The Question

Question posted on behalf of Philippa Neave, UNDP Tunisia

Is there a library of neutral symbols used for candidate identification on ballot papers?

Summary of Responses

In summary, there is no one comprehensive or internationally recognised library of neutral symbols. It is, however, pointed out that many national electoral management bodies (EMBs) keep their own library of neutral symbols for use by political parties and independent candidates, for example Nepal and India. Afghanistan’s election of 2005 is also cited as an example where a very large number of neutral symbols was used. It is recommended that the questioner contact EMBs individually and request a list of neutral symbols.

Several replies draw attention to the subjectivity of neutrality. What is considered neutral in one country or context may not be judged neutral in another.

There are conflicting opinions on whether it should be the role of EMBs or political parties/candidates to assign symbols, and who the best judge of their neutrality is. Tanzania is mentioned as a country where the EMB asks parties and candidates to supply their own symbols, but may ask for a new one if it judges a symbol to be unsuitable. One expert advocates a middle ground with an “EMB-political party-candidate forum that approves symbols.”

Another expert questions the assumption that there is a need at all for symbols at all, suggesting instead that neutrality could be achieved either with photographs of candidates or numerical indicators, stating that very few voters are innumerate. In reply to this, an objection is made to numerical indicators on the basis of voter illiteracy, with the belief that this may well be a hindrance to voters.

Examples of related ACE Articles and Resources

Encyclopaedia:
• Ballot Paper Design 
Material:
• Afghanistan: Joint Electoral Management Body update (2005)

External Resources
• Election Commission of India 
• Election Commission of Nepal 
• Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan 

Names of contributors
1. Ronan McDermott
2. Richard John
3. Parvinder Singh
4. Phiroshaw Camay
5. Carl Dundas
6. Bhojraj Pokharel
7. Shahid Iqbal
8. Ben Goldsmith
9. Amon Emmanuel Chaligha
10. Valery Shyrokov

It is likely that many EMBs have such a library. Where individuals who have assisted in the creation of same hold such resources (and I don't!!) permission would likely have to be sought from the EMB.

If you need to create your own, a good starting point is to secure a collection of monochrome clip-art. You can purchase CD-ROM or DVD full of clip art or access one of the many online sources.

It is desirable to provide electronic copies of assigned symbols to parties and candidates in good time so that they may include these in their campaign material. This has the added advantage that the symbol they use and the symbol on the ballot paper are identical.

Neutrality in symbols is highly subjective. I have worked in countries where apparantly neutral symbols have been assigned to parties or candidates only to be challenged later on. Sometimes it is other parties who challenge, sometimes its the parties or candidates themselves! It may be that each symbol must be approved by the commission or board of the elections management body. You would be wise to avoid asking parties or candidates to approve the symbols they are assigned! A compromise is to have an EMB-Political Party-Candidate forum that approves the symbols en mass, with specific assignments done by the EMB or on a random basis (lottery or computer assignment).

It is important also to be clear on intellectual property issues (i.e. copyright) - this is why royalty-free clip-art may be the way to go.

Before going into a complex system of symbols, the question has to be asked; How many candidates?  If it is only a few, then photographs can be used.  If it is a lot, then the next question to be asked is - why neutral symbols?

Why not a numerical indicator?  While there are many voters in developing countries are who are illiterate, very few are innumerate.  If there are many, many candidates, then the clarity of the symbol is lost as the font on the ballot becomes smaller, whereas the clarity of the number is retained - even in very small font.  Numbers can be allocated randomly, but you may wish to:

• Start with a 3 digit number
• Drop figures such numbers as; 100, 111, 500, 666 etc.

One EMB site you can visit is Indian Election Commission, they have vast number of neutral symbols on www.eci.nec.in.

Pictorial symbols are used generally for illiterate voters for whom the picture becomes an identity of a candidate. In India, generally in local elections the number of candidates are between 25-35, the size of the ballot paper is normally increased but the font of the pictorial symbols remain same even if there are 2 candidates or 20 candidates. The same can be followed in other countries with large proportion of illiterate voters and multiple candidates.

