CHAPTER ONE

DEMOCRACY AND ELECTION

Unit Contents:
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Unit Objectives
1.3 A brief history of Democracy and its different forms
I. Direct Democracy
II. Representative Democracy
A. Parliamentary Democracy
B. Liberal Democracy
III. Constitutional Democracy
1.4 The Importance of Electoral Law to the Rule of Law
1.5 Meaning and Purpose of Electoral Democracy
1.6 Types of Electoral Systems
1.6.1 Plurality System
1.6.2 Majority System
1.6.3 Proportional System
1.6.4 Mixed System
1.7 Summary
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1.1 INTRODUCTION

An election is a decision-making process by which a certain population chooses

an individual to hold formal office. This is the usual mechanism by which
modern representative democracy fills offices in the legislature. Electoral systems
refer to the detailed constitutional arrangements and voting systems which
convert the vote into a determination of which individuals and political parties
are elected to positions of power.A country’s electoral system is the method used
to calculate the number of elected positions in government; that individuals and
parties are awarded after elections. In other words, it is the way that votes are
translated into seats in parliament or in other areas of government (such as the
presidency). There are many different types of electoral systems in use around
the world, and even within individual countries, different electoral systems may
be found in different regions and at different levels of government. This unit
supplies a review of the most common types of electoral systems along with their
advantages and disadvantages.

1.2 UNIT OBJECTIVES

Having read this chapter, students will be able to:

 analyze the defining features of democracy
 discuss the importance of electoral law to the rule of law
 define the meaning of electoral democracy
 identify the purpose of electoral democracy
 explain the different types of electoral system and their consequences

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1.3 A BRIEF HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY AND ITS DIFFERENT FORMS

The concept of "democracy" is contestable. Democracy is understood by many

people as a form of government in which a significant portion of the governed
society has a franchise to elect members of the governing body. Other observers
would argue that a "true" democracy is a system of government that embraces a
universal adult franchise. While we may not agree on one uniform definition
there are certain universal attributes of a democratic society namely:
• equality of all citizens before the law without regard for race, ethnicity,
religion, gender, or any other social or biological differences;
• the supremacy of the rule of law;
• full participation of people in how they are governed;
• the principle of separation of powers between the executive, legislature
and judiciary;
• freedom of expression, association, conscience and affiliated family of
rights; and
• periodic elections as a means of choosing alternative ideas for public
policy.

Any society that claims to be democratic must have all of these elements. Those
that aspire to build a democratic society must have most of these elementary
things in place or they must be taking genuine steps towards their achievement.
The popular understanding of the term "democracy" is that there are three basic
forms: direct, representative and constitutional. A brief outline of the historical
development of each will provide a solid foundation of knowledge on which the
concept of electoral democracy can be further explored.

I. Direct Democracy

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Direct democracy is a form of government in which the right to participate in

making political decisions is exercised directly by all citizens, acting under
procedures of majority rule. In large states, direct or participative democracy is
not possible. The debate continues as to the origin of democracy. However, the
city-states of ancient Greece stand out as one of the earliest example of codified
and institutionalized democratic principles. The motivating force for the
development of democratic political institutions in the Greek states was their
desire to discover the best system of government that would maintain the liberty
of the citizen. Their solution was a system in which the whole citizen body
formed the legislature. All citizens had a voice and a presence in the formulation
of the rules that governed their society. All citizens were eligible to hold
executive and judicial offices, some were elected, while others were assigned by
lot. In this early form of democracy, all officials were directly responsible to the
popular assembly which was qualified to act in executive, judicial and legislative
matters.

It should be noted that Greek democracy, which may be epitomised as the

expression of the interests of all citizens, rested on a society radically different
from the one which exists today. In the first place, the city-states were small
enough to be allowed for direct participation in judicial and legislative affairs.
Secondly, only male native-born Athenians were citizens and so were
participants in this process. Slaves, women and foreigners, who together made
up the majority of the population of any Greek city-state, were excluded. Thirdly,
in ancient Greece, the notion that a citizen was in some way unique did not
operate. Each citizen was part of a collective and public whole. Public life was
significant and private life was not taken into account. Finally, the concept of
citizenship carried with it military responsibility, either as a warrior or as a

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contributor of funds. This early version of democracy, now known and

frequently revered as "classical democracy", was both flawed and vulnerable to
manipulation.

II. Representative Democracy

Representative democracy involves the selection of government officials by the
people being represented. The most common mechanisms involve election of the
candidate with a majority or a plurality of the votes.
Representatives may be elected or become diplomatic representatives by a
particular district (or constituency), or represent the entire electorate
proportionally with proportional systems, with some using a combination of the
two. Some representative democracies also incorporate elements of direct
democracy such as referendums. A peculiar characteristic of representative
democracy is that while the representatives are elected by the people to act in
their interest, they retain the freedom to exercise their own judgment as how best
to do so. A brief highlight is given below on the different types of representative
democracy.

