The Question

This question is posted by ACE on behalf of Practitioners' Network member Charles Obot.

Vote rigging has been the bane of general elections in many countries, especially developing nations. 

Firstly, at what points does rigging occur? 

Secondly, how can it be prevented or at least reduced to the barest minimum? 

Finally, what lessons are there for or what precautions should Nigeria take as she is preparing to hold general elections in February 2015?

 

Summary of Responses 

Practitioners' Network (PN) members addressed this three part question by referring to their knowledge of elections, personal experiences and international examples. A summary of the responses follows: 

 

1) Vote rigging defined :

• Vote rigging is one dimension of election irregularities. In its narrower aspects, vote rigging points to irregularities in the polling, counting, tallying and announcement of election results.
• Generally it includes fraud by multiple voting, voting by underage persons, adding ballots marked by persons who are not voting legally, interference with boxes, exclusion of valid ballots by counting officials, denying marginalised voters the right to vote, falsification of results sheet or deliberate fraud in tabulating results. 
• Intimidation, attacks on voters, intimidation of candidates, false closure of or information about polling centers etc., is not covered.

 

2) Occurrence points : 

• Vote rigging can occur at any stage of the electoral cycle. 
• In the pre-electoral stage some governments interfere with the planning process by:
• Deliberately underfunding activities like staff training and civil voter education that leads to an level playing field.
• Incumbent governments may interfere with the voter registration process by deliberately failing to fund it on time and/or by interfering with the procurement of appropriate systems.
• The election period is where the most visible vote rigging takes place. 
• During the vote, these include: impersonation, multiple voting, deliberate shortage of materials, closure before time, etc. 
• When calculating the vote: tally sheets are adulated, others are swapped, or excluded from the final tally by voiding good ballots on improper grounds. 

 

3) General suggestions for eliminating or reducing vote rigging to a minimum:

• The best way to prevent all forms of rigging, either at the polling station, during the count, or during aggregation, is to enhance transparency. 
• That may require legal or procedural reform, and can also require comprehensive deployment of non-partisan observers, or effective party monitoring.
• Have election management bodies that introduce mechanisms, which can be used as tools to undertake continuous monitoring of each electoral preparatory process.
• A new conscious approach to the prevention of irregularities has to be developed by EMBs. 
• Follow a design which provides conditions that facilitate and prevent fraud.
• Political good will is the key factor. Adequate funding, accurate voter registers, level playing field, appropriate legal frameworks and many other required solutions are possible if there is political will on the part of the incumbent and opposition parties. Nonetheless a competent EMB, and an appropriate legal framework are equally necessary. In the end, every stakeholder must play its mandated role efficiently and effectively, without favour or fear: the media, the judiciary, and civil society and security forces.

 

4) Recommendations of specific techniques that can be used:

• Have a good VR system and a strict, well-trained and observed VR process.  
• Biometrics can identify multiple applicants. 
• Be aware of some signs of ballot rigging that include:
• Suspicious fold marks.
• Ballots with marks apparently made repeatedly by the same hand
• Ballots that lie flat and piled within the box.
• The number of ballots in the box exceeds the number of ballots issued.
• A polling station having significantly more ballots than others in the same centre.
• Altered tally sheets can be prevented if the counting station head, in presence of the team, places a strip of clear adhesive tape over the totals column as soon as the sheet is completed.
• Tabulations should be done separately by two entry clerks, neither knowing who the other is.  
• Good training of staff, and the exclusion of the candidate’s families is essential.  
• Public information should state that fraud will be detected and those responsible punished.
• Allow Political parties to have minimum two agents at each station.
• Provide complaint forms which agents can fill to challenge the process.
• Let polling station chairperson sign, announce and post results in the polling station entrance for transparency, public audit and future references.
• Set up tracking mechanisms to reconcile forms from stations and final national tally figures.
• Ballot boxes must be tracked during transporting from one point to another.
• Make sure that ballot papers have security features and serial numbers.
• Vote counting must be done at the same place of voting, immediately after voting. 
• The tally sheet must be signed by all stakeholders and political party delegates must each have a copy of the election outcome. 
• Security must be present at all times in polling stations.
• Audit Results before declaration. 
• Empower the public to watch the process, by providing guidance and encouraging voters to photo polling station results and send those to a central location for aggregation.