Posted on behalf of Phiroshaw Camay,Director Co-operative for Research and Education

Dear All,
I personally am not aware of such a library. If a library was established it would have to be :
1. Specific to the country.
2. Not cause offence to any group or section of the community.
3. It would have to be neutral e.g. flowers, trees or animals not religions symbols.
4. It should not incorporate Iconic symbols e.g. Gandhi in India or Mandela in South Africa.
5. It should not be patriotic symbols in the country e.g. flag or its colours or heraldic symbols or coat of arms.
6. The party name should also be free of bias e.g. Gay and Lesbian Party.
7. The common practice is to use the candidates picture which obviously advantages some and disadvantages others.

Hope this is helpful.

Regards,

Phiroshaw Camay

I do not know that there is any internationally recognized library of election symbols. However, many EMBs keep a library of symbols to be used by political parties and independent candidates. In some jurisdictions, established political parties usually apply for the same symbols so that they become closely associated with it, although they may have not entitlement thereto. Some jurisdictions exclude certain emotive symbols and so EMBs prefer to keep a list of neutral symbols.

I have not heard about a global library of such symbols however every EMB's have maintained their library. There are many sensitivities (social, cultural, religious, political, etc) to be taken care off while designing/assigning such symbol. These sensitivities might remain different on country context. I will suggest to request with the election commissions so that they could share their libraries. Most of the commissions have posted them in the web page also. In Nepal we had developed dozens of such symbols!

Regards,

Bhojraj Pokharel

During the 2005 Afghan National and Provincial Assembly Election a significant amount of work was put into developing a set of neutral symbols for candidates. Because of the electoral system and number of candidates being elected from each Province, the number of candidates running for election was very high. In fact in Kabul there were over 400 candidates. The only way that we could create enough neutral symbols for so many candidates was to have multiples of the same symbol, up to 3 - for example, three ducks, or two footballs. You could contact the Afghan Election Commission and ask for a copy of this set of symbols.

I would repeat the comment that a few others have made though, and that is that the definition of 'neutral' is very country specific. So some symbols that were not used in Afghanistan because they had some positive or negative connotations might be ok elsewhere, and also some of the symbols that were used in Afghanistan may not be seen as neutral elsewhere.

Regards,

Ben Goldsmith.

I do not believe it is expedient for EMBs to assign symbols to candidates. The practice in Tanzania is for the EMB to ask political parties and or candidates to supply their own symbols. However, where a symbol appears controversial or offensive (derogative) the candidate or their political party is asked to provide an alternative symbol. So far the practice has been for political parties to provide party symbols and party acronyms which they belive voters can easily identify.

Amon E Chaligha

Posted on behalf of Valery Shyrokov

Assigning symbols to running candidates, no matter how innocuous they appear to the authority assigning them, may open the Pandora's Box. Firstly, there is a risk that only a few candidates would instantly be satisfied with the choice made by somebody else even if the EMB conducts the random draw publicly. Secondly, the EMB may have a hard time convincing the losers accept the election results and make them believe their loosing is not attributable to their symbol. Thirdly, finally, how far can one’s imagination go being asked to invent symbols for a thousand running candidates?

Doing it the other way around may make more sense, i.e. let the running candidates come up with their symbols/emblems/totems, having set in advance a number of stringent technical criteria towards the submissions as well as deadlines. Surely, this will not work everywhere across the globe as it depends on the type of election and a number of country specific conditions, like infrastructure, communications, competence of EMB to manage the process, presence of EMB offices across the country etc. First and foremost, this would dissuade the losing candidates from rioting or litigating against their "a priori unlucky" symbols.

Assigning just numeric indicators to the contestants may have a deleterious effect in the illiterate environment especially during campaigning. Depends on the involvement of the international community in the process... However, if we are talking of the founding elections (e.g. first elections after a war, colonisation, long-time oppression etc) the levels of all sorts of manipulations would be considerably lower compared to the subsequent elections.

Printing candidate pictures on the ballot may not be a simple solution given the number of the running candidates (too small pictures, then too lengthy ballots require larger or greater number of ballot boxes, then logistics and election timeframes, etc) and the printing costs of the ballot. Candidate pictures may be B&W though. The number of conditionalities is infinite. More context (country, type of elections, number of candidates etc) would be welcome to give a more targeted response.