Invitations
The electoral law may give specific rights to observers subject to them notifying the appropriate
government department or electoral official so the invitation may not be a formal process.
Domestic observers may well be dealt with at a local as opposed to national level but in the
interests of consistency it is better for one national organisation to deal with accreditation or at
least set out the provisions for this which will apply nationally.
Invitations should include details of the elections or process concerned, the period during which
it is taking place, what arrangements the observers are expected to make in terms of
accommodation, travel and other domestic arrangements, what authority the observers have, the
accreditation and briefing process, who to contact at national and local level and what time is
available at national and local level for observers to ask questions. Clear setting of 'the rules' at
the outset avoids problems later.
There are fewer cases where a very high level of observers (for example several for each polling
site) visit a country for an election process and it is more common now to have smaller and more
sophisticated and focussed observation teams. There remain exceptions to the rule, such as at the
recent elections in Bosnia / Herzegovinia (1997) and South Africa and Mozambique in 1994 and
before that in Cambodia (1993). Election observation of the scale that occurred in Namibia
(1989) is very unusual now and arguably will not occur again. In the Namibia case observers (or
more accurately as far as the polling process was concerned monitors) were drawn from a
variety of backgrounds and nationalities and the number of observers was nearly equal to the
number of election officials with every aspect of the voting process being closely scrutinised.
The distinction between monitors and observers is a little academic - monitors more accurately
describes the role of many people in Namibia who were sited at one polling site and whose job
was to watch the process, or part of the process, in that one site for the days when the poll was
open.
Why are observers invited?
There can be several categories into which observers and observer activity can fall. They are:
- Where observers simply watch the process and report back to their own organisations as to
their views on the process.
- Where observers watch and report back and those organisations then either publish
generally or report to the electoral commission or others on their views on the process.
- Where observers are expected collectively to form a view on the freeness and fairness of the
election process and to basically decide whether to accredit those elections or not.
- Where observers are present more for the purposes of themselves learning about the
electoral process, than for accrediting it.
The decision to invite observers may be made entirely by the national government or electoral
commission through a wish to demonstrate both nationally and internationally that the elections
in that particular country stand up to independent and objective scrutiny in addition to the
scrutiny which is occurring within the country in which domestic observers can have an
important role.
There are also cases where external donors of foreign aid or other external sources supporting
activities within the country may make it a condition of further assistance that there is some form
of external observation of the democratic process.
Observers who are experienced can offer comments on how the electoral process might be
improved.
What is expected of observers
There needs to be a clear understanding on the part of those inviting or appointing the observers
and the observers themselves as to what is expected of them, whether it is to watch, to accredit,
to learn, to feedback privately or publicly, to mediate and where their duty of care lays.
Whilst in many cases one organisation will take the lead in organising the allocation of observers
and the tasks that they would look at, often a variety of organisations are involved and there is a
degree of 'competition' among those observers and also a degree of duplication. This may be
inevitable, but it is obviously frustrating for electoral officials and for the international
community as additional work is placed on hard pressed officials at a key time when they have to
accredit observers and answer their many and often similar questions. In appointing observers it
is important that there is a clear understanding of what is expected. Are they looking at the
technical process, i.e. the election procedures, the polling process, the count and the collation of
results, or are they looking at the wider overall democratic process involving issues such as
campaign funding, media coverage and generally social conditions within the country
concerned? The latter requires a much more extensive operation and more varied skills among
the observers. It also requires a different approach on the part of the election official because
observers will be looking at parts of the overall social picture which are usually beyond the remit
of the election official - access to the media for example.
There needs to be clear agreement with the government and electoral commission concerned as
to what facilities and powers election observers have. In some cases observers are there to
simply do that, i.e. they will watch the process and listen, but not question or take a pro-active
role in cases of complaint or where they consider there are breaches of the election law and / or
regulations.