A. Parliamentary Democracy
Parliamentary democracy is a kind of democracy where government is
appointed by parliamentary representatives as opposed to a 'presidential rule' by
decree dictatorship. Under a parliamentary democracy, government is exercised
by delegation to an executive ministry and subject to ongoing review, checks and
balances by the legislative parliament which is elected by the people.

B. Liberal democracy
Liberal democracy is a representative democracy in which the ability of the
elected representatives to exercise decision-making power is subject to the rule of
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law, and usually it is moderated by a constitution that emphasizes the protection

of the rights and freedoms of individuals, and it places constraints on the leaders
and on the extent to which the will of the majority can be exercised against the
rights of minorities

III. Constitutional Democracy

Constitutional democracy developed to counter this possibility and is a form of
representative democracy in which the powers of the majority are enshrined in
constitutional provisions designed to guarantee the individual and collective
rights of all citizens. These citizenship rights are enshrined in a constitution and
can be amended to reflect social changes.

To enjoy reasonably effective, but still limited governance, many countries have
adopted a mix of constitutionalism and democratic theory. The most so-called
democratic systems such as those of Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, India,
Italy, Japan, Spain and the United States would be more accurately classified as
constitutional democracies. Each of these polities have provided a wide measure of
political participation and simultaneously restricted the peoples’ over-governance
by putting in place a variety of institutional means. Each of them, again, has
distributed the power to the Legislative, Executive, and adjudicate among the three
departments of government; everyone of them has a version of bi-cameralism
and includes a Bill of Rights. In addition to these, Austria, Canada Germany,
India, and the United States use federalism to further diffuse power. To splinter
this diffused power of majorities, the United States employs stiffened elections for
its legislature and indirectly elects its president. Each also authorizes politically
independent judges to invalidate legislative and executive actions that they
believe violate “the constitution”.

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To constrain power by means of a paper (word) – that is what a constitution

really is – may sound foolish. Yet, a political chemistry may turn sheets of paper into
hoops of steel.

First, by prescribing institutional structures and deregulating power among

different offices, a document can push officials to co-relate their interest with that
of their office, and jealously guard those interests against punitive incursions by
other officials. Furthermore, by drawing vague divisions of authority, a
document can make it likely that no set of officials can do much that is politically
important; not without arousing the jurisdictional imperative of other officials.
Thus, a constitutional text can dispense/disperse power and protect liberty by
putting an ambition against another and one power against another power. In so
far as a constitution is a collection of rules, establishing and regulating the
system of government in a state, we can, as shown above, discern a formal and
substantive aspect of a constitution.

In the modern world, constitutional democracy is the chief type of non-autocratic

government. Constitutional democracy, according to its definition, should
provide:
1. a system of periodic elections with a free choice of candidates,
2. competing political parties,
3. universal adult suffrage,
4. political decisions by majority vote,
5. protection of minority rights,
6. an independent judiciary,
7. constitutional safeguards for basic civil liberties, and

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8. the opportunity to change any aspect of the governmental system through

agreed procedures.

In most modern constitutional democracies, there is a constitutional document

providing fixed limitations on the exercise of power. A constitution assigns
certain specified powers to different structures of governments by:
1. limiting the powers of each structure and the establishment of
arrangements for their co-operative interaction,
2. specifying the individual rights or liberties of the individual that are
protected against the exercise of state power, and
3. providing a statement of the methods by which the constitution may be
amended.

1.4 THE IMPORTANCE OF ELECTORAL LAW TO THE RULE OF LAW

The same have been designated as the substantive, the formal aspects of
constitution. Of the formal elements (aspects) of constitutive aspects, rule of law
stand out as the most comprehensive and vital doctrine, principle and/or
concept (hereinafter referred to as principle) of modern constitutions.

In the sense of Lon Fuller’s view of the “inner morality” of law, Rule of Law is not
treated in its general sense of government under law, but in much more specific,
comprehensive manner. Yet, according to Fuller,
“… a comparison can be made between the internal morality of law and the
natural law of carpentry; which the carpenter has to follow whether his aim
is to build a hideout for thieves or an orphanage. The internal morality is to
be distinguished from the external morality or the substantive aims or

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values that particular legal rules (standards) seek to promote. In other

world [The] developed a conception of the Rule of Law, not by appealing to
moral values drawn from the external morality, (which will, of course, vary
with different legal rules and systems and from natural school perspective
to other schools of jurisprudence), but by spelling out the values that
underlie the concept of law itself.”

These values are characterized as the eight desiderata. These identified eight
elements of law, recognized as necessary for a society aspiring to institute the
Rule of law are stated as follows:-

1. laws must exist and those laws should be able to win obedience.
2. laws must be published.
3. laws must be prospective in nature so that the effect of the law may
only take place after the law has been passed. Laws should be written
with reasonable clarity to avoid unfair enforcement.
4. laws must avoid contradictions, (intelligibility)
5. laws must not command the impossible, ( Non self-contradictoriness)
6. laws must be general.
7. laws must stay constant through time to allow the formalization of
rules; however; law also must allow for timely revision when the
underlying and political circumstances have changed.
8. official action should be consistent with the declared rule.