 

5) What Nigeria can do:

• Vote rigging in Nigeria can be prevented through:
• Setting up PVT parallel vote tabulations to cross check results from INEC.
• Contesting parties who have a high regard for the rules of the election 'game' - therefore well-organized to observe the electoral environment and to respond appropriately to breeches of the electoral code of conduct.
• An Election Management Environment with key role players who have a track record of high integrity that draws confidence in their ability to maintain the integrity of the electoral process. 
• Electoral integrity must be prominent in the legal framework, parliamentary oversight and electoral management body. 
• An Organized Civil Society that acts independently, but in partnership with the above role players as observers and monitors to the whole electoral process.
• International partners on all levels supporting the process in a manner that makes for both robust comment on less-than-ideal practices, as well as giving due acknowledgement to progress made on the internal historical electoral development trajectory. 
• All of the above underscored by an active, engaged, informed and robust citizenry.

 

Contributing Members 

• Tim Meisburger
• Michael William Joseph Clegg
• Ernesto R. del Rosario
• Mulongo Dying
• Carl Dundas
• Gérard Le Marec
• Rafael Cano Sosa 
• Deyanira Galindo
• Fredy Martin Giraldo Rivera 
• Vincent A. VanBreda
• Francisco Barrera
• Hadija Miiro
• Alejandro Tullio
• Saeed M. Osman
• Peter Mac Manu
• Ababacar Fall
• Bucumi Julius

 

Contrary to popular belief, rigging usually does not take place at the polling station. It is most common in aggregation, where it requires only changing numbers on a form.

The best way to prevent all forms of rigging, either at the polling station, during the count, or during aggregation, is to enhance transparency. That may require legal or procedural reform, and can also require comprehensive deployment of non-partisan observers, or effective party monitoring. If the count occurs at the polling station, results can be collected and separately aggregated in a PVT, which will prevent, or at least reveal, malpractice in aggregation. If comprehensive observation is not available, consider empowering the public to watch the process, by providing guidance and encouraging voters to photo polling station results and send those to a central location for aggregation.

Hmm.. You don't have much time. Perhaps your best hope is my last suggestion above. Try to empower communities to guarantee their own elections. They, after all, have the most at stake.

Good luck! 

 

VOTE RIGGING

 

Rigging is a general term that usually includes fraud by multiple voting, voting by underage persons, adding ballots marked by persons who are not voting legally, interference with boxes, exclusion of valid ballots by counting officials, falsification of results sheet or deliberate fraud in tabulating results. 

 

Intimidation, attacks on voters, intimidation of candidates, false closure of or information about polling centres etc, is not covered.

 

Multiple voting and underage voting can be minimised by a good VR system and a strict, well-trained and observed VR process.  Biometrics can identify multiple applicants and is surprisingly effective in showing up those who appear to be clearly too young to be 18.

 

Ballots added outside official voting may

 

• not show fold marks – therefore put in when the ballot box lid is removed

• show marks apparently made repeatedly by the same hand

• lie flat and piled within the box, or

• cause the number to exceed the number of ballots issued.

 

If the result of one polling station is significantly different from the others in the same polling centre AND if voters were assigned randomly to PS queues, this may indicate fraud in the different one.

 

Counting officials may alone or under pressure of agents, void good ballots on improper grounds, such as a small accidental mark or a tick not fully in the box.  Training must ensure that counting staff resist pressure from agents and that minor technical errors in a case where the voter’s intent is still clear does not invalidate a ballot.

 

The results sheet (tally sheet) may be altered or falsified.  This can be prevented uf the counting station head, in presence of the team, places a strip of clear adhesive tape over the totals column as soon as the sheet is completed.

 

False addition in the tabulation centre is prevented by having all tabulations done separately by two entry clerks, neither knowing who the other is.  

 

Good preparation and training of staff, exclusion of candidate’s families is essential.  Public information should state that fraud will be detected and those responsible punished. The indicators mentioned above should NOT be publicised.

 

Mike Clegg

 

There must be a clarification on whether the question pertains to a manual election or an automated one or both.  There are a lot of differences between these two modes of election conduct.  Thank you.

Truquage ou gréement,

Pour prévenir les truquages il faut commencer à bien suivre l'élaboration du cadre légal et de là suivre toutes les autres étapes du processus électoral, particulièrement les moments clés notamment: l'enregistrement des électeurs, le recrutement et la formation des agents électoraux, le repérage des bureaux de vote et de dépouillement, la procédure d'affichage, de transmission et d'annonce des résultats et enfin la gestion du contentieux électoral. Il faudra donc déployer les témoins et les observateurs lors de l'enregistrement des électeurs mais aussi et surtout le jour de vote dans les bureaux de vote et de dépouillement ainsi que les lieux de compilation des résultats. L'éducation civique et électorale de la population est essentielle pour qu'elle s'approprie le processus. Bien évidemment le professionnalisme des administrateurs et des agents électoraux est aussi un gage des bonnes élections.

