bout de papier, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1996) — Spring 1996 // Printemps 1996, pp. 29–32
Shortly after I retired from External Affairs in the autumn of 1989, Elections Canada asked the Department to recommend a retired Spanish-speaking Foreign Service Officer who would be willing to accompany Mr. Ron Gould, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, as a Canadian observer for the Honduran Presidential elections. Since the corporate memory of External Affairs lasts about twenty seconds, it was my good luck that the request came in only fifteen seconds after I had left. Thus was launched my career as an elections observer. Once I had had experience with one election, I was a logical person to send on future missions. In total I have been an observer to fifteen elections: three for the Canadian Government (Honduras, Cameroon and Nigeria); three for the United Nations (Angola, Eritrea and South Africa); and ten for the Organization of American States (the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru (four times) and Venezuela).
Who Observes?
Elections Canada normally proposes a list of possible observers to Foreign Affairs and the Minister makes the final choice. Persons with domestic political experience are often added by the Minister, particularly to Canadian national delegations. They, of course, have relevant expertise in elections, as do Deputy Returning Officers and Provincial election officials who have also been chosen. At the request of the UN former RCMP officers were selected for service in South Africa, because of the importance of police liaison in the elections there. Retired foreign service officers have probably been considered as part of a team where there are sensitive political issues or knowledge of a foreign culture or language would be useful. Elections Canada maintains a list of persons interested in serving as election observers.
Election observers are generally paid a per diem to cover expenses, so the work is intellectually rather than financially rewarding. It is a signal privilege to witness and on occasion make a small contribution to the democratic process in the countries concerned. It is fun as well to indulge one’s taste for foreign travel in such a constructive manner. It provides an entrée into a foreign society that one could not have as a simple tourist and without the foreign service obligation to remain for several years in the same place. One should, however, be prepared to travel wherever assigned in the country concerned, which can entail exposure to tropical diseases and doubtful accomodation. In my hotel in Cueto, Angola, I did not have to worry about removing too many squashed cockroaches since their brethren (or else the rats) had usually disposed of the corpses during the night. The symphony of odours proved too much for a veteran of the French colonial service who left the hotel in the middle of his first night to seek refuge in a UN tent. In Eritrea, I faced nothing worse than a hotel with no running water and a squat toilet. A Canadian colleague was assigned to a nomad area in the North where he had to sleep on cots in the open air and face day time temperatures over 40 celsius. The most embarrassing aspect was that a group of nomads watched him perform his morning necessities and then came over to examine the toilet paper which was a substance that they had not previously encountered.
Why Observe Elections?
In election monitoring I have been a foot soldier, not a policy maker and, hence, have not been involved in the decisions to send observers. The reasons for inviting or sending observers, however, are usually fairly straightforward. In the case of Peru, for example, President Fujimori needed international recognition for the legitimacy of his Government in order to ensure continued access to international credit after his ’auto-golpe’ (self administered coup) in which he closed down the Congress and dismissed Peruvian judges. The OAS sent observer teams for the Constituent Assembly elections, the municipal elections, the referendum on the new constitution and finally the Presidential and Congressional elections. Some would question whether the OAS should have spent scarce funds to observe municipal elections, but the other observation missions were justified in terms of encouraging Peru to return to a functioning democratic system and observe electoral proprieties.
The aim of election observation is to discourage fraud. It is like the role of visible traffic police patrolling a busy highway. Drivers who see them slow down. The deterrent will only work, however, if it known that observers will report serious irregularities observed or brought to their attention and subsequently verified. For that reason there should be some follow-up of serious complaints even when the overall results are not in serious dispute.
When is an Election Valid?
No election is perfect, even those held in Canada. Elections are complicated to organize, and imperfections are to be expected. The key issue is not whether there have been some irregularities, but whether they have been on a scale which could affect the outcome. In the Presidential elections in Peru, President Fujimori received 62% of the vote against 22% for Pérez de Cuéllar. The margin was too great to call in question the outcome despite the somewhat excessive advantages enjoyed by the incumbent.
