Non-partisanship is essential but difficult during such a partisan endeavour as an election. Those who choose the route of non-partisanship impose constraints on their behaviour.
The Importance of the Contest
In an election, there is a contest for power, and there are many organisations that provide both active and passive support for the candidates. They may do this through endorsements, donations and active campaigning. This is a natural part of the election campaign. Such involvement of a large number of people stimulates interest in an election and increases its visibility. This in turn creates voter motivation and increases the possibility of each voter receiving good information about the candidates.
In fact, a vital contest is a prerequisite for elections. It cannot be replaced by a neutral voter education or information programme. Those supporting elections and democracy need to increase their commitment to ensuring a fair, open, and free contest.
As a result of the hurly-burly aspects of some elections, candidates are likely to want to limit the information that any one voter receives, and where information is given, to slant it in ways that benefit the particular candidate. In situations where voters are shielded from all the candidates as a result of inequities in resources, or class, or geographic segregation, such information can remain biased and therefore not wholly accurate.
In situations where there is general access to information, it is difficult for candidates to develop a monopoly over communication with voters. Nevertheless, there is a role for a nonpartisan approach to voter education and information. This is clearly the position of an election authority that is interested in the election process and disinterested in the outcome. But it can also be the position of civil society organisations. Such non-partisanship enables these organisations to provide a service to all voters irrespective of their political persuasion.
Consequences of Nonpartisan Behaviour
Nonpartisanship during an election may well imply the need to remain silent on certain political issues that divide candidates and where taking a position may appear to favour one candidate over another. But it is unlikely to be accompanied by total neutrality on public issues during the election period. Nonpartisan organisations will take positions on matters that impact the election, such as the conduct of parties. But they will do that without fear or favour.
Nonpartisanship can be Difficult.
In some instances, organisations are forced to make political choices. So some decide to monitor elections rather than provide voter education. Others choose to educate and to attempt to stimulate those who have less constraint in making judgements on the elections. In coalitions, different members may in fact adopt different strategies. In a consortium, the likelihood is that there will be congruence among members. Those who choose to adopt a nonpartisan approach will ensure that they remain this way by:
- selecting and training staff who do not have a high political profile in their communities and who are able to project a nonpartisan approach no matter their personal inclinations,
- expressing themselves publicly only on matters of election process and not on matters that affect people's perception of one or other candidate,
- ensuring that their material does not favour one or another candidate by checking it out with them where possible, and;
- communicating regularly with decision makers in all the contesting parties about their programme and seeking feedback.
Additional Strategies
In some cases, voter education or special training programmes may create advisory boards comprising representatives of all the major contesting parties. Such bodies ensure that no one of them is favoured, and keep one another and the programme honest. Other programmes may affiliate directly to an election authority or seek registration. But finally, it is the integrity of the organisation in establishing nonpartisan and independent goals in support of the election, and their ability to remain true to these and to articulate them loudly and often, that ensure that the most important people - the voters - trust the voter education message.
