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Election Monitoring Shows Commitment to Democracy

Effective, rigorous and principled election administration and monitoring can help address the continuing challenge of building genuine democracy around the world, said Eric Bjornlund, a lawyer and international development professional, in a Democracy Dialogues webchat August 1.

"Election monitoring contributes to the quality and integrity of elections by deterring or exposing fraud and building public confidence," Bjornlund said.

Since the 1980s, international and domestic election monitoring has grown as a check on whether elections, especially in transitional or post-conflict nations, are free and fair. International election observation also demonstrates international commitment to democracy, Bjornland said. In addition to serving similar goals, nonpartisan domestic election monitoring in emerging democracies mobilizes civil society and builds social networks necessary to the consolidation of real democracy, he said.

Bjornlund is co-founder and president of Democracy International, a firm that provides technical assistance for governance programs worldwide. He serves as senior technical adviser for elections and political processes and governance analytical services. He is author of the book Beyond Free and Fair: Monitoring Elections and Building Democracy.

While its successes are sometimes overstated, Bjornlund said, election monitoring has contributed to improvements in the quality of elections and to meaningful, sustainable political development.

"But there remains a continuing need to improve the professionalism of election monitoring and to ensure that election monitoring, rather than serving narrower interests, maintains its commitment to the universal values of democracy," he said.

In politically uncertain environments, election monitoring can build public confidence in the integrity of balloting by encouraging fairer electoral rules, better campaign practices and a more informed electorate, Bjornlund said. By increasing transparency, election monitoring deters fraud and helps reduce irregularities in election administration. Election monitoring also can provide moral support to democratic activists or political leaders facing authoritarian regimes, and it educates audiences around the world about the struggle for democracy in particular countries, he said.

In the United States, election administration is conducted at the state and local levels, typically overseen by government officials. The Federal Election Commission enforces campaign finance laws.

"This approach works fine if the parties, candidates and public have confidence in the integrity of the process," Bjornland said, "but it is obviously problematic where that confidence is lacking or where extremely close elections lead to controversy." Since the highly contested U.S. presidential election in 2000, he said, national and local officials have sought to improve and rebuild public confidence in election administration.

"Election officials must report the results honestly, and everyone involved in elections must be committed to respect the results," Bjornlund said.

Voting machines and electronic voting have the potential to prevent certain kinds of mistakes in electoral administration, Bjornlund said, but electronic voting may lack transparency and presents new challenges to effective election monitoring.

"There has been controversy about voting machines in countries as diverse as Venezuela and the United States," he said. "Many commentators have argued that there should be a paper trail that can be audited, but many election administrators in the United States have disagreed. This will be a significant challenge for election authorities and election monitors in the future."

In the last two decades, independent election commissions have emerged as an effective means of ensuring impartial election administration and building public confidence in elections, he said. Opposition parties and the public may perceive election management bodies that are independent of an incumbent government to be more impartial and fair, he said.

Not all democratic countries have independent electoral administration bodies and there are institutional variations, according to Bjornlund.

Bjornlund said methods used to evaluate election monitoring have improved but significant challenges remain. Specifically, Bjornlund expressed concerned about the excessive emphasis on pass/fail judgments - such as whether elections are "free and fair" - and effective monitoring of pre-election violence and compliance with rules on campaign funding.

Elections are essential but only part of the democratic process, Bjornland said. To build genuine democracy, societies must foster a democratic culture and the rule of law in addition to holding democratic elections, he said.

The transcript of Bjornlund's discussion and information on upcoming webchats are available on USINFO's Webchat Station.

Democracy Dialogues is a global conversation addressing democratic governance through interactive public forums, readings, videos, photos and historical documents, with a new topic introduced every two months.

Source: U.S. Department of State