The situation was quite different in the Dominican Republic where President Balaguer won by less than one per cent of the vote. The chief opposition party led by Dr. Peña Gómez claimed that last-minute deletions had been made in the electoral lists in certain parts of the country to eliminate their voters. It seemed probable that this was indeed the case and that the number of voters disenfranchised was greater than the winning margin of President Balaguer. Passions were running high, as one might expect, given the huge meetings with hundreds of thousands of voters held during the campaign and the 87% voter participation. Moreover, the nasty racist campaign which had been mounted against Dr. Peña Gómez, who is black rather than mulatto, was deeply resented. Rumours were spread that his parents were Haitian and that he would open the border to immigrants from Haiti.
John Graham led the OAS mission. He is a former Canadian Ambassador who headed the democratic promotion unit of the OAS. He concluded that it would be better for the Dominican Republic to help broker a settlement rather than simply denounce the results. In the end President Balaguer agreed to step down after two years, then new elections would be held in which he would not be a candidate. No future President would be allowed to run for a consecutive term. In this instance the most important contribution was made after the elections were over.
The elections in Guatemala were well organized and the losing party, as a result, accepted defeat in the run-off Presidential race even though their candidate only lost by 2% of the vote. The system itself, however, is flawed in that registration and voting is difficult for voters in outlying areas. Moreover, the election campaign did not seem directly relevant to some of the major problems facing Guatemala, for example, the stalled peace process, militarization, the corruption at all levels, the unequal distribution of land, and the inadequate representation and marginalization of the indigenous peoples, who constitute half the population. This sense of irrelevance was reflected in the low level of citizen participation, particularly rural women, in the elections themselves.
I have sometimes been asked why an observation mission is required on other than election day. Being present on the day may be enough if the only purpose is to demonstrate moral support for a friendly country or to discourage repudiation of the results by the losing party. A fair election, however, demands more than unimpeded access to the polls. An electoral observations mission by the OAS or the United Nations should ideally involve sending a small group of observers in advance to monitor voter and political party registration, the appointment and training of poll officials, arrangements for the accreditation of scrutineers, the fairness of media coverage and the ability of political parties to hold meetings without harassment. The visible presence of observers can be helpful in this regard. Conversations with political parties at the local level can also serve to remind them of the importance of such matters as appointing scrutineers to polls and gathering and tabulating their own figures on election results. Additional observers can be brought in for the actual elections and a small number retained until the official tabulation of votes is completed unless the victory of one side is so clear that the other parties accept that they lost. It is also helpful if someone remains behind to follow up on complaints received on election day.
Observers do not supervise elections; that is the job of the local electoral authorities. They can act, however, as a conduit for complaints and their mere presence discourages excessive and visible partisanship by the local authorities. It follows that observers are more useful to the opposition parties than to the government. What the latter gains is international recognition for the legitimacy of the results. The authorities would not normally invite international observers unless they intended to hold fair and open elections.
The Job of an Observer The work of election observers on election day tends to be the same in any election. In advance, of course, they should master the local electoral law and procedures and pick up what information they can on local policitical mores so that as to know what to look for. They are usually instructed to watch the opening of a specific poll. They are expected to arrive before the poll officials so that they can view the whole process. They then visit other polls in the area assigned to them. If the number is too great, they should choose a representative selection to visit during the day. The OAS and the UN provide caps, arm bands and T-shirts to publicize the presence of the observers. This was helpful for me in South Africa, for example, where I discovered to my dismay that being fair skinned, over-weight and bald, I looked rather Atrikaans. Without my UN insignia this could have created some suspicion in the poor township areas where I had been assigned.
On the first two observations missions in Peru observers were not visibly identified because of the possible risk of attack from the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). Fortunately the terrorists did not target OAS observers, since I could not have passed unnoticed in Huánuco, being several inches taller than anybody else in this Andean city. They did, however, assassinate one municipal candidate who had been out shopping with his four year old son. I was taken to see the body still sprawled on the sidewalk twenty minutes after he had been killed.
