TWO DECADES OF ELECTION OBSERVATION BY THE AFRICAN UNION: A REVIEW (original) (raw)
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Critical evaluation of AU's Election Observer Missions (EOMs) in Africa: Case Study of Zimbabwe and Egypt, 2019
Free and fair elections are an expression of sovereignty, which belongs to the people of a country, the fundamental right to choose representatives who will provide the basis for the authority and legitimacy of government. Also, genuine democratic elections serve to resolve peacefully the competition for political power within a country and thus are central to the maintenance of peace and stability. Where governments are legitimized through genuine democratic elections, the scope for non-democratic challenges to power is reduced. Acknowledging the strong linkage between genuine elections and human rights, it is important that fundamental freedoms are exercised on an ongoing basis without discrimination based on race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, property, birth or other status, including among others disabilities, and without arbitrary and unreasonable restrictions. In short, genuine democratic elections cannot be achieved unless all citizens have access to basic human rights. These precepts are recognized by international instruments and documents of numerous intergovernmental organizations. Achieving genuine democratic elections therefore has become a matter of concern for international organizations, just as it is the concern of national institutions, political competitors, citizens and their civic organizations.
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The election observer is one of the stakeholders of the electoral process in Africa. The role of the international observers just like other players of the electoral process, is to ensure free, fair and credible election. This body mostly work hand in hand with civil society group/organization in order to ensure smooth conduct of election. Election observers have been seen as democracy police in Africa which has added value to the conduct and manner at which election is being managed in the society. Although, many studies have been conducted on both positive contribution and negative impact of the election observers into the system, but this study will juxtapose the two sides of a coin to examine whether the role of the observer is a blessing or curse to the development of Africa and its democratic consolidation. The study makes use of Normative Theory to explain the role and contribution of election observers to the democratic consolidation in Africa. The study is a qualitative, and it employs the use of secondary source of data to explain the pros and cons of the international election observers towards monitoring election that mostly usher-in the transition of power from one democratically elected leader to another in Africa.
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This article reflects on efforts by African countries to employ election observation assessments through domestic and international observers based on the obligation to comply with public international law. There are mixed feelings among voters, politicians and civil society organisations about the objectivity of election observation reports. This paper argues that basing election observation reports on legal commitments from public international law using the obligations-based approach articulated by the Cater Centre may enhance objectivity. The study is a content analysis of the obligations-based approach and observation reports made in selected African countries. Results indicate contradictions on findings of the same election by different international observers. An integrated obligations-approach framework on election observation should be developed by the African Union, and other international bodies in Africa. This may strengthen voter confidence and improve electoral democracy in the continent.
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The European Union is the second provider of Electoral Observation Missions (EOMs) worldwide. It is partly to the credit of ‘Normative Power Europe’ that international election monitoring has become an international norm. This paper develops a framework which conceptualises EOMs as ‘dealers of legitimacy’ in a foreign political marketplace, due to their ability to endorse or condemn (parts of) electoral processes. This role of EOMs gives a particular importance to the question of their independence: can they be subjected to interferences, why and through which processes? While standardisation ensures a high level of neutrality throughout the span of EOMs, significant glitches make them prone to episodic interest-driven interference. Based on secondary literature and interviews with a range of practitioners, this paper develops the argument of a ‘bureaucratic bias’ of a donor and democracy promoter, which accounts for some of the breaches of EOM independence. This bias is linked to t...
In recent years a spate of electoral-related conflicts in Africa has made the quest for ‘peace’ predominate electoral processes, especially in situations that hold substantial threats to peace and stability. The post-Cold War democratisation process in most African countries has induced election-related risks and informed the resolve of the AU to uphold democracy without jeopardising peace and stability. To this end, through the deployment of the AU Panel of the Wise (PoW) in electoral processes, the AU has increasingly engaged in preventive diplomacy in elections likely to cause instability and violence. This policy briefing reviews some lessons learned from the involvement of the PoW as a key pillar of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) in preventing election-related conflicts on the continent.
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This Lessons Learned research was a joint endeavor of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). The research team and lead authors of this document were Adrian Morrice, Francisco Cobos Flores and Mary O'Shea. Evidence for the research was primarily collected from 145 interviews of UN and non- UN staff between November 2011 and April 2012. Additionally there was an on-line survey with 164 respondents and relevant documentation was also studied. The research looked into how the UN has integrated electoral assistance in Mission settings, specifically in seven electoral processes in six countries listed here: Democratic Republic of Congo, 2006 National elections; Timor-Leste, 2007 National elections; Iraq, 2010 Parliamentary elections; Sudan, 2010 General elections; Burundi, 2010 General elections; Côte D’Ivoire, 2010 Presidential elections; Southern Sudan, 2011 Referendum. In the last twenty years, United Nations assistance to post-conflict electoral processes has engaged a full array of UN capacities and actors. Perhaps the largest scale, most complex and most visible exercises, have been electoral processes supported by the Security Council. Outside the seven elections studied here, these experiences range from Cambodia to Liberia, the Balkans to Afghanistan, and Haiti. A review of Comprehensive Peace Agreements in the period 1990-2006, showed that elections were the most common provision, appearing in nearly 95% of agreements. The perspective of holding elections has become one of the most widely used incentives to end violent conflict, with the prospect of re-distributing power and legitimately re-establishing executive and legislative arms of a post-conflict state. With elections playing pivotal functions in peace processes, the impact of direct UN support to them and support to the political and security enabling environment, are key issues. Many of these internationally-assisted war-to-peace transitions have seen the transformation of parties to a conflict to registered political parties. In very insecure environments, there have been remarkably high levels of participation in national voter registration drives and in voting itself. In many cases participation has included refugees voting overseas, or such as with internally displaced persons returning to their communities of origin to register and vote. Soon after their return, disarmed and demobilized former combatants may have also returned to the same communities. As these transitions progress, and with risk of relapse into violence ever-present, successful electoral processes have also become a means to measure and benchmark the consolidation of state authority. They have been a key measure of peace consolidation and, for some, ‘the exit strategy,’ signaling sufficient stability to warrant downsizing and exit of armed UN and other Council-mandated military and police.