- New technologies and demands for high integrity and widely accessible elections are placing new demands on election funding and reliance on donor funding in some emerging democracies. EMB funding needs vary significantly between years, requiring accurate budget estimations based on resource needs for planned strategic outcomes.
– The UNDP- and IFES-sponsored CORE Project divides electoral costs into three categories:
- core (direct) costs: ‘normal’ directly attributable electoral costs;
- diffuse (indirect) costs: support costs hidden in budgets of organi- zations other than the EMB; and
- integrity costs: additional costs required to secure the integrity of fragile electoral processes.
- Election costs are measured with different levels of comprehensiveness and under different circumstances in various countries, making cost-effectiveness comparisons difficult.
- State budget funding for elections may be from a single source or multiple sources or proposed by the EMB. Funding must in most cases be approved by the legislature and disbursed to the EMB through a government ministry, though this may affect perceptions of the EMB’s ability to act independently and in a timely manner.
- Especially in emerging democracies, a large proportion of electoral funding may come from donor agencies. While donor assistance can have a positive impact on election technical standards and integrity, it needs to be carefully targeted at the EMB’s priorities, coordinated between donors and the receiving country, promote sustainability rather than donor dependence, and be subject to appropriate controls to allow the EMB to effectively use the funds.
- EMBs variously use baseline budgeting (based on historic funds allocations) or zero-based budgeting (based on future activity required to meet strategic objectives) to create electoral budgets. Zero-based budgeting may initially require more skill and effort, but it more effectively allocates resources and more accountably ties EMB activities and performance to its strategic plan outcomes.
- An EMB that controls its own expenditure processes and cash flows is more credibly independent and may be better able to disburse electoral funds in a timely manner. However, it requires sufficiently rigorous controls on expenditure and payments to prevent error and fraud.
- In some complex purchasing environments, it may be preferable for the EMB to use a public sector-wide procurement agency. In most cases, however, the EMB can better meet the tight deadlines for electoral procurement by managing its purchasing independently, provided it has sufficient resources, skills and internal controls to ensure integrity and value for money in procurement. Necessary controls include enforceable conflict of interest polices and codes of conduct, and measures to ensure that purchases are not vendor driven.
- EMBs need to institute graduated levels of financial controls, such as diffused approvals of procurement and disbursements, work unit and EMB-wide internal financial monitoring, and regular internal and external financial audits.
- EMBs hold public assets and are accountable for their use, safekeeping, and appropriate archiving or disposal at the end of their useful life. Professional asset management systems— including regularly checked asset registers — are necessary.
- The financial management of EMBs must be in accordance with the principles of transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, integrity and sustainability.
