Electoral innovations and trends: political participation

1
Electoral innovations and trends political
participation

• Kevin Evans
• UNDP Indonesia

2
Comparative methods to enhance participation

• What can you actually do?
• Issues of constraints
• Mandate issues what is UNDPs role
• Wiggle room?
• Legal issues what is permitted under the laws
• UN mandates, National, UNDP and donors
• The elections - real politik, culture, specifics

3
Who is to participate

• Electoral managers
• Voters
• Voter educators
• Electoral monitors
• Political contestants, parties and candidates
• Media
• Private sector suppliers of goods to advice
• International community

4
Who is to participate

• Electoral managers
• Senior decision makers (commissioners)
• Commission staff
• Voter registers and poll workers
• Training activities also for transparency

5
Who is to participate

• Voters
• who are they?
• Are there some first time voters - age, gender,
  other (political liberation)
• Are they all first time voters (new systems or
  first time free and fair voters)

6
Who is to participate

• Voter educators
• Civil society
• Long term donor favourites sub contracting
• New groups post transition types
• Local and small scale risky but with reach
• Mass groups huge networks
• Training groups
• Campus based

7
Who is to participate

• Election monitors
• More than integrity
• An avenue for the usually alienated
• Young and women
• Linking with international monitors/ observer
  groups

8
Who is to participate

• Political contestants, parties and candidates
• Transition type elections lead to all sort of
  unlikelies coming forward
• Political organisations are usually very weak,
  albeit founder dominated gives impression of
  power, first generation democracy

9
Who is to participate

• Media
• What forms of media have legs and reach
• Has the media been recently liberated politically
  and in terms of regulation
• Has the media been resurrected commercially

10
Who is to participate

• Private sector suppliers of goods to advice
• Suppliers of electoral commodities
• Import or use local made
• The democracy industry will come pollsters and
  spin doctors and campaign managers
• What role for internationals?

11
Who is to participate

• International community
• Technical expertise
• Sharing experiences
• Supplying funds
• Enhancing legitimacy

12
Getting people together

• A genuine UNDP value added?
• Use pollworker training on media to inform the
  whole electorate
• Recognise that domestic monitoring can introduce
  young people and women to macro-politics
• Support for voter education groups opens
  possibility for new civil society political
  networks to operate