count) and Form #3 which was filled in by the rest of the observers in vote counting stations from a total of 11,274 existing in the 2006 elections. The following chart shows the results of the processing of the parallel counting for representatives performed by Ética y Transparencia. 172

174 Grupo Cívico Ética y Transparencia Distribution of Legislative Seats 173

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176 Quick Count in Local Non-Party Electoral Observation Omar Simón* I. Defining Quick Count Quick count is one of the mechanisms most widely used and spread by national organizations to make an electoral observation. This method is favored mainly because of its proven effectiveness applied to several countries with different political realities and under different electoral systems. In fact, this methodology has been successfully applied by local non-party observation groups in over 40 countries around the world. Quick count is a methodology for collecting and transmitting election information based on design and selection of a random sample of polling stations, in compliance with any assumption and requirement conferring appropriate statistical validity upon it, and allowing it to produce highly-reliable information on the development of the electoral process and its results, aside from being a community participation means through which vote sovereignty can be monitored. 1 Quick count provides quick, appropriate, reliable and technically supported information on elections; contributes to winning people s confidence and encouraging participation in the electoral process as well as discouraging attempted fraud or manipulation in the process; * Former Acting Chief Executive of the Citizen Participation Corporation, Ecuador. Current President of the National Electoral Council, Ecuador. 1 Duarte, Isis. El conteo rápido de Participación Ciudadana, elecciones presidenciales del 16 de mayo de 2000, In Dominican Republic. Notes. 175

177 contributes to reducing administrative errors; provides an independent basis to official results; has an influence on the positions candidates and parties adopt in relation to legitimacy of elections; becomes a growing source of civil liability, citizen development and civic and democratic education; and helps spreading knowledge of the electoral process. II. Factors determining a successful quick count Succeeding or failing in quick count depends on political, technical and economic factors. Among political factors, we may find the need for an organization committed to its non-party role, having credibility and confidence among political actors, electoral authorities, mass media and the public in general; a wider and more transparent spread of the objectives, methodology, costs and financing of the operation; authority and commitment to openly disclose findings and results through reliable spokespersons; and a commitment to and openness of electoral authorities to guarantee that observers have access to polling stations and information in a timely and appropriate manner. Such organization must guarantee freedom to disclose results and conclusions being limited only by ethical and political principles governing its actions. Technically speaking, the key factors include a sample design (polling station selection) whose size and arrangement conform to the historical electoral behavior and to citizen characteristics in terms of heterogeneity or homogeneity; a strict and disciplinary commitment to comply with the technical and methodological design; human resources and a structure of duly qualified observers (volunteers) covering every item of observation selected in the sample; provision of efficient and secure communication systems; design of reliable measuring instruments; and provision of appropriate instruments for data transmission, collection, processing and analysis. Aside from the factors mentioned above, there is the economic factor ensuring not only provision of sufficient economic resources but also transparency of information related to costs, source and allocation of these resources guaranteeing that those resources come from independent and reliable sources. 176

178 III. Circumstances when quick count methodology should be applied Quick count is not the most appropriate methodology in all cases and under all circumstances for any electoral observation organization. Its application depends on the political context of the election, the degree of institutionalization of the electoral administration and the level of credibility and confidence political actors and citizens have on electoral administration. This way, it is more frequently used and useful in emerging political systems and countries with developing democracies. Quick count is very useful in countries where fear of electoral fraud or simply rethoric of electoral fraud has become a common political practice,-in some cases giving rise to situations of political instability, lack of confidence in electoral authorities, contributing to undermine the legitimacy of elections, authorities and elected representatives. The electoral administration s ability to announce election results at reasonable times is another factor influencing the conduct of a quick count. Extended delays in publishing results may lead to situations of uncertainty and mistrust. Finally, there are countries where legislation prohibits the publication of provisional electoral results. This type of prohibition restricts the impact quick count may have as an information provision mechanism. IV. Preparations for quick count Firstly, the electoral observation organization has to define the objectives, scope and coverage of quick count. In general, in any electoral process, we vote for more than one position in more than one constituency using multiple election systems. After defining the scope of observation (whether quick count will be conducted for a single or multiple positions; in one country district or in several regional or sectional districts; whether one-party authorities or representatives of multi-party entities), this organization 177

179 178 Acquired Lessons Concerning Observation of Electoral Matters in Latin America establishes objectives and designs data collection instruments to be applied. In order to standardize information, such organization makes use of structured forms including variables necessary to conduct a qualitative evaluation for the development of the Election Day. Being a procedure based on a scientific data collection methodology, the organization should define the expected level of accuracy to be obtained from the results. Therefore, it should set the expected levels of confidence and maximum error. As a rule, the estimation error used cannot be above +/- 1%. In any case, factors such as the political context in which the electoral campaign is taking place, poll projections (predicting close results or a narrow margin), the organization s ability to include and train observers, and availability of financial resources are determinant in defining both the scope of electoral observation and statistical factors of sample design(s). The next step is to select mass media to be used in data transmission and collection. Telephone is the most common means to report data, requiring the estimated time reporting for each form will take and the expected time frame to gather all information in order to appropriately calculate the number of polling stations needed. Internet is an additional means used by some organizations. Once equipped with the sample design; that is, the number of polling stations to be observed and arranged, data-collection instruments, and systems and procedures for reporting of results, observers are selected and trained. In some cases, information on the total number of polling stations and their arrangement is disclosed just before the Election Day. Consequently, many organizations decide to openly recruit observers, who are assigned to observation stations after using an existing sample or a provisional sample with information from last voter registration records. Finally, we have systems for data processing and analysis as well as a political committee that must determine when to disclose information to the public. In order to do so, it will take into account a technical element related to the stabilization of the sample and the political impact of such decision.

180 Graphic 1: Trends in Quick Count Input Data for Mayor Election, Quito October Citizen Participation Ecuador 2 Source: Electoral Citizen Observation: 2004 Elections, Citizen Participation Ecuador This graphic clearly shows the trend of results as the information from the different polling stations being part of the sample entered the system. Although the voting trend does not show considerable variations along the data input process, the surrounding areas representing actual error bands from the results do reveal considerable variations. Besides, it can clearly be seen that as the sample was being completed, the error band tended to become stable mainly due to an input of heterogeneous results. Twenty minutes after reports started (at 17:45 hours) and one third of the sample was completed, the level of uncertainty was high; twenty minutes later (having nearly half of the sample entered), the error band started to get compressed and stable. 2 Electoral Citizen Observation: Elections 2004, Citizen Participation Ecuador. 179