 

Dieudonné Mirimo

Vote rigging is one dimension of election irregularities. In its narrower aspects, vote rigging points to irregularities in the polling, counting, tallying and announcement of election results. In this context, vote rigging may encompass various mischiefs, such as multiple voting, ballot stuffing, snatching ballot boxes, impersonation (voting in deceased persons' names), under age voting, denying marginalised voters the right to vote, tampering with the uncounted ballots, and so forth.

The modern concept of combating election irregularities, including rigging of voting, is to prevent irregularities taking place at all. Thus, there is a strong onus on election management bodies to introduce mechanisms, which can be used as tools to undertake continuous monitoring of each electoral preparatory process. By this new emphasis on prevention of irregularities, particularly voting rigging, democratic elections, especially in emerging democracies, can be successfully combated and reduced to the irreducible minimum. It can be done, but a new conscious approach to the prevention of irregularities has to be developed by EMBs.    

In Nigeria, my experience as  LTO in Delta State for the first EU mission (years ago, but it should be at least the same) was a résumé of rigging and lessons can be learnt from. In our region the INEC stopped the election at 9h00 a.m. because of pressure from high level ; polling booths were mostly in streeet in open air, small polling boxes in glass (breakable) openened when the voter wanted to change his ballot; as I went to South we were told clearly that two parties had made the result the day before. In this area also the police as just the name.

The final report was : a first step toward democracy.

In some régions material didn't arrive.

 

Tomando en cuenta la proximidad de las elecciones y                que por tanto no hay oportunidad de hacer un proceso integral de rediseño del sistema electoral, la recomendación general que hacemos es formar un equipo experto en Organización y Método que lidere el proceso de controles que el actual sistema electoral permita para minimizar algún tipo de fraude.

 

 

 

En general, nuestra recomendación es aplicar técnicas de diseño de sistemas y aplicaciones informatizadas para un nuevo sistema electoral que tome en cuenta  son los elementos críticos para lograr un sistema electoral efectivo y confiable, sin perder de vista que algo como esto se hace y se mantiene a lo largo de tiempo haciéndoles ajustes a la realidad socio política cambiante, actualizando según la tecnología de sistema información lo permite y mejoras continuas de calidad.

 

 

 

Probablemente lo más sabio es hacer un plan que tenga como plazo  el mismo ciclo de elecciones generales, como guía para la implementación de la solución.

 

La mejor política para minimizar el fraude, es que el diseño prevea como impedir condiciones que facilitan el fraude.

 

Quien busca hacer fraude buscara los puntos más débiles del sistema para lograr fraude.

 

No necesariamente buscara un fraude general y definitivo en un solo punto.

 

Puede decidirse por fraudes menores en varios puntos del sistema y estos sumaran los resultados buscados en las elecciones

 

Considero que se han brindado ya respuestas muy buenas y oportunas. México padeció de ese tipo de fraude y, coincido con la primera respuesta: son muchos aspectos qué cuidar y no hay tiempo para desarrollarlas todas pues implican una reforma político electoral que, además, depende de la voluntad política de gobierno, legisladores y partidos políticos.

Es importante diferenciar qué puede hacer quién.

En este sentido, el organismo electoral (EMB) puede hacer reformas orientadas a: voto residencial, ligado a la cartografía electoral, donde los ciudadanos sólo votan en la casilla cercana a su domicilio. Padrón electoral biométrico y la correspondiente emisión de una identificación con fotografía para votar; listas de los electores en la casilla electoral donde aparezca la foto, nombre y datos del elector para corroborar con la identificación presentada. En la casilla electoral, sólo dar una boleta electoral por cada ciudadano.

Un elemento que puede hacer el organismo electoral (EMB) es una fuerte campaña informativa en medios masivos, alertando de este fraude pero, sobre todo, haciendo conciencia en los ciudadanos. En México algunos mensajes de estas campañas han sido: i) Si te dan dinero por el voto un partido, el voto es secreto y tú puedes votar por quien tú quieras; ii) Tu voto es la decisión de lo que consideras que es mejor para ti, tu familia y tu país; iii) si no votas, entonces cállate (es decir, no pueden opinar de bien o mal del gobierno porque no participaron); iv) generar conciencia de qué tipo de partido compra o manipula y, por lo tanto, cómo será ese gobierno y cómo les perjudicará a todos.

