This question is posted by ACE on behalf of Thomas Cormier.

It has been reported that Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC) may enact regulations allowing candidates to campaign only in their respective constituencies, and not enable party leadership and others to campaign nationwide as in previous elections. These regulations may be implemented ahead of the 2014 by-elections.  

 

The question is: 

1) Would limitations on areas where parties can carry out campaign activities be in line with international conventions, practices, protocols and standards?

2) Are there similar regulations in place in other countries?

3) If election commissions in other countries have enforced similar campaigning regulations, how have they been justified? 

 

Country-specific legislation that outlines these restrictions will be appreciated. 

 

Summary of Responses

Practitioners’ Network members generally did not note similar instances of countries restricting candidates to solely campaigning in their constituencies, suggesting this form of regulation is uncommon. Moreover, a few members expressed hesitation over excessive restrictions on candidate mobility.

Members did suggest, though, that regulations on candidates during the campaigning period are common, and depending on the context, necessary to ensure a level playing field. In line with this, members mentioned regulations on: 1) the duration of the campaigning period 2) candidate behavior during the campaigning, and 3) candidate spending on campaigns.

However, several members also felt that excessive restrictions can be undemocratic and stifle political competition. For example, a member from Kenya expressed that restricting the movement of political parties during the campaign period would, in effect, give the incumbent an unfair advantage, as during their time in office they would have had access to areas of the country that other candidates are restricted from.

In Indonesia, a member added that public campaigning is extremely regulated to mitigate violence between political parties, and although candidates are not restricted to their constituencies, the election commission restricts the locations and timings of campaigns. For instance, in the three-week period allocated for campaigning, the election commission assigns parties days and times during which they may campaign in specific areas.  In the member's view however, the volume of restrictions has unfortunately led to a decline in the number of parties contesting elections, making political campaigns less responsive and less flexible in their strategies and messaging.

Finally, a member from International IDEA added that while some regulations may act to ensure a level playing field, in countries where British-derived election laws established first past the post systems, the frameworks may not have foreseen the rise of nationally representative parties, assuming candidates would only campaign at the constituency level. Supporting this, the member suggested looking at the electoral legal frameworks for Malaysia, and the Maldives (during the rule of President Ibrahim Nasir from 1969-1978). Finally, suggesting that many countries regulate candidate campaigning, the member shared legal frameworks governing campaigning in the following countries:

• Bangladesh (Code of Conduct 1996)
• Cambodia (Law on Election Members of the National Assembly, as amended up to 2013)
• Malaysia (Election Offenses Act 1954)
• Maldives (Law on Parliamentary Elections 1999)
• Pakistan (Representation of the People Act 1976)
• Sierra Leone (Public Elections Act 2012)

 

Contributing Members

• Sadou Lady Bawa
• Paul Rowland
• Ngondo Ndjondo Abbel
• Norbert Masson
• Amin S. Wasike Yusuf
• Andrew Ellis
• Andrew Ellis
• José Sempere Campello

Au Cameroun les élections sont régies par la constitution et la loi numéro 2012/001 du 19 avril 2012 portant code électoral, modifiée et complétée par la loi numéro 2012/017 du 21 décembre 2012.

La circonscription électorale pour les élections présidentielles est nationale. Aussi, les candidats peuvent faire la campagne électorale sur toute l’étendue du territoire national.

S'agissant des élections des députes a l'assemblée nationale la circonscription électorale est départementale (article 149  al 1 du code électoral). Toutefois, compte tenu de leur situation particulière certaines circonscriptions peuvent faire l'objet d'un découpage spécial par le Président de la République (article 149 al. 2 du code électoral) Il existe 52 départements au Cameroun.

Pour ce qui est des élections municipales la circonscription électorale est la commune(article 171 al. 2 du code électoral). Le Cameroun dispose de 360 communes.

Concernant les élections sénatoriales chaque région constitue la circonscription électorale (article 217 al.1 du code électoral). Le Cameroun compte 10 régions. 

 Les conseillers régionaux sont élus par département (article 247 al.1 du code électoral). Toutefois, en raison de leur situation particulière certaines circonscriptions peuvent faire l'objet d'un regroupement ou d'un découpage spécial par décret du Président de la République (article 247 al.2

La campagne électorale s'effectue pour chaque type d'élection dans la circonscription concernée. Un candidat dans une circonscription A ne peut pas aller faire campagne dans une circonscription B. D'ailleurs les bulletins de campagne sont produits par partis et candidats pour chaque circonscription. Il en est ainsi des bulletins de vote.