Standing alone, these eight elements may seem clear and understandable. But
they are actually difficult to implement in the real world because governments
are often compelled to prioritize one goal over another to resolve conflicts in a

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way that reflects society’s political choice. For example, making too many laws
that are too detailed and specific may make the legal system too rigid.
Inflexibility could cause the particular case. Additionally, instead of only
applying prospectively, few laws, under limited circumstances are meant to
apply retroactively, or to past conduct, because they were passed with the
specific intent of correcting the conduct in question. Fuller recognized these
conflicts and suggested that societies should be prepared to balance the different
objectives listed above.

Fuller’s Criteria is helpful in understanding rule of law because it outlines the

types of rules; formal constraints that societies should develop in order to
approach legal problems in a way that minimizes the abuse of the legal process
and political power. Rule of law, however, extends beyond mere regulation and
is also shaped by the so-called institutional constraints on government as implied
in Fuller’s elements. One such institutional constraint is the existence of an
independent judiciary; another is developing ways of promoting transparent
governance. Informal constraints such as local culture or traditions that may
encourage citizens to organize their behavior around the law also help constrain
the government, prompt liberty and, therefore, define the rule of law.

Although still seemingly vague, rule of law may be most concretely defined as a
theory of governance relying upon a series of law, which may be most concretely
designed to encourage order and to prevent arbitrary and unreasonable exercise
of government power. Multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and
many policymakers throughout the world believe that the rule promotes
economic development.

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Modern economic development often comes with the introduction of a market

economy; or, an economy based on private enterprise that does not rely on
government-planned production. Max Weber, a famous sociologist and economist,
has commented that the capitalistic order, upon which a market economy is
based, is organized upon a rationale of law-bound state. Market economy brings
buyers and sellers to the market for complex transaction from many different
parts of the world and on international scale.

Law is important to the market economy because it is the common basis on

which parties can make agreements; it provides parties with confidence that
disputes can be resolved efficiently and fairly. For this reason, the predictability
and order that the rule of law promotes in substantive laws is viewed as the
stabilizing force behind much economic developments. Rule of law helps set the
rule of the game in critical areas such as investment, property, and contract.

Rule of law also serves as an important assurance of social rights and

government accountability. Government restraint is especially critical for many
transitioning economies where a previously planned economy is to be
transformed into one that is market based. When the government is no longer the
sole owner of land, capital, and labor, rule of law guarantees that the crucial
elements of the economy will be free from arbitrary government will, adopt a
hands-off approach to investment and production, allowing those participating
parties to fully exercise their rights in relations to land, labor and capital.
1.5 MEANING AND PURPOSE OF ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY

Election is the act or process of choosing a person for political office, position or
membership by voting. It is an instance of the electorates’ exercising their rights.

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Generally, it is a modern and civilized way by which citizens give their consent
in order to be represented by some that can advance and administer their
interest, will, and aim in an organized and systematic manner.

Election is central for the existence of democratic political system. Through

election, citizens can be involved in selecting the political leadership of their
society. Elections provide the mechanism through which people can exercise
control over their government officials. They can either throw the rascals out if
they do not like what is happening or they can reaffirm their support by re-
electing officials they like. The existence of election does not guarantee
democracy, but it is difficult to imagine democracy without election.

Elections make a fundamental contribution to democratic governance. Because

direct democracy – a form of government in which political decisions are made
directly by the entire body of qualified citizens is impractical in most modern
society, democratic government must be conducted through representatives.
Elections enable voters to select leaders and to hold them accountable for their
performance in office. Accountability can be undermined when elected leaders
do not care whether they are re-elected or when, for historical or other reasons,
one party or a coalition is so dominant that there are no alternative candidates,
parties or policies. Nevertheless, the possibility of controlling leaders by
requiring them to submit to regular and periodic elections helps solve the
problem of succession in leadership, and thus, contributes to the continuation of
democracy.

Moreover, where the electoral process is competitive and forces candidates or

parties to expose their records and future intentions to popular scrutiny, election
serve as a forum for the discussion of public issues and facilitates the expression

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of public opinion. Elections thus provide political education for citizens and
ensure the responsiveness of democratic governments to the will of the people.
They also serve to legitimize the acts of those who wield power, a function that is
performed to some extent even by elections that are non-competitive.

Elections also reinforce the stability and legitimacy of the political community.
Like national holidays commemorating common experiences, elections link
citizens to each other and thereby confirm the viability of the polity. As a result,
elections help to facilitate social and political integration.