Por parte de partidos políticos y ciudadanos, pueden involucrarse en tener representantes en la casilla observando el proceso y el voto.

En México la desconfianza por ese tipo de fraude fue tan grande que, actualmente, los funcionarios de las casillas electorales son los mismos ciudadanos quienes revisan la información de los electores, entregan la boleta para la votación, cuentan y tabulan los votos, todo en presencia de representantes de partidos políticos y ciudadanos, registrados con antelación, que observan todo. En Rusia han puesto cámaras dentro de las casillas electorales.

Otro papel importante de partidos políticos y ciudadanos es que ellos mismos sean los que pongan vigilancia y control a los otros partidos mediante la denuncia, pero debe haber una instancia ante quién denunciar y que no corran riesgo los ciudadanos.

En Colombia la MOE, una ong de observación electoral, tiene un mecanismo por el cual se toma foto de una acción indebida, y hay una página web donde se sube y se delata a candidatos o partidos.

Otras soluciones han sido que ONGs o instituciones con prestigio (iglesias o instituciones académicas) convocan a los partidos políticos para que firmen acuerdos o pactos de conducta.

Espero esta información pueda contribuir y mucha suerte!!!

El fraude electoral puede ocurrir de diversas maneras:

Institucional, cuando las condiciones legales y estatales apuntan a un solo contrincante electoral

De Mesa, cuando por las distancias o practicas antiéticas de los partidos hacen que se cambien los votos en mesa

Tecnologico: ya sea por omisión cuando no hay un sistema debidamente validado para ello o cuando el sistema presenta fallas  concurrentes.

 No hay una medida única para prevenir el fraude electoral. Debe verse país por país, de su condiciones instituconales y su normativa electoral vigente.

 Nigeria debe de contar con un sistema institucional sólido y un esquema de computo de votos muy fuerte para que no exista fantasma de fraude.

I shall confine my comments to Nigeria specifically because to respond to the question in a general manner would open up (not now necessary) philosophical musings.

Vote rigging in Nigeria can be prevented through:

1. Contesting parties who have a high regard for the rules of the election 'game' - therefore well-organized to observe the electoral environment and to respond appropriately to breeches of the electoral code of conduct;

2. An Election Management Environment with key role players with a track record of high integrity that draws confidence in their ability to maintain the integrity of the electoral process. This includes a legal framework with electoral integrity, parliamentary oversight with electoral integrity and last but not least an electoral management body with integrity.

3. Organized Civil Society acting independently, but in partnership with the above role players as observers and monitors to the whole electoral process;

4. International partners on all levels supporting the process in a manner that makes for both robust comment on less than ideal practices as well as giving due acknowledgement to progress made on the internal historical electoral development trajectory. 

5. All of the above underscored by an active, engaged, informed and robust citizenry.

All the best with your endeavors over the coming weeks.

Donde y como se produce el fraude?, pues en cualquier momento y en cualquiera de las etapa del proceso electoral, ya en otros aportes se detallan el tipo particular de acción delictiva, pero en modo general, en temas tan sensible como; la inscripción de candidatos,  la selección de jueces (fiscales, jurados) de mesa , en la conformación del registro electoral (padrón electoral), en el momento de ejercer el derecho al voto, en las etapas de los escrutinios, en los sistemas de conteo rápido de resultado, en el momento de la divulgación de los datos electorales (cuando se publican oficialmente), en el momento de las demandas,  reclamaciones o impugnaciones de elecciones y en la restricción que se hacen a las personas que tienen acceso al voto, también en el diseño y entrega de los materiales electorales.

 

 Quienes los cometen?, algunos no todos,  los políticos, los encargados de la preparación del proceso, los empleados de organizaciones electorales, los que divulgan o presentan los resultados,  incluso las oficinas que atienden las reclamaciones o demandas por elecciones, en esto no se puede generalizar, pero en cualquier etapa del proceso se pueden encontrar manzanas podridas y casos particulares que hacen trampa al proceso, inclusive en las tercerías que hacen procesos electrónicos.