Visits to polls should be long enough to observe the operation of each poll visited and allow electors or party representatives to register complaints. In Latin America voter lists are often drawn up by municipality so that fifty or more polls may be located in the same locale. In such a case, one often checks on a few polls only so that more territory can be covered during the day. The local co-ordinators of the political parties at locales can report any special problems. Usually forms are provided on which one records relevant information such as the number of poll officials, adequacy of supplies, party scrutineers present and, most important, irregularities observed or complaints received. The work must be carried out with discretion to avoid disrupting the polling process and irritating local authorities by appearing in some way to be usurping their authority. In general foreign observers are dependent on local sources to indicate where fraud may occur. The usual paranoia of election time, however, means that complaints must be assessed carefully and not taken at face value.
At the close of the day the observer either chooses a poll at random or goes to a designated poll to watch the counting of the ballots. Polls are sometimes assigned with a view to making a quick count. A representative selection of polls is chosen and each observer reports back as quickly as possible the results of the poll which he has been assigned. This enables the headquarters of the observation team to have an accurate idea of what the final result should be. This can discourage subsequent tampering with the returns and also is a persuasive indication of fraud if the final official results differ significantly from the quick count. The OAS and the UN informed Daniel Ortega the night of the election in Nicaragua that he had lost his bid to be re-elected as President. He accepted the verdict and, thus, avoided any over night pressure he might have otherwise faced from fellow Sandinistas to ignore the results.
Quick counts can only be carried out if there are sufficient observers to cover a reasonable cross section of polls. This is one of the advantages of having a UN or OAS team rather than simply an assortment of national delegations. I could note no appreciable difference in efficiency between the UN and OAS operations. Much depends on the mission leader. A certain degree of administrative inefficiency is to be expected since elections observation teams are set up anew for each election. In my experience the quality of the observers has generally been high. In the first OAS mission to Peru, those few observers who were more interested in having a good time then doing their job were sent home at once. The OAS has preferred to develop its own lists so that it can renominate observers who have peformed well on other missions. This runs against a Canadian desire to choose the Canadians who are sent on teams.
The Role of NGOs
Private organizations also observe elections. The Carter Centre and IFES (International Foundation for Electoral Systems) are notable examples. Private organizations can attempt to secure access to a country when no official invitation has been issued, thus, generating some international pressure for free and fair elections.
In addition, some non-partisan national NGOs have been created to observe elections. This is important in countries which lack confidence in the impartiality of the electoral authorities. Indeed, this can help the electoral authorities to resist government pressure to falsify the results. A national NGO can provide fuller coverage than is usually financially possible for an international team. Initially, however, an international electoral presence can be useful in protecting an NGO from harassment by their own government. For example, President Carter was able to make a strong public protest when the phones of the NGO in Paraguay were cut off by the state owned phone company on election day.
Separate national delegations are likely to be less efficient than a single international presence, but some co-ordination is possible as was done in Nigeria under the leadership of the British High Commissioner.
Sufficiently national coverage was achieved to show that the elections had been held fairly within the unfair guidelines established by the military government which had not only decreed that there would be only two parties, but had chosen their names and their platforms. There was no legitimate justification for suspending the elections when the results of all but one state had been tabulated. It irritates me when the press refers to Chief Abiola as ’widely thought to have won the elections’: there is no doubt that he won them.
In Cameroon, on the other hand, the reluctance of the French Ambassador to work with other diplomatic missions made co-operation more difficult. The Ambassador seemed anxious to whitewash a flawed process, while the French Consul-General in Douala, which I covered on election day, was equally anxious to discredit it. Cameroon was moving from a single to a multi-party system largely under the pressure of donor nations. Holding of Congressional elections was the first step.
In one-party elections voter turnout is encouraged and credentials of voters need not be scrutinized closely. One man complained bitterly to me on election day in that unlike the case in previous elections he had not been allowed to cast votes for his two wives, whom he had left at home but whose documents he had brought with him. When I suggested that this was a reasonable restriction and said that in Canada my wife did not always vote for the same party as myself, his contempt for such a wimp of a husband was palpable.