Moreover, elections serve a self-actualizing purpose by confirming the worth and

dignity of individual citizens as human beings. Whatever other needs voters may
have, participation in an election serves to reinforce their self-esteem and self-
respect. Voting gives people an opportunity to have their say and, through
expressing partisanship, to satisfy their need to feel a sense of belonging. Even
non-voting satisfies the need of some people to express their alienation from the
political community. For these precise reasons, the long battle for the right to
vote and the demand for equality in electoral participation can be viewed as the
manifestation of a profound human craving for personal fulfillment.

Whether held under authoritarian or democratic regimes, elections have a

ritualistic aspect. Elections and the campaigns preceding them are dramatic
events that are accompanied by rallies, banners, posters, buttons, headlines, and
television coverage all of which call attention to the importance of participation
in the event. Candidates, political parties, and interest groups representing
diverse objectives invoke the symbols of nationalism or patriotism, reform or
revolution, past glory or future promise. Whatever the peculiar national,
regional, or local variations, elections are events that, by arousing emotions and

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channeling them toward collective symbols, break the monotony of daily life and
focus attention on the common fate.

Generally, in the representative government all over the world, election emerged
to be the main instrument through which free will of the society can be
expressed. Periodic nationwide or region wide voting is an essential safeguard of
democracy and liberty that, at least, is an axiom of contemporary democratic
faith. In other words, it is the only democratic and peaceful way that enables
people to form a representative government thereby establishing sustainable
democratic process. It is also a way for the prevalence of good governance.

Elections can be organized in a variety of ways. Saying that we are going to elect
some one to office tells nothing about the actual procedures to be used other than
that there will be vote. Who will get to vote? Will every one’s vote be of equal
weight? Does the winner need majority of the vote or just a plurality? Do most
candidates be nominated or can anyone run? These are just few of the questions
that should be asked about the way election are organized. The reality is that
different ways of conducting election have few of the questions that should be
asked about the way elections are organized. The other reality is that different
ways of conducting election have different consequences. So, it is important to
examine the way elections are structured.

In conclusion, we can say that elections are principal means of forming

governments by deciding who can hold public offices. Moreover, they stabilize
and legitimize the government by holding government officials accountable to
the electorate.

1.6 TYPES OF ELECTORAL SYSTEMS

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A country’s electoral system is the method used to calculate the number of

elected positions in government that individuals and parties are awarded after
elections. In other words, electoral system is the way that votes are translated
into seats in parliament or in other areas of government (such as the presidency).
There are many different types of electoral systems in use around the world, and
even within individual countries, different electoral systems may be found in
different regions at different levels of government (e.g. elections to school
boards, city councils, state legislatures, governorships, etc.).

The purpose of an electoral system is to translate the will of the electorate, as

expressed through the ballot box, into members of a legislative body. The ways
this can be achieved are many and varied. Electoral systems throughout the
world range from very simple first-past-the-post systems to quite complex
arrangements using parts of different systems. Broadly speaking, the function of
converting votes into legislative seats can be achieved by a plurality of votes, a
majority of votes or proportionally. Thus, there are three main categories of
electoral systems: plurality, majority and proportional representation. There are also
systems that are a mix of features of two or more systems.
Some writers use the term ‘electoral system’ to mean all the structures and

operations that are used to run an election. 1 The means for drawing up of
electoral boundaries, the qualification of voters and candidates, the method of
voting and the means of settling disputes would, thus, all be included, as would
the administrative structure used to oversee the entire electoral process. Many
others, however, use the term quite specifically to describe the voting method

1
MArt.in Harrop and William L. Miller, Elections and Voters: A comparative introduction, Macmillan,
Basingstoke, 1987.

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itself.2 This is the way in which the term is used in this electoral law teaching
material.

As seen below, there are many types of electoral system, but the point that is
needed to be made here is that electoral systems are not simply neutral statistical
arrangements that enable members of the parliament (MPs) to be chosen for a
legislature. The particular system used in a particular location can play an
important role in determining:

• who is elected,
•the nature of the legislature,
• the legislative programme of the legislature,
• the place of particular parties in the political system,
• the attitude of the general community to the electoral process in general,
and
• the attitude of the general community to a particular election result.

The use of a specific voting method in one location may produce quite different
outcomes to the use of the same method in another. Therefore, we need not only
to understand an electoral system but also the context(s) in which it has been
used.

Categories of Electoral System

There are a host of electoral systems used for national elections in 211 nations,
but it is possible to categorize the systems into four broad families as follows:

2
Austin Ranney, Governing: An Introduction to Political Science, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 6th
ed., 1993.

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• Plurality
• Majority
• Proportional
 Mixed

As suggested above, the electoral system adopted by a country probably

depends more on the country’s political culture rather than any abstract
consideration of the relative merits of different voting methods. For example,
countries with a British political heritage are more inclined to plurality and
majority systems, while those of continental Europe have been more inclined
towards proportional systems.