La campagne électorale en matière de référendum  est prévue à l'article 202 al.1 du code électoral qui dispose que'' Peuvent être autorisés, sur leur demande, à participer à la campagne organisée en vue du référendum :

- les partis politiques représentés à l'Assemblée Nationale et/ou au Sénat ;

- les partis politiques ayant obtenu au moins 5% des suffrages exprimés dans au moins une circonscription au cours de la dernière élection des députés et/ou des sénateurs.

A la lumière de ce qui précède je peux affirmer que circonscrire la campagne électorale dans une circonscription électorale ne peut constituer une violation du droit électoral. Je trouve logique qu'un député camerounais qui est un représentant de la Nation soit élue dans sa circonscription de base et qu'il y batte campagne car c'est d'abord les intérêts de ces populations qu'il doit défendre à l'Assemblée. La même réflexion est valable pour les Maires.  

La durée de la campagne électorale  est de 15 jours pour l'élection du Président de la République, des Députés à l'Assemblée Nationale,des Conseillers Municipaux, des conseillers régionaux et le référendum. Il est à noter que les partis politiques trouvent ce délai très court.

Au Cameroun la Commission Electorale ne légifère pas. C'est l'Assemblée Nationale qui adopte les lois et le Président de la République les promulgue. 

Enfin il faut relever qu'une commission électorale au-delà de l'organisation des élections doit se préoccuper de la préservation de la paix.

In Indonesia, there are many regulations on where and when campaigning can happen. 1. The official campaign period is three weeks for the legislative elections. 2. "Public campaigning" activities such as rallies or parades are highly regulated. Parties are assigned days and times when they can campaign in a given area. The assignments are made by the Election Commission (KPU). The idea is to prevent violent conflicts between the members of competing parties. 3. During the legislative elections, only political parties are allowed to advertise on tv and on billboards. While Indonesia has an open list proportional representation system, candidtates are forbidden from using those two forms of advertising in order to keep costs down. 4. The number of parties contesting elections has shrunk dramatically due to stringent requirements parties need to meet in order to qualify for the elections. Ostensibly created to ensure that political parties are truly national, the effect is to reduce the number of participants due to the enormous infrastructure cost of running a political party. Indonesia does not place restrictions on where candidates can campaign except in the manner listed above. In my view, most of the campaigning restrictions are archaic except the restrictions on advertising. Political finance is the most corrosive element in Indonesia's democracy. The campaigning restrictions only serve to stunt the campaigns and make them less flexible snd responsive. The restrictions that Myanmar is considering sound excessive.

I am not aware of something similar to this for example, in SADC Region. In Mozambique, political parties and candidates are free to work national wide, depending on the capacity and skills. A country putting in place such restrictions is truly undemocratic, national forces – political, civil society organizations, faith based organizations, need to come strongly and combat this unjust measure

En République Démocratique du Congo, les élections sont régies par la constitution et par la loi électorale.

le candidat président de la République a comme circonscription l’étendue nationale, le député national a comme circonscription le territoire tout comme le député provincial, le sénateur est élu au second degré. le conseiller municipal ou de secteur a comme circonscription le groupement ou le quartier. 

En République Démocratique du Congo, le législateur limite la circonscription pour permettre au candidat à tout le niveau de battre leur campagne au sein de leur circonscription car qui dit campagne dit l'argent, et que les électeurs  ne sont identifiés que par circonscription. Quand on bat campagne, un défend un programme de société, quand un candidat chef de l'Etat bat compagne, le fera au niveau national qui est sa circonscription et ainsi de suite pour chaque niveau d'élection  

Donc, comme le candidat a une limite de circonscription, est aussi limité de campagne car inutile de battre campagne en dehors de sa circonscription pour n'avoir pas d'électeurs par ricochet, n'être pas élu là.

In modern day politics, elections are contested between political parties as opposed to individual candidates.  Political parties focus on all constituencies across the board in what may be described as a blanket approach as opposed to individual candidates who are components of the party and who would concentrate on their own constituency.

On this basis therefore there can be no objection to candidates for any party supporting their candidates in another or all the constituencies in which the election is being contested, in addition to their own constituencies.

