There are several problems with election finance in Nicaragua. One is that, in general, elections are an operation too expansive both for international and in local standards. (…) On the other hand, the electoral authorities have tended to spend money on processes that have made the system unnecessarily complicated. The combination of significant foreign aid flows and incompetent electoral administration has created inefficiencies that should be avoided. The empirical evidence of the 2001 elections points to a conclusion that in many aspects the system might have worked better if less money had been allocated to complicated technical innovations.

In order to overcome certain problems inherent in the current “tricephalia”, a renewed or amended constitutional framework should reconsider the relationship between the three electoral organisms introduced in the constitution of 1993. It seems advisable to re-institute JNE in the position of pre-eminent autonomy it held before 1993.

The existing stringent and limiting requirements for the registration of party candidates for congress should be re-considered, in the sense of opening the system to wider participation. This ought to include a more extensive admission of candidates’ presentations in native languages.

In the absence of such major amendments, it should at least be considered, for future elections, to abandon the design of a unitary ballot sheet, in order to avoid the delays in the counting process which have affected the pronouncement of official results for the presidential vote. This would also re-open the possibility of providing temporary/mobile polling stations (for “traseuntos”).

Current provisions limiting the capacity assigned to each polling board (mesa) of 200, max. 300 voters seems inadequate. More flexibility is advisable, since polling boards in highly urbanised areas could easily accommodate up to 700 voters each, while smaller-sized arrangements could continue to be applicable to outlying regions. Under the present set-up, the 92.000 PHVDV country-wide have required the recruitment of a mesa-staff of roughly 550.000 persons, with the ensuing difficulties to find enough people able and willing to take over these functions. Two complementary measures might alleviate the situation: A concentration of urban area polling boards could reduce the number of qualified mesa- staff required; and offering higher per diem allowances for polling board staff, matched by reducing or relinquishing the fines in case
of default (currently ca. US-$ 35) might then provide incentives for prospective mesa- staff members to feel more deeply identified with the civic obligation of serving on polling boards.

A future statute for political parties ought to include regulations covering the accounting for party finance and campaign expenses, providing for the necessary sanctions in cases of noncompliance.

Equally open to more stringent regulation is the field of indirect “vote buying” by party candidates – particularly in the campaign for the congressional election – canvassing for
votes by distributing meal tickets or food supplies etc. to entire village populations. Under present rules, only the use of public funds for such ventures is forbidden and sanctioned, while the use of private riches for such purposes is considered permissible.

The role of the Peruvian forces of public order and defence is obviously in a process of becoming a more and more integral part of the democratic society. As this transformation proceeds, normalisation in civic-military relations could only positively be affected by a revision of the entrenched principle of non-participation. An amendment in this sense is therefore strongly commended.

A simplification of voter registration procedures could be recommended. The secrecy of the vote could and should also be increased by a reform of the voting procedures. The voting process could be accelerated by distributing all ballot papers to the voter at the same time. Transparency of the process could be easily increased. A reasonable timing is needed to announce the election date in order to allow a better planning of the activities (the delay in the announcement of election date made it difficult to plan and implement some of the programmes with time-effectiveness). The law should also provide for free access to the public media for the contesting Parties and Candidates, and for an observation free of charge. In addition, party funding need to be fully and efficiently regulated. Finally, attention should be paid to the setting up of an effective electoral disputes resolution system.

In any case, two activities should clearly be dealt with separately : direct public awareness on election and support to NGOs to conduct civic education activities. The ECZ should not be involved in the second one.

We would also recommend the ECZ to consider creating a mechanism aimed at finding solutions to issues related to the conduct of the electoral process in cooperation with political parties and civil society organisations.

The question of issuance of National Registration cards (identity cards) has to be tackled seriously. A consistent plan should be proposed to bring about an adequate and final solution to the problem in providing a full support to the Department of National Registration. The Department of National Registration still seems to be under-equipped and to suffer from a lack of methodology and management capacity. Some kind of technical assistance to be provided to this office should be proposed and discussed.

The fight against voter apathy is obviously still a challenge and has to be tackled.

More professionalism is required in order to achieve a higher degree of impartiality. Capacity building is still needed to achieve more efficiency. A better co-ordination is also needed within the donors.

After the election, the unequal access to the media was still identified and assessed by the observation mission as a flaw contributing to the creation of an unlevelled playing field. This issue deserves more attention. In particular, open political debates should be promoted and accepted.

An independent Election Commission should be established to carry out all necessary preparation for elections, including the delimitation of constituencies, with power in the areas of campaign finances, access to the media and other aspects related to campaigning. It should consider involving the political parties in the administration of the electoral process in order to increase confidence in and the transparency of the process.

A Code of Conduct for election campaigning should be established providing for sanctions for breach of it.

The Parliamentary Elections Act should be reviewed in light of the experience of the election.

The sole power of the Election Commissioner to grant or refuse the registration of a political party should be reviewed.

In the absence of voter identification procedures, the little finger of those who had voted was marked with indelible ink so as to prevent second or multiple voting. Indelible
ink that really is indelible must be available in all polling stations to ensure the effectiveness of this stratagem.

Arrangements should be made by law to allow domestic observers to be present in polling stations and at the count

Complaints to the Police arising out of an election should be uniformly referred to the prosecution service after investigation. Complaints not so referred should be recorded
giving the reason for not referring and these records should be available to the Election Commission.

The feasibility of starting the count when the first box arrives rather than waiting for all boxes to come in should be examined.

Training of presiding officers for the completion of forms and counting was seen as requiring substantial improvement. It was also noted that many procedures were not properly followed. For instance, voters’ fingers were not checked for ink; voters without certificate of registration were denied the right to vote, contrary to the regulations; the secrecy of the vote was not ensured because of inadequate placing of the polling booth; campaign material was visible in the vicinity of polling stations; family voting and intimidation were observed in or around polling stations; people queuing at 4pm were not allowed to vote; results were not displayed to the public; etc. While these aspects are marginal on the whole, they could be improved for future elections

It is imperative that the government moves swiftly to re-establish the rule of law and allow the police and prosecution services to act against those who have been involved in or encouraged political violence or other human rights abuses. The government must also respect previous decisions of the Supreme Court which it has hitherto ignored