1.6.1. PLURALITY SYSTEMS

Plurality systems, which are almost always used in conjunction with single-
member electorates, are the simplest of all electoral systems. Plurality systems
are commonly used for the election of Heads of State. A plurality system, also
called “First-past-the-post ” or “winner-take-all” systems awards a parliamentary
seat to the individual candidate who receives the most votes in election
regardless of whether the candidate receives the majority of votes. Plurality
systems normally depend on single-member constituencies and allow voters to
indicate only one vote on their ballot (by pulling a single lever, punching a hole
in the ballot, making an X, etc). Plurality electoral systems also tend to encourage
the growth of relatively stable political systems dominated by two major parties.
Such an electoral system clearly does not represent the interests of all (or even
most) voters. In fact, since a candidate need to have only a plurality of votes to be

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elected, most voters may actually have voted against the winner (although their
votes are split among several candidates).

Elections for the House and Senate in the United States and for the House of
Commons in the United Kingdom use the plurality system. The US presidential
election is also generally considered a plurality system, but the existence of the
Electoral College actually makes it a strange hybrid of plurality and majority
systems.

Advantages of plurality systems

• These systems are easier to understand than are Majority or Proportional
Representation systems, even when there is more than one MP to elect.
• Counting tends to be uncomplicated, and produces a speedy outcome.
• In single-member electorates, electors are not required to allocate
preferences they may not have.
• Where First-past-the-post is used in single-member electorates, the link
between voter and MP is said to be clear.

Disadvantages of plurality systems

• The ‘winner’s bonus’ phenomenon can be particularly marked
• These systems can deny representation to quite substantial numbers
representing minority opinions.
• The winner of an electorate may have a relatively small percentage of
the vote. Many votes are therefore ‘wasted’ in single-member
constituencies.

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• The use of First-past-the-post can also result in the election of a

government that does not receive support from a majority of the
electorate, or even the largest number of votes.

1.6.2. MAJORITY ELECTORAL SYSTEMS

Majority electoral systems (also called “second ballot” systems) attempt to provide
a greater degree of representativeness by requiring what candidates need to
achieve a majority of votes in order to win. “Majority” is normally defined as
50%-plus-one-vote. If no candidate gets a majority of votes, then a second round
of voting is held (often a week or so after the initial ballot). In the second round
of voting, only a selected number of candidates from the first round are allowed
to participate. In some countries such as Russia, the top two vote-getters in the
first round move on to the second round. In other countries such as France, all
candidates with a minimum threshold percentage of votes move on to the second
round. Like plurality systems, majority systems usually rely on single-member
constituencies, and allow voters to indicate only one preference on their ballot.

Presidential elections in Austria, Finland, Portugal, Russia and other east

European states as well as presidential and National Assembly elections in
France make use of various forms of majority electoral systems. The US Electoral
College also has components of a majority system because a presidential
candidate must get 50%-plus-one electoral votes (270 out of 538) in order to win.
If no candidate reaches the 270 mark, the election is decided by the House of
Representatives. In determining who votes for whom in the Electoral College,
though the US presidential race is a strict plurality system, the candidate who
gets a plurality of the popular vote in a state gets all that state’s electoral votes.

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Majority systems require a winning candidate to receive an absolute majority

(more than half) of the vote to ensure election. Such a majority can be achieved
through a second ballot or by means of preference voting. The second ballot
systems are restricted to electing members from single-member electorates while
the alternative vote system can be used for both single- and multi-member
electorates. In the Second Ballot system, two First-past-the-post elections are
scheduled.

Candidates who receive more than half of the vote are declared elected. In those
electorates where no candidate receives more than half of the vote, there will be a
second, or run-off, ballot slip. This may be between the top two candidates on the
first count, or it may be between candidates who receive a certain percentage of
the vote. The Second Ballot system prevents the election of any candidate
without an absolute majority of the vote, thus overcoming one of the main
criticisms of plurality systems.

Advantages of Majority Systems

• Majority systems are easier to understand than Proportional
Representation systems and can produce relatively speedy results.
• Majority systems prevent the election of any candidate who lacks an
absolute majority of the vote, thus overcoming one of the main criticisms
of First-past-the-post.
• Majority systems tend to avoid the situation where a candidate can be
elected on a very small percentage of the vote.

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• Preferential Voting is less cumbersome than the Second Ballot system

because it removes the need for voters to have to return to the polling
booth on a second occasion.
• Preferential Voting also lessens any perceived dangers of vote-splitting.
Voters can give preferences to two similar candidates lessening the fear
that a third and unacceptable candidate may be elected.
• Where ‘optional’ Preferential Voting is used, voters are required only to
cast a first preference vote, and therefore, can avoid expressing
‘preferences’ for candidates they may dislike.

Disadvantages of Majority Systems

• The principal disadvantage of Majority systems is that results do not always
reflect the wishes of the electorate.
• Preferential Voting can often be capricious in its practical application and can
result in the election of the least unfavoured rather than the most popular
candidate.
• When the Second Ballot is used, the need for a second contest results in
greater expense for the candidates and parties involved, greater
inconvenience to the electors, and it delays the result of an election causing
uncertainty.
• As with Plurality systems, many votes are ‘wasted’ because individual
candidates win many more votes than is required.
• When Preferential Voting arrangements require the allocation of preferences
to all candidates on the ballot paper, voters may be required to express
‘preferences’ for candidates whom they oppose.