 

 Como disminuir el riesgo de fraude?. (Pues evitarlo al cien por ciento, no es tan fácil como se ve la problemática), se pueden disminuir los riesgos automatizando los proceso, incrementado las seguridades físicas y lógicas, capacitando a todos los actores, haciendo un monitoreo a los procesos y una auditoria en línea y manteniendo la trazabilidad de cada una de las acciones electorales. Principalmente teniendo clara las reglas de juego y la normatividad de cada paso de los procesos electorales, abriendo espacios para que los diferentes actores electorales denuncien las fallas, falencias o delitos electorales.

 

Definition of Vote Rigging

Literally I will define Vote Rigging, as the illegal interference with the process of an election.

Where does it take place:

At all stages of the electoral cycle- In the pre-electoral stage, some governments interfere with the planning process, deliberately underfund activities like staff training and civil voter education that would lead to an equal play ground, and restrict party registration. Incumbent governments also  interfere with the voter registration process. They may deliberately fail to fund it on time or interfere with the procurement of appropriate systems.

The most visible vote rigging takes place during the election period, when candidate nomination is stringent or restrictive, access to the official media is partisan, political financing is skewed in favor of the incumbent who also in many cases misappropriate government funds to support their personal or political campaigns. Impartial election administrators may allocate more polling stations in some areas than other, making polling more accessible in some areas than in others. Government instigated violence on election day may prevent some legitimate voters from reaching the polling site.

At the polling venue, the acts of vote rigging are endless. These include impersonation, multiple voting, deliberate shortage of materials, closure before time, etc. Although many election administrations now count ballots at the polling station, the candidate and the public have no way of verifying that the results declared at the PS is what is declared by the Elections Commission. Tally sheets are adulated,  other are swapped, or  excluded from the final tally. Many election administration have no mechanisms for resolving election disputes that arise on election day, commonly, many voters fail to find their names on the register, or do not vote due to shortage of materials.

In the post electoral period, parliaments deliberately do not pass the necessary reforms, lessons learned and corrections in boundaries and on the registers are deliberately ignored or delayed until the last minute or not done at all.

Who are the Agents of Rigging

These include Political Leadership especially the incumbents, Government Officials, Candidates and Candidates Agents, Election Administrators, Security Forces, the public and other stakeholders in the electoral processes (Civil Society Organizations, the Media, Judiciary, and providers of electoral assistance in some rare cases)

 How can it be prevented or at least reduced to the barest minimum

Political good will is the key factor. Adequate funding, accurate voter registers, level play ground, appropriate legal frameworks  and many other required solutions are possible if there is political will on the part of the incumbent and opposition parties. Nonetheless  a competent EMB, and an appropriate legal framework are equally necessary. In the end, every stakeholder must play its mandated role efficiently and effectively, without favor or fear: the media, the judiciary, civil society and security forces.

What Can Nigeria Do

Should strengthen its institutional capacity to conduct free and fair elections especially in electoral planning and scheduling of electoral events, giving sufficient time to procure and distribute election materials, improve security and strengthen other institutions that support the electoral process; civil society, the media, the judiciary and electoral complaints process. Nigeria should also solve the North- South Claim to the presidency, and timely make the necessary electoral reforms

Basicamente hay tres momentos en que se produce el fraude electoral propiamente dicho: durante la votación, permitiendo a personas que no deben votar hacerlo; durante el recuento, ya sea agregando/cambiando ballots o falseando resultados y durante el cómputo de resultados agregados. Reducir al mínimo la posibilidad de fraude requiere un sistema de documentación personal y de registro de electores seguro y aauditado; presencia de representantes de todas o varias fuerzas políticas antagónicas en la mesa durante la votación entrenados para  impedir la sustitución de identidades; presencia de representantes de las fuerzas políticas antagónicas entrenados para la calificación de los votos y su recuento; acceso de los partidos políticos a la programación del software de recuento y agregación de votos; auditorías independientes del sistema; participación de los partidos políticos en el cierre y bloqueo del programa mediante una firma electrónica; deposito del programa ante un órgano independiente para su eventual comparación con el programa efectivamente utilizado; y participación de los partidos políticos en la puesta en cero de los sistemas de carga de datos en el día de la elección.

Vote rigging can occur all the voting levels from voting, counting at polling stations, tallying at district or constituency level and final national tallying.

There is number of Procedural and Policy means of preventing vote rigging from the planning phase of electoral cycle to vote counting stage.

I think the following mechanism will prevent vote rigging.

