The Question

This question was posted on behalf of Jeff Fischer, member of the Practitioners' Network

What are the latest innovations in political party consultative mechanisms and codes of conduct? Have any new methods to obtain compliance and enforcement been explored?

Summary of responses
Examples of political party codes of conduct and how they work in practice are given from Nepal, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Liberia. Most of these countries are said to have legal provisions to comply parties to adhere to these codes of conduct.

In Nepal, there is an all-party forum where each party appoints a permanent representative to the Election Commission. In an attempt to encourage compliance with the code of conduct and provide accountability, the Election Commission may make public any breaches.

In an effort to improve compliance with the code of conduct in Ghana, all presidential candidates signed an additional declaration “against electoral violence, impunity and injustice” and facilitated by a National Peace Council, ahead of the election in December 2012.

In Tanzania, the code of conduct is underpinned by the possibility of fines for non-compliance and potential annulment of results by the High Court. Additionally, there are code of conduct committees from the local to the national level that monitor and mitigate any violations.

Examples of related ACE Articles and Resources
Encyclopaedia:
• Codes of Conduct 
• Political Parties Liaison Committee 

Names of contributors
1. Neel Kantha Uprety
2. Theophilus Dowetin
3. Liberata Irambona
4. Amon Emmanuel Chaligha
5. Wondmu Gebru
6. Veronica Munaj W. Snoh
7. Christine Ndayishimiye

We here in Nepal have been practicing a a system meeting the representative of all political parties  in a regular  fashion.  Bimonthly meeting to share the developments and reforms in the electoral reforms and any new changes occurring around the world. We ask the party to appoint a person  as permanent representative to the election commission from party's central committee level so that person understand the development and can keep track of  previous meetings. The code of conduct signed by parties to adhere the provision is a binding document and hence they need to be reminded in case of breaching. The EMBs can disclose for public scrutiny the breaches of the code of conduct  by political party so that the voter can finally evaluate their performance during voting time.  However monitoring of the code of conduct  of political parties has higher  importance during the election time. A committee for monitoring on  the compliances of code of conduct is constituted in order to oversee the conduct and  hold meetings in frequent interval.  

This reply is posted on behalf of Theophilus Dowetin, West Africa Programme Manager,
International IDEA
 

The political parties in Ghana sign a code of conduct before every election as an indication of their renewed commitment to the code. Over the years there has been a need to enhance compliance and enforcement of the code so recently the same parties signed another declaration which was facilitated by a National Peace Council, which is made up of prominent and well respected citizens of the land. All presidential candidates  signed the declaration on ‘taking a stand against electoral violence, impunity and injustice’.  Under the theme, ‘Promoting Peaceful Elections and Justice’, the concept of a national peace council is working to promote peace, national unity and stability during and after the December 7th polls.

It will be the first time a presidential candidate in Ghana has asked for the supreme court to over-turn election results and encouraging its supporters to be stay calm and not resort to violence. So it seems the National Peace Council working together with political parties may be an innovation in political party consultative mechanisms and codes of conduct.

/T.

In Rwanda we have a forum of all political parties. They have a code conduct and it is signed by members of that forum. During elections that forum of all political parties send the list of their observers and NEC accredited them. In partnership with Rwanda National Electoral Commission,the forum help in elections monitoring process. Therefore when there is for example some incidence,a meeting is hold and they evaluate the importance of that. We have evaluations with all our stakeholders after every election in order to improve our planning for the future elections.   

The forum mentioned also is very active in civic education related to election in partnership with NEC. They educate the members of all political parties in order to have free and fair elections. That forum has the responsibilities to follow up the respect of their not only the forum's code of conduct but also every political party's code of conduct. 

In Tanzania a code of conduct is negotiated between the National Electoral Commission, Political parties with full registration, and the government. After reaching consensus, the document is signed by all participants. The code of conduct has legal status and if one violates it, a fine can be imposed and if it is a serious offence then the High Court is mandated to annul the election results. Furthermore, there are code of conduct committees from the constituency up to the national level that can meet and mitigate any violations to the code of conduct.

Veronica Of Liberia

The NEC, definitely have a code of conduct for Political Parties before the general Elections with their (Political Parties) import as to what they are ready to abide by. and this must be follow to the fullest.

A Forum is organize for each and every member to make import to the code and they all pledge allegiance to up hold during it during the electoral period.

Dans mon pays le burundi, nous avons un forum permanent des partis politiques. Il se penche régulièrement sur toutes les questions concernant la vie des partis politiques en particulier et celle du pays en général. Dernièrement par exemple ce forum a analysé les lacunes se trouvant dans le code éléctoral et qui ont posé de sérieux problèmes de mise en application  à la commission éléctorale lors du dernier processus de 2010 et ce en vue de faire des propositions d'amendement de ce code au législateur. Cette démarche devrait permettre l'amélioration du processus de 2015. Le défi auquel se heurte ce forum est que les partis politiques d'opposition l'ont boycotté et ne participent jamais à ses activités alors que la démocratie s'en trouverait mieux si il était inclusif.

Concernant le code de conduite, lors du dernier processus de 2010, les partis politiques n'ont pas malheureusement pu s'entendre sur un code de conduite. Espérons qu"avec les prochaines échéances les partis politiques pourront s'entendre  sur un code de conduite rassurant pour tout le monde.