Speaking the Language
It is difficult for an observer to work effectively if he or she cannot communicate directly with the electorate. Wherever feasible, this should guide the selection of Canadian observers. It has certainly made an enormous difference to my effectiveness in Spanish speaking countries to be able to speak directly with officials, politicians, media representatives and electors. Conversely, I found myself seriously hampered in Eritrea working through an interpreter during the referendum on independence. He gave me the answers which he considered would reflect official policy. He grew annoyed when I attempted to repeat questions from one poll to the next on the grounds that he had already given me the answer, whereas my interest was s. Ute in comparing the information given ny, is by different polling officials. R; our I was chosen for Angola on the apparent grounds that Spanish was better than nothing. And indeed it was. I could read and understand the electoral material. I could not, however, understand enough of the local Portuguese to communicate with the people as could, for example, Guy Choquette who was also nominated as a UN observer. He was able to ask an illiterate lady the meaning of the Presidential election. She said that it was like choosing a husband; you examined the field and picked the best one available.
Fortunately, for the two election days I had with me a Sergeant Major from the Brazilian Military Police. He could understand my Spanish and I could understand his Portuguese when he spoke slowly. He would repeat for me in Brazilian Portuguese what the Angolans said to him in their Portuguese. Because of its colonial past the Angolans would have resented Portuguese observers and it would have been unwise of the UN to have sent any sizeable contingent of observers from Portugal. I could note a sea change in attitude by Angolan officials when they found that my Brazilian colleague was not Portuguese. Canada should have made more of an effort to find Portuguese speakers for both Angola and Mozambique.
The Count
When interest in elections is high voters often line up early and wait for hours, though if they were to vote in the afternoon or the second day in two day elections, they could do so in minutes. I asked one man in his seventies in South Africa whether he did not find it a burden to wait standing in the sun for so long. He replied that he had waited sixty years for this moment so that a few hours made no difference to him. I was naturally deeply moved by his answer. Perhaps, the delay added to his sense of fulfillment, even though he would have faced no line-up if he had voted the second day.
In South Africa the political scaffolding was in place. The pact between the ANC and the National Party and the willingness to make a place on the ballot at the last minute for the Inkhata Freedom party meant that it was not a winner take all situation. Despite major technical problems, the elections in South Africa were a success because the political groundwork had been laid.
Vote tabulation took longer than expected in South Africa, as it has in a number of other countries where I have been an observer. This caused public concern. It always does and, unlike South Africa, sometimes with reason. The presence of some observers until the end of the process helps reassure public opinion and discourages fraud. Some electoral missions on which I have served have neglected this aspect and have provided inadequate coverage of voter tabulation or have attempted to improvise at the last minute in the face of a mission budget already spent.
Computer tabulation presents a new challenge, since figures can be falsified. An observation mission should have at least one computer expert and opposition parties should know how the system works. Opposition parties, for example, should have access through the computer program to individual poll results and have the means of checking these against district results. In Cameroon one example of fraud came to light when there were two returns for the same poll. On investigation, it turned out that the poll had not functioned. Probably, different government officials had independently decided to take advantage of this opportunity. Opposition parties had the theoretical right to be represented at the polls and were represented at the district and national tabulation centers, but the government controlled the transmission of the information from the polls to the district levels. Moreover scrutineers were absent from many polls both because of poor organization by the opposition parties and government obstruction. Information on the location of the more than six hundred polls in the Yaoundé area was released at 6:00 p.m. on the evening before the election and some addresses were impossible to find.
A special twist in Peru is the fact that ballots are burnt at each poll after being counted. Nothing is available other than the document filled out at the end of the day by the poll officials. This represents a temptation for fraud, particulary in the preferential votes for members of Congress. Major fraud can be recognized since there is normal distribution of votes within polls in a given municipality, but local electoral commissions are reluctant to disallow a poll document in the absence of some other proof of wrong doing. A small international team can take an accurate reading as to whether Presidential elections were open and fair. It is more difficult to do so in the case of individual Congressional results. Any statement on open and fair elections should focus on overall national results and not attempt a seal of approval for individual results where the international presence was insufficient to provide reliable information.
My service as a electoral observer has reinforced my faith in the democratic process, even though elections are only one part, although an indispensable part, of what is required to build a state which respects the rights and promotes the interests of its citizens. International electoral observation plays a distinctly subsidiary role in this process but can, nonetheless, be of help to countries trying to consolidate a democratic structure.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1996) — Spring 1996 // Printemps 1996, pp. 29–32. Read the rest of this issue →
