Procedures for appointing EMB secretariats vary. In countries that use the Governmental or Mixed Model, elections are implemented by the executive through a ministry or local authorities. EMB secretariat staff are normally public servants, appointed by the executive through the same rules and regulations that apply to all public service appointments, and subject to public service policies on rotation, training and dismissal. There is commonly no mention in the electoral law of these issues.
Such public servants may be engaged in electoral administration full time, as in the Czech Republic, Greece, Morocco and Norway, or have other duties during electoral off seasons and only be engaged in electoral work during elections. They are then deployed or seconded to the electoral office to assist with various tasks, such as boundary delimitation, voter registration, voter education and information, political party and candidate registration, voting and counting. Ideally, such staff will have had previous relevant electoral experience, though turnover of personnel is likely to mean that this cannot be guaranteed. Similar arrangements are used in countries such as Bermuda, Cyprus and the Republic of Ireland.
In some countries that use the Independent Model, the EMB secretariat staff are directly appointed by the EMB under staffing structures and conditions that are determined by the EMB (as in Cambodia), while in other countries they are public servants and their salaries and conditions of service are linked to those of the public service. Even where secretariat staff are public servants, they may hold statutory appointments under electoral law.
External control of EMB staffing by a government department or body such as a Ministry of Administration (Indonesia) or a Public Service Commission (Nepal) can give rise to a range of challenges. The EMB may have little or no control over secretariat staff selection. Policies requiring rotation of staff at fixed intervals, or specifying limits on how long a public servant may remain at a senior level before compulsory retirement, may constrain the development of institutional capacity and memory—and in the most extreme cases could prevent senior staff from managing more than one election. Deadlines associated with such policies may well fail to take into account the electoral cycle, which could lead to the departure of key staff at critical times.
The extent to which an EMB is empowered to hire and fire its public servant staff can be an indication of its independence from the government. EMBs have this power in India, Mexico, South Africa and Uruguay. In other countries, such as Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, Tanzania and Yemen, the president appoints the head of the secretariat.
In Georgia, the EMB staff are all public servants. Except for the head of the secretariat, the staff of the Namibian EMB are also all public servants. The government approves the creation of EMB positions, and all EMB appointments are linked to public service salaries and conditions of service. The EMB determines the conditions of service for temporary election staff, such as polling station staff, but the treasury must first approve their remuneration.
In Canada and Kenya, the EMB’s returning officers (managers) at the electoral district level for national elections were, until comparatively recently, appointed by the government rather than the EMB. That practice was regarded as a weak link in electoral administration, since it had the potential to compromise the EMB’s overall authority in the conduct of elections, and to call the neutrality of the returning officers into question. For federal elections in Canada, returning officers have been appointed on merit by the chief electoral officer since 2007, while in Kenya such appointments have been made by the EMB since 2011.
Critical issues to consider when determining whether to use public servants as EMB secretariat staff are those of political neutrality and ‘job fit’ or skill levels. Public servants may be publicly regarded as associated with or easily influenced by the government—on which they depend for their appointment, promotions and salaries—which may jeopardize the EMB’s credibility. Strong independent EMBs under the Independent or Mixed Model can overcome this perception.
In many countries, public servants may not be highly trained or, because they only work infrequently on electoral matters or due to public service rotation policies, not technically skilled in electoral tasks. Blending skills that are available within the public service with outside appointments and the use of consultants or advisers can help raise skill levels. In a number of countries, including Indonesia, Tonga and Timor-Leste, the EMB has successfully employed or worked with consultants and/or contractors for voter information and information technology (IT) tasks, and transferred skills to the EMB’s public service staff.
