Electoral
processes are supposed to offer a level playing field on which the quality of parties’
electoral manifesto will determine their chances of success. In reality,
election campaigning and party actions can go beyond political rhetoric. In
some contexts, political actors resort to different forms of psychological and
physical violence in order to try and ensure that their electoral success is
secured prior to election day. Such actions mostly take place during the
electoral campaign period. They involve aggressive party activists, recruited
thugs or members of party militias who commit acts of harassment, intimidation,
assaults, violence against women and girls, destruction of property, political
assassinations and other unlawful acts. Actions are directed against political
opponents, their supporters, journalists and others. These scenarios are
particularly dangerous as a single provocative or violent action may trigger
responses and thereby kick-start a vicious circle.
Empirical cases:
• Guatemala
presidential and legislative elections 2011. The run-up to the election was
marked by violent acts committed by political parties and their supporters,
with more than 20 election-related deaths reported.[1] In February 2011 a mayoral
candidate for the National Union for Hope-Grand National Alliance (UNE-GANA)
was assassinated in a restaurant. Another, similar murder involved an UNE-GANA
mayoral candidate’s son, who was killed in February 2011. There were claims
that a politician from the oppositional party Patriot Party (PP) was involved
in plotting the murder.[2]
Interrelated factors: presence of non-state armed actors
(external); presence of organized crime (external);[3]
problematic voter registration (internal).[4]
·
Nepal Constituent Assembly Election, 2013. Elections for a new constituent assembly were initiated in Nepal
after the May 2012 dissolution of the first assembly, which had failed to agree
on a new constitution. A coalition of 33 parties opposed to the election
engaged in a range of protest actions, including the destruction of voter
registration material, burning copies of the election code of conduct,
destruction of campaign material and obstruction of political campaigning-[5]
The ad hoc coalition then initiated a
transport strike during the week before the election, with the aim of blocking
voters from travelling to their home villages to vote. Vehicles that did not
respect the strike were allegedly attacked and set on fire with petrol bombs.
The attacks injured many and killed one truck driver.[6]
Violence culminated on Election Day, when a bomb explosion in a Kathmandu polling
station was reported. A
splinter group from the Nepal Communist Party (CPN), the CPN Revolutionary–Maoist,
claimed responsibility for these explosions. Despite these events, voter
turnout was high. [7]
Interrelated
factors: Poor socio-economic conditions (external); Grievances relating to
genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes (external); Conflict related to changing power dynamics (external).