1.       Make sure that all polling station staff has records to track if they make any vote rigging

2.       Allow Political parties to have minimum two agents each station

3.       Provide compliant forms which agents can fill to challenge the process

4.       Let polling station chairperson sign, announce and post results in the polling station entrance for transparency, public audit and future references.

5.       Provide copies of polling station results to political party agents and observers

6.       Set up tracking mechanisms to reconcile forms from stations and final national tally figures

7.       If there is enough network coverage in the country let polling station chairpersons send text message with  final results of their respective stations using pre-developed applications

8.       Let Political parties set their own tally center to receive results from their agents and if there is significant difference between what agents reported and final results, political parties can easily figure out the rigging votes.

9.       Cross check registered voters in each polling station and number of votes casted

10.   Check if the result forms are dully signed

11.   Make sure that ballot papers have security feature and serial numbers

12.   Ensure that all parties are dully signed hand over forms from National and Constituency warehouses, polling stations and returning officers

 

13.   Track ballot boxes during transporting to one point to another 

Points at which rigging occurs: -Use of defective/bloated register -Ineligible voters(under age,foreigners from border countries) -Intimidation/Treats of voters -Impersonation -Biometric verification manipulation/Card reader manipulation -Stuff ballot boxes,tempering with ballot boxes and papers -Vote buying near polling centres -Changing/Altering of polling unit results at collation centres -Non signature of results forms and collusion of electoral officers -Late opening of poll/early or late closing of polls and aftermath PREVENTION: -Well trained,vigilant,loyal political party agents, -Set up PVT parallel vote tabulation to cross check results from INEC -Be well conversant,well educated in electoral laws,rules and regulations on pre election(voter registration),elections(voting,counting,tabulation,collation ,transmission and declaration of results)and post election-audit. -INEC must employ people with integrity,fairness and impartiality-back room checks must be done. -Subject voters register and PVC acquisition to public scrutiny. PRECAUTION -Don't rush to announce results -Audit results as in South Africa before declaration -Centres must be open to public ,observers,and media during counting,collation and declaration of results.

le trucage électoral est une pratique qui existe dans beaucoup de pays qui n'ont pas un système électoral transparent. Pour éviter ce phénomène, il faut tout d'abord qu'il y'ait des structures de supervision et de contrôle en amont du travail effectué par l'administration électorale durant toutes les étapes du processus électoral ( Enregistrement des électeurs édition et distribution des cartes d'électeurs) ainsi que la mise à disposition des candidats de la liste des électeurs par bureau de vote. En outre la présence des représentants des candidats dans chaque bureau de vote jusqu'au moment du dépouillement à l'issue duquel un exemplaire du procès-verbal leur est remis est également un élément qui permet de rendre quasi impossible les trucages. L'existence d'un cadre légal et réglementaire en l'occurrence un code électoral consensuel est un élément de crédibilisation du vote. Aujourd'hui, la mise en place de missions d'observation à long terme et la mise en place de situation room qui permet de collecter des information en temps réel sur le déroulement du scrutin et de corriger en rapport avec l'administration électorale les dysfonctionnements éventuels sont autant d'éléments qui réduisent les trucages électoraux.

Dans mon pays, les représentants de candidats sont membres des commissions départementales de recensement des votes et de la commission nationale de recensement des votes ou ils ont accès à tous les procès-verbaux pour pouvoir le cas échéant y inscrire leurs observations.

Ababacar FALL

Expert Electoral

GRADEC - Dakar, Sénégal

To prevent Vote rigging, we have to start from the appointment of the EMB members. Like organising election is a whole process, you have to make sure that at all steps all election stakeholders are involved and the the process is transparent.

When in each service or in all election operations  all stalholders are involved especially political parties delegates.

In the process of appointment of EMB members, make sure that they have a good qualification, a good back groun(d'experience).

You have also let the political parties sent their representatives at their own choice. It is better that they give the ones they trust the most because when they will give repport, the later will not be rejected.

Never forget to take into account the gender balance and all criteria on which people are divided to avoid the discrimination in the composition of the EMB staff .

Make sure that you have many and various domesstic and international observers in time.

vote counting must take place at the same place of voting,  immedialtey after voting. The votes paper must be signed by all stakeholders, political parties delegates must have, each a copy of the election outcome and results must be repported by the media.

Watch out: media do not have to announce the election results at national level but only at polling station level.

Security must all be guanted  at all time at poling stations.

In these conditons, no one will dare to rigg elections.

 

Julius BUCUMI,

Legal and Appels Director at Burundi Revenue Authority