Decision-Making Options at National Level
It is necessary to determine the role envisioned for the national election management body
(EMB) by the constitution or the national election law. The law may well set out in detail the
role and responsibilities of the national body. Types of EMBs, their functions and cost
implications are considered in Regional and Local Election Bodies. It may be that the EMB's role is to deal with high-level
issues, while the regional body determines matters appropriate to its standing. Determination of
allegations of fraud, for example, could be dealt with by the national body, which received
information on the allegations from the regional body.
The responsibilities of the national body may include:
- registration of political parties and/or coalitions
- handling of all nomination issues for parliamentary and presidential elections
- hearing and determining complaints about appointments of individuals to serve on regional
election management bodies
- arranging training of national body members to ensure they fully understand their role and
powers
- organising training of the regional election bodies
- allocation of broadcasting time
- monitoring of broadcasting issues
- receiving results from regions and declaring final national results
- determining election disputes, complaints, and appeals at the national level
- hearing appeals and determining disputes on all matters referred from the regional level
- determining all allegations of fraud, corruption and other election offences referred from
the regional level or reported directly
- overseeing the production of the voters lists
- organising the secure production, storage, and distribution of ballots
- accreditation of national and international observers
Decision-Making Options at Regional Level
Again, it is necessary to determine what is envisioned in the election law or the constitution for
regional election bodies. Additionally, it is worth considering the following suggested
responsibilities:
- depository for nominations for onward transmission to the national election body
- hearing and determining complaints and appeals about appointments to local election
bodies
- organising training of local election bodies
- determining disputes, appeals and complaints appropriate to the region
- determining voters list appeals from the local level
- delineation of regional boundaries and determining objections
- receiving election results from the local election bodies and compiling final tally for region
for onwards transmission to the national body
- referring allegations of fraud, corruption, and other election offences to the national
level
Decision-Making Options at Local Level
The role envisioned by the constitution or election law could include such responsibilities as:
- receiving voters lists from authority responsible for compilation;
- conducting the poll on election day
- organising the counting of the votes and the transfer to the regional body of the details of the
final result
At the end of the day, it is possible to allocate different responsibilities for each of the election
management bodies. However, it needs to be made clear which body is responsible for each part
of the election process. The nomination process could easily be determined at the regional level,
for example. All training could be the responsibility of the national body or each level could
have the responsibility for their own training. There is no pat solution. The different
circumstances prevailing in the country will determine the makeup of the model.
