Third Virtual Seminar - 21 July 2022

The third virtual seminar on managing elections during a pandemic took place on Thursday 21 July 2022. Presentations were made by the following speakers:

​

• Mr. Rajiv Kumar, Hon'ble Chief Election Commissioner of India

• YBRS Dr Mohd Faisal Syam Bin Abdol Hazis Election Commissioner, Election Commission of Malaysia

• Mr Tom Rogers, Electoral Commissioner, Australian Electoral Commission

• Mr. Shahid Iqbal, Additional Director General (Elections-II)

• Ms Jean Mensa, Chairperson, Electoral Commission Ghana.

 

Presentations can be found here: Australia  Malaysia  India

 

Mr. Rajiv Kumar's presentation can also be viewed here:  https://youtu.be/hUpDJS0vd4M

 

Summary

 

It is evident that electoral management bodies have faced, and continue to face, extraordinary circumstances. The characteristics of all electorates are inexorably changing, driven by, inter alia, increasing populations, better voter registration and inclusion (young, women, marginalised) practices by EMBs, intense political rivalry both within and between political parties, and social media that allows, for good or for bad, an opportunity to directly communicate and influence voters. Electorates are now larger, more diverse and, in some cases, even more polarised than they have ever been. Participants agreed that the pandemic, rather than leading to any unique reform of itself, has hastened the need to pursue reforms and changes that were already taking place in response to the evolving nature of electorates. This has included increased avenues for voting (absentee, mail-in, diaspora); more timely, better and transparent methods of counting and communication of electoral results; greater use of technology to improve electoral outcomes and the need for a focus on cost effectiveness as election preparations and conduct become more complex inevitably requiring larger numbers of staff.

 

Addressing these challenges has required competence, capacity, resilience and “cool heads” on the part electoral commissions and electoral commissioners. The key questions faced over the last two and half years were how electoral process could be protected from the effects of the pandemic and, at the same time, how electoral integrity in preparations and the conduct of elections could continue to be improved in spite of the challenges from the pandemic and other changes in the electoral environment.

 

What is clear from the efforts of electoral commissions is that they have tried as much a possible to address the challenges of the pandemic whilst balancing public health issues and electoral democracy. Participants agreed that EMBs could not ignore the need to prioritise public health issues, but in doing so they have had to be innovative and flexible enough to ensure that excessive concern for public health does not negatively impact on aspirations for expanding the scope of electoral integrity and electoral democracy more generally. For example, during the 2020 Ghana elections large crowds were reduced at polling stations, protecting both public health and avoiding election day tensions. In India, a key principle in state elections was to protect the rights of voters with covid, leading the ECI to introduce mobile election teams to capture the votes of those unable to vote in person or through other means. Similarly, in Australia voters contracting covid just prior to election day were given access to telephone voting, previously only available to blind and low vision voters.

 

Malaysia noted that as covid becomes endemic, and “post-pandemic” elections become the norm, it is important for EMBs not to relent on covid prevention protocols but at the same time develop the capacity to learn when these measures can be relaxed, what needs to be retained and under what circumstances to do so. For example, whilst the need for hand sanitisation may be removed for the next Malaysian general election due in 2023, masks may still be required, commensurate with developing scientific understanding that masks provide a more effective remediation against spreading the virus.

 

What is also evident is that an EMB’s good reputation, in terms of the integrity of their elections, cannot be taken for granted. EMBs will need to continue to develop, adjust and deploy reputation management strategies. The Australian approach to the management of social media, based on adopting an “aggressive stance” to misinformation and disinformation when it is directed at the electoral processes managed by the EMB, provides a useful model for other jurisdictions to study. And for those electoral commissions that, for one reason or another, suffer from poor reputation, it is important to rebuild confidence and trust and, as reputations improve over time, continue to deploy strategies to avoid that trust being lost.

 

There was much discussion regarding transparency and accountability, and effective communication with voters and citizens generally, as well as greater use of technology and other strategies to counter misinformation and disinformation. In Pakistan for example, multi-media screens were installed in the offices of presiding officers to provide real-time results information for voters, candidates and media. In Africa, there would appear to be a clear need to collaborate with civil society organisations in order to counter hate speech, a very serious issue affecting the integrity of election preparations and the conduct of elections. Commissions are encouraged to build public trust and ensure inclusivity, as well as take into account the diversity now evident in most electoral jurisdictions. Partnerships with responsible and credible civil society organisations can go a long way in helping this. Non-partisan and professional engagement with political parties is also very important, because political parties are key stakeholders in the electoral process, despite being driven by a desire to win elections “by hook or by crook”. The strategies of engagement need to be well-calibrated to ensure relationships add value to preparations and conduct of elections with integrity, rather than having acrimonious relationships circumscribed by lack of trust and confidence in the process.  It is important to develop strategies of engagement to minimise mistrust and generating unnecessary tension. While much focus was and is on preparations and conduct of the election, Pakistan noted the importance of impartial delimitation processes in the lead up to the election no matter what the circumstances in which it is held.

 

Participants also discussed the increasing cost of elections. It was noted that election commissions require a ‘good’ budgetary provision to be able to effectively carry out their mandate, but in some jurisdictions electoral processes are so circumscribed by bad practices and “transactional intrigues” that the cost of elections is inflated. Using transparent processes, as has been illustrated by the example of the Ghana electoral commission, can bring remarkable reductions in the cost of elections. Even though, at some point, costs may begin to increase again, it was considered imperative to pay attention to transparency and accountability and processes that ensure improving cost effectiveness, as it is then easier to defend budget increases having taken these issues into consideration.

​