This book examines the mandates of and initiatives on electoral processes of six regional organizations: the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, the League of Arab States, the Organization of American States and the Pacific Islands Forum. It covers areas such as election observation, electoral technical assistance and gender mainstreaming, and includes consideration of each organization’s regional context, achievements, limitations, challenges and prospects.
Election-related initiatives by regional organizations vary enormously across regions. The different contexts—historical, political and economic—in which regional organizations operate determine their mandates to act in the field of elections. Despite these differences, however, regional organizations can play an important role in promoting and protecting the integrity of elections, and this role is steadily if slowly growing.
Some regional organizations have clear guidelines on election observation and assistance (e.g. the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)). Others do not and may yet have to seek a politically palatable mandate (e.g. the Association of South East Asian Nations, ASEAN, and the League of Arab States, LAS).
While most organize or have organized election observation missions (EOMs), only a few undertake technical assistance or cooperation (e.g. the AU, the EU and the OAS). Some regional organizations seek to observe throughout the full electoral cycle, while others, often due to resource constraints, have not been able to achieve this. Although most electoral observation by regional organizations relates specifically to the electoral process, the PIF observation in Nauru is an example of a remit that covered more general issues related to the functioning of the political framework and process.
Election observation missions by regional organizations have variable levels of impact. Recommendations include the following:
- The EOMs should abide by the Declaration of Principles and the Code of Conduct for Election Observers. The Declaration helps organizations conducting EOMs to avoid falling into the trap of assessing elections as free and fair. Instead, the assessment is undertaken in line with the international standards to which states have voluntarily committed themselves.
- The programming of EOMs should be informed by the electoral cycle. Deployment of EOMs should take on board developments during the pre-election and postelection periods.
- In order to be effective, the implementation of recommendations put forward after an EOM should be followed up.
- There is a need to further improve the methodology of EOMs, and to develop the capacity of observers and their wider understanding of electoral processes. Increased contact and interaction between regional organization EOMs and domestic observer organizations could form part of this process.
Technical assistance or cooperation initiatives focus on improving the capacity of electoral management bodies (EMBs) to conduct elections. They range from the capacity-building training organized by the AU using the Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) curriculum to the support provided for quality management systems (QMS) by the OAS.
The type of technical assistance or cooperation provided is really determined by the level of maturity of the EMB. OAS assistance to an EMB through a QMS, for example, will only be feasible if the EMB is familiar with its own processes and the services it provides to its clients.
Gender mainstreaming requires more attention in the initiatives of regional organizations to promote and protect the integrity of elections. The OAS is the pioneer in this area through its development of a gender-sensitive election observation methodology. The EU is committed to appointing a gender officer in each of its EOMs. While it is not clear whether the structural innovations of the OAS and the EU, in particular, will help to address unequal participation, they help put it on the political agenda.
Regarding domestic observation, some EOMs, including some EOMs by regional organizations, link and cooperate with civil society observation initiatives. Communication between EOMs and domestic observers can provide benefits, (such as information sharing and increased understanding), for the EOMs, host countries and domestic observers.