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• Because many votes may exhaust (have no further preferences to be counted)

when ‘optional’ Preferential Voting is used, it is possible for a candidate to
win a seat with fewer than half of the formal votes cast.
• Under ‘optional’ Preferential Voting, if too many voters cast just a single
preference, the system becomes a de facto First-past-the-post system defeating
a major reason for the creation of Preferential Voting.

1.6.3. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION SYSTEM

Proportional Representation (PR) is the general name for a class of voting

systems that attempt to make the percentage of offices awarded to candidates
reflect as closely as possible the percentage of votes that they received in the
election. It is the most widely used set of electoral systems in the world, and its
variants can be found at some level of government in almost every country.
The most straightforward version of PR is simply to award a party the same
percentage of seats in parliament as it gets votes at the polls. Thus, if a party won
40% of the vote, it would receive 40% of the seats. However, there are clear
problems with such a system: Should parties that receive only 0.001% of the vote
also be represented? What happens if the voting percentages do not translate
evenly into seats? How do you award a party 19.5 seats if it got 19.5% of the
vote? More sophisticated PR systems attempt to get around these problems. Two
of the most widely used are discussed below.

I. Party List Systems

Under party list forms of PR, voters normally vote for parties rather than for
individual candidates. In a closed party list system the parties themselves
determine who will fill the seats that they have been allocated. Voters vote only

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for a particular party and then it is up to the party to decide which party
members will actually serve as representatives. Legislative elections in Israel and
Germany are conducted according to this system. Under an open party list system,
voters are given some degree of choice among individual candidates, in addition
to voting for entire parties. Denmark, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg and
Switzerland all have versions of open party list systems.

Under all party list systems, one still needs some method for allocating seats to
individual parties. One commonly used method is named for the nineteenth-
century Belgian mathematician Victor d’Hondt, and is normally referred to as a
“highest average method using the d’Hondt formula.”

For example, assume that we have an election with 1,000 total voters in which
five parties (A, B, C, D, and E) have gained 100 (10%), 150 (15%), 300 (30%), 400
(40%), and 50 (5%) votes respectively. Assume also that, in our electoral
constituency, there are 3 seats up for election; that all votes cast are valid; and
that the electoral system has a 7% vote threshold, (that is, parties must get at
least 7% of the total valid votes cast in order to participate in the distribution of
seats.) Party E would, thus, be eliminated from competition at the outset. The
d’Hondt method of seat allocation then proceeds in the following steps.
1. Place the total number of votes earned by the competing parties (A, B, C, and
D). E has been eliminated in a row.
100 150 300 400

2. Divide each figure in the row by 1, 2, 3, . . ., n. (How far the division you take
varies? The more seats you have to allocate, the further you have to divide. For
our purposes, 3 or 4 divisions should do the trick.)

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Party A Party B Party C Party D

100 150 300 400

div. by 1 100 150 300 400
div. by 2 50 75 150 200
div. by 3 33 50 100 133
div. by 4 25 37.5 75 100

3. Pick the highest quotient in the list (including the quotients obtained by
dividing the votes by 1). The highest quotient is “400” in the Party D column.
We, therefore, award one seat to Party D.

4. Pick the next highest quotient in the list. The next highest quotient is “300” in
the Party C column. We, therefore, award one seat to Party C.

5. Pick the next highest quotient in the list. The next highest quotient is “200” in
the Party D column. We therefore award another seat to Party D. We have
successfully filled all the seats available in this constituency.
The final results of the election are therefore:
Party C 1 seat (or 33% of the total available seats) and
Party D 2 seats (or 66% of the total available seats)
Notice why we call this system “proportional representation”. Under a plurality
system, Party D would have received 100% of the seats because that party
received a plurality (40%) of the vote even though 60% of the voters voted against
Party D by choosing other parties. Under PR, however, we are able to represent
some of the interests of the other voters. Party D’s representation in parliament is
reduced to 66% of seats while Party C’s is increased to 33% of seats. The system

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yields a result that is clearly not perfectly proportional. But, the distribution
more closely approximates the actual percentage of votes that each party
received than would a plurality or majority system.

The d’Hondt method is only one way of allocating seats in party list systems.
Other methods include the Saint-Lague method where the divisor is the set of odd
numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, . . ., n) and the modified Saint-Lague method used in
Denmark, Norway and Sweden, where the divisor is 1.4 plus the set of odd
numbers (1.4, 3, 5, 7, 9, . . . , n). Other methods divide the votes by a
mathematically derived quota such as the Droop quota or the Hare quota.