 

In Trinidad and Tobago there is no legislation preventing candidates from campaigning in constituencies other than their own.

In Kenya, presidential candidates and their campaign teams are allowed to traverse the whole country campaigning. The essence of any campaign is to market your candidacy to electorates by sharing with them your manifesto. Some voters insists that they can only vote for candidates who reached out to them and shared his/her manifesto with them. Since, in a presidential election the candidates are looking for support from all the constituencies in the country, there is nothing wrong even if they went round selling themselves. Enacting laws to limit their movement will disadvantage them, but give more advantage to the incumbent who could have visited all corners of the country while exercising his/her executive duties.

On the other hand, i see nothing wrong if such laws can be enacted to prevent candidates participating in local elections from going into electoral districts where voters entitled to vote for them cannot be found or are very few. This often causes confusion to illiterate voters. They end up not knowing who is who and who is vying for what.

In a system where parties are recognised (and registered) as national level entities putting forward visions, programmes and leaders for the whole country, it would appear wrong in principle to prohibit national level campaigning, although entirely valid to regulate it.  In the Myanmar context, it’s worth noting that much electoral legislation and regulation around the world relating to single member constituencies using first past the post electoral systems is derived from UK or UK colonial traditions.  Historically, UK elections were contested at constituency level, and the historic assumption in British derived election law was that all campaigning related to the individual constituency.  For a long time the costs and conduct of national campaigns were unregulated, which became a major weakness in the electoral framework of the UK itself as the role of national parties and campaigns became preeminent.

 

While this assumption that campaigning will take place in an individual constituency has in most countries been implicit, there are however examples where the right of candidates to campaign has been linked to a particular constituency: see the attached legislation from Malaysia and from the authoritarian era in the Maldives.  However, it is not clear whether this was intended as a specific restriction or was merely drafted as it is because it was not obvious why a candidate would want to campaign elsewhere.  Even in these cases, the validity of campaigning outside the constituency is not specifically denied, and would depend on the principles of interpretation of statutes applied in each particular jurisdiction.

 

A great deal of campaign regulation relates either to issues related to spending on electoral campaigns or to ethics and conduct of electoral participants.  Regulation in both these areas is acceptable in principle and may indeed be an essential part of a framework designed to promote a level playing field for electoral participants.  There are many examples around the world, of which the attached extracts from the electoral law of Sierra Leone and from the Bangladesh code of conduct are examples.

 

What is a reasonable length campaign period?  There is no specific limit below which there is not enough time for electoral participants to present their case adequately.  However, both Malaysia (which is I think able to set polling in a General Election 11 days after calling it) and Singapore (which provides for a minimum of 9 days and a maximum of 8 weeks, and has used the minimum provision on at least one occasion) have been criticised on occasion for not providing enough time for the campaign.  The longer timetables used for example by Pakistan and by Cambodia do not give rise to controversy in this area.  The borderline is clearly less than three months, though; I would hazard two to three weeks as a rule of thumb working minimum.

 

Attached are some extracts from legislation and regulations.  Note that they are not all designed to illustrate good practice and that in some cases they may not represent the latest current framework.

This question is posted by ACE on behalf of José Sempere Campello.

 

Dear Mr. Thomas Cormier,

Thank you for your e.mail, received on the 11th of april.

With regard to the first of the two questions you proposed on your mail, I should remark that in Spain the General Electoral Act (passed in 1985), states that the campaign takes 15 days long, and finishes the day before the ballot at 00,00 A.M.

At first sight it seems a short time, however the democracy is consolidated in Spain and campaign constitutes just a guarantee for parties and candidates for free use of public buildings an spaces and for divulging their programs, since the parties have freedom of speech and in fact they can keep in contact with voters and the mass media all year round.

The campaign it's also a period where the Electoral Commission, (We name it Junta Electoral), control the big parties, specially the party in the government, to guarantee equal conditions.

We can not compare this situation with Myanmar, where democracy and freedoms are far from being stabilized, and I would not support a measure like shortening the campaign in Myanmar, because that implies cutting down the opportunities of the opposition parties.

With reference to the second question, in our country there are no rules which stipulates that candidates can only campaign in their constituencies, and at usual all party leathers run in the capital constituency and they toured all over Spain when they are on campaign. That must be considered an unbearable restriction to the freedom of movement of candidates.

Best regards.

PEPE SEMPERE CAMPELLO

Santa Pola

 

SPAIN