The middle course for observers is that they have the ability to ask questions of electoral
commission officials or of voters or of others involved in the elections including candidates,
party officials and agents and the media but such questions are for the purpose only of gaining
information and the observers would not comment on whether they consider the practice
concerned is within or without the electoral law. It may well be relevant for observers to collect
information to give to the electoral commission, government, electoral officials or the
international communities of what they consider may or may not be occurring during the election
process. Observers may however get in difficult positions where they are perceived as having a
judicial position or arbitration role in dealing with election complaints. It is particularly
important to ensure that observers are clearly aware of the limits of their authority and what they
can and cannot properly pursue.
Comfort to Citizens
Another issue that can often justify the invitation of observers to what is almost certainly going
to be a well run election in any event, is the 'comfort' factor which is given to citizens of the
country concerned, particularly in the case where there may be criticism at the margins or from a
particular minority party or party candidate.
Observers Codes of Conduct
Following the 1995 Stockholm Conference 25 a draft Code of Conduct was prepared
which is probably the best available see Observer Code of Conduct - IDEA This gives guidance in important areas
such as whether observers should be involved in mediation - this is a key issue to determine
when observers are appointed - and also whether observers have a role in terms of issuing
guidance on interpretation of laws and regulations. The OSCE Election Observation Handbook
see Election Observation Handbook - OSCE has been updated on a number of occasions. The version reproduced is the 1997
one which benefits from many years of experience and reference to the sections on conditions
for invitation of observers, the observers code of conduct, the pre election phase and the post
election phase are particularly useful.
Observers Personal Standards
There are also important principles for observers themselves to have regard to when invitations
are submitted. For example conflicts of interest can arise from previous involvement in
commercial activities in the country concerned and health or language difficulties can greatly
reduce the ability of an observer to comment objectively.
The Observers Invitation
In summary the invitation from the 'host' country to other Governments or organisations should
make clear the rules and obligations of observers and the invitations from organisations to
individual observers need to convey the same information and set out what standards are
expected. The issue to every observer of an agreed code of conduct and terms of reference is
highly desirable.
Accreditation
It is essential that all observers to an election process are properly accredited. The accreditation
should be through the national electoral commission or government department involved with
the election and as a minimum it should deal with the issue to the observer of an identity
document. Accreditation of domestic observers can take place at local level. Where there are
large numbers of observers arising accreditation at the point of arrival has advantages as does
alternatively accrediting at the time of the first visit to the electoral office.
Dealing with the accreditation of a large number of observers who are not well organised can be
a time consuming and tiresome process for a national government or electoral commission and
for electoral officials.
The accreditation of observers also needs to reflect what is expected of them. Where observers
are dealing with the technical issues, they will be meeting mainly with electoral officials but
where they have a role in looking at campaign funding or the work of the parties or the role of
the media, they may need accreditation which makes clearer their particular skills and reasons for
being involved in the process as these may not be initially understood by people they are
approaching for views and information.
Briefing Observers
This may be carried out through the electoral commission or government department concerned
or through the appointing organisation. Ideally, both should be involved. It should be made
absolutely clear to the observer what is expected of him or her, what access they have to the
process, what protocol should be observed and what report is expected. A briefing to the
observers and the supply of an information pack will make matters significantly easier for the
observer and for everyone involved in the process. It may be desirable to involve party
representatives, the media, NGOs and others involved in the elections in this process. Observers
need to have reasonably comprehensive information about the country concerned and the
domestic, social and historic issues as well as about the election process.
Deployment of large observer groups
Although less common now, where large numbers of observers are being brought in for
particular elections, then it may be necessary for these to be organised in groups working
together and with structured programmes for the election period. There are advantages to this
process in terms of being able to deal with a large number of observers, but equally working
within such a programme may give the individual observer less scope.
Where observers are in large groups the appointment of a single liaison person to deal with
communications to and from electoral officials is helpfull to both sides.
For further information see Election Observation.