One other feature of party list systems is called the vote threshold. Party list
systems normally establish by law an arbitrary percentage of the vote that parties
have to pass before they can be considered in the allocation of seats. The figure
ranges from 0.67% in the Netherlands to 5% in Germany and Russia, or even
more. Any party that does not reach the threshold is excluded from the
calculation of seats. The vote threshold simplifies the process of seat allocation
and discourages fringe parties (those that are likely to gain very few votes) from
competing in the elections. Obviously, the higher the vote threshold, the fewer
the parties that will be represented in parliament.

II. Single Transferable Vote (STV)

STV is another important form of proportional representation. In various forms,
it is used widely in many countries although only Ireland, Australia and Malta
have used it in major national elections. Other countries have used it in local
elections.

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STV was originally developed by Thomas Hare (1806-1891), a British politician

whose writings greatly influenced the views of the philosopher John Stuart Mill.
Under STV, voters vote for individuals, not for parties as in the party list system.
The key feature of STV is that individual voters rank candidates according to
their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, . . ., nth choices. Rather than simply voting for a single
candidate, voters have the opportunity to express a range of preferences for
several candidates on the ballot. Like party list systems, STV depends on having
multi-member constituencies.

The complicated part of STV is tabulating the seats to be awarded after the votes
have been cast. As with party list systems, there are a number of mathematical
formulas that one can use to accomplish this task. One of the most widely used
methods is known as the Droop quota, named after the nineteenth-century
thinker and mathematician H. R. Droop. The Droop quota is used to determine
the minimal number of votes that an individual candidate must get in order to be
awarded a seat. It is calculated using the formula:
[V/(S+1)] +1
Where V is the total number of valid votes cast in the constituency, and S is the
total number of seats up for election in the constituency. Hence, if we have 1,000
votes cast for 3 seats, the Droop quota is [ 1,000 / (3 + 1) ] + 1 = 251. That means,
any candidate who is able to get at least 251 votes will be assured of winning a
seat. Once the Droop quota has been calculated and all the votes have been
collected, we still have to allocate the seats.

In this example, assume that we have 5 candidates (A, B, C, D, E) for 3 seats. In

accordance with STV, individual voters have ranked each of these candidates (1
to 5, with one being the first-choice candidate) on their ballots. The allocation of

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seats then proceeds according to the following steps--but remember that there
are a variety of STV methods in use. We will try to keep things very simple here
as done below.

1. Pull each ballot out of the ballot box one at a time and place them in piles
according to the first-choice candidate marked on the ballot (e.g. if a ballot
indicates candidate C as the first choice, place it in a pile marked “C”).
2. As soon as one pile of ballots reaches 251, that candidate is awarded a seat. Let
us assume that candidate C was the first to reach the Droop quota of 251 first-
choice ballots.
3. Continue drawing ballots out of the ballot box and place them in piles
according to the first-choice candidate marked on the ballot. But, since C has
already been elected, place any ballot that indicate candidate C as first choice in
the pile of the candidate indicated on that ballot as the voter’s second choice. For
example, if you pull out a ballot that indicates candidate C as first choice and
candidate A as second choice, place the ballot in the pile for candidate A since
candidate C has already been awarded a seat. In this way, candidate C’s surplus
votes (i.e. the votes beyond those needed to win a seat under the Droop quota)
are “transferred” to the next-choice candidate; hence the name “single
transferable vote.”
4. Continue with Step 3 until another candidate reaches the 251 mark. Then,
continue carrying out Step 3 until you fill all the available seats. For example, let
us assume that we have already elected candidate C on first-choice ballots alone,
and that by combining second-choice ballots from candidate C with further first-
choice ballots from the box, we have also been able to award a seat to candidate
A. How do we fill the third seat? We continue in a similar manner as before. Any
ballot that list candidate C as the first-choice will be transferred to the second-

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choice candidate; if the second-choice candidate turns out to be candidate A

(who has also already been elected), then we will transfer them to the third-
choice candidate. Similarly, all first-choice ballots for candidate A will be
transferred to the second-choice candidate indicated on the ballot; if the second-
choice candidate turns out to be candidate C (who has already been elected), the
ballot will be transferred to the third-choice candidate and so on.
5. But what happens if, after distributing all first-choice ballots, no further
candidates have reached the Droop quota and we still have empty seats to fill? In
this case, simply eliminate the candidate with the lowest number of first-choice
ballots and transfer those votes to the second-choice candidates. Repeat this step
as many times as necessary (always eliminating the lowest vote-getter) in order
to reach the number of votes mandated by the Droop quota.
As with party list systems, there are variety of ways to conduct an STV election.
For example, instead of using the Droop quota, we might use the Hare quota
(V / S) or the Imperial quota [V / (S + 2)]. A country’s choice as to which system
should be used depends on its history and the degree to which policymakers
value genuinely proportional representation.
STV can clearly be rather confusing. Some voters may feel that a plurality system
is somehow more “natural,” or that STV and other forms of PR are simply
“tinkering with the numbers”. But, PR in general and STV in particular can yield
results that are more truly representative of the choices of individual voters.
There is a strong movement for PR in the United Kingdom, with some political
leaders arguing that STV should replace the current plurality system for electing
parliamentarians to the House of Commons.

Advantages and Disadvantages of STV

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Advantages of STV
The advantages claimed for PR generally apply to STV systems. In addition, as a
mechanism for choosing representatives, STV is perhaps the most sophisticated
of all electoral systems, allowing for choice between parties and between
candidates within parties. The final results retain a fair degree of proportionality,
and the fact that, in most actual examples of STV, the multi-member districts are
relatively small means that a geographical link between voter and representative
is retained. Furthermore, voters can influence the composition of post-election
coalitions, as has been the case in the Republic of Ireland, and the system
provides incentives for interparty accommodation through the reciprocal
exchange of preferences between parties.

STV also provides a better chance for the election of popular independent
candidates than List PR because voters are choosing between candidates rather
than between parties (although a party-list option can be added to an STV
election, this is done for the Australian Senate).

Disadvantages of STV
The disadvantages claimed for PR generally also apply to STV systems. In
addition to that, STV has the following disadvantages.
 STV is sometimes criticized on the grounds that preference voting is
unfamiliar in many societies, and demands, at the very least, a degree of
literacy and numeracy.
 The intricacies of an STV count are quite complex. This has been cited as
one of the reasons why Estonia decided to abandon the system after its
first election. STV requires continual recalculations of surplus transfer
values and the like. Because of this, votes under STV need to be counted at

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counting centres instead of directly at the polling place. Where election

integrity is a salient issue, counting in the actual polling places may be
necessary to ensure legitimacy of the vote, and there will be a need to
choose the electoral system accordingly.
 STV, unlike Closed List PR, can at times produce pressures for political
parties to fragment internally because members of the same party are
effectively competing against each other as well as against the opposing
party for votes. This could serve to promote ‘clientelistic’ politics where
politicians offer electoral bribes to groups of defined voters.
 STV can lead to a party with a plurality of votes nonetheless winning
fewer seats than its rivals. Malta amended its system in the mid-1980s by
providing some extra compensatory seats to be awarded to a party in the
event of this happening. Many of these criticisms have, however, been
proved to be little trouble in practice. STV elections in the Republic of
Ireland and Malta have tended to produce relatively stable and legitimate
governments comprising one or two main parties

1.6.4 MIXED SYSTEM

The legislature consists of a block of seats that are elected by plurality or majority
from single-member districts, and another block of seats that are elected in multi-
member districts under a proportional system. The proportional seats are
awarded in such a way as to compensate for disproportional effects in the single-
member district outcomes.

The three types of electoral system outlined in this paper (plurality, majoritarian
and proportional representation) all have advantages and disadvantages. Logic

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might suggest that the best electoral system should consist of a combination of
individual systems so that the disadvantages of one system might be overcome
by the advantages of the others. Some ‘mixed’ systems have been devised with
this aim. An example is Mixed Member Proportional (also known as the
Additional Member system) used in Germany, Italy and New Zealand. Part of
the parliament (50 per cent in Germany, 25 per cent in Italy, 42 per cent in New
Zealand) is elected by Plurality methods, usually from single-member
electorates. The remainder of the legislature is chosen from closed party lists so
as to ensure that a party’s proportion of the national vote is matched in the
national parliament. Thus, if a party were to fail to win a single seat despite
gaining 15 per cent of the national vote, it would be granted a number of list
seats to bring its representation to approximately 15 per cent of the legislature. If
the party wins more individual seats than its national vote entitles it, then it
keeps those seats in the legislature, which is temporarily increased in number.

Some Mixed systems do not seek to achieve proportionality—often called

Parallel Systems. The electoral system used to elect members of the Russian
national legislature is such a system, for no provisions exist for representation to
be adjusted to achieve proportionality. Voters cast two votes. One of these votes
is for a Duma member representing a single- member electorate—of which there
are 225 in all. The other vote affects the election of 225 members elected on a
proportional basis.3

1.7 General Principles of Election

3
Russian 2003 legistlative election results. Available at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_legislative_election,_2003 (visited on June 2009)

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Election means recruitment of the representatives by the choice of the voters. It

may be done in one of the two ways. In case the voters choose a representative
by their votes, it is direct election. Different from this, when the voters elect
some persons and they elect some other person, it becomes indirect election. For
instance, the American voters elect the electors who elect the president. Both
methods of election have their merits and demerits. First, we take up the merits
of the method of direct election. These are:

 it establishes direct touch between the voters and their chosen

representatives,
 it stimulates the interest of the voters in public affairs. It sharpens
their political consciousness and makes the public spited,
 the representative has a particular regard for the wishes of his
constituents. He knows that he has to act according to their wishes;
in case he desires to be re-elected, and
 it has educative value. When the candidates go to the voters and ask
for their votes on the basis of their electoral pledge, it all adds to the
political knowledge of the voters.

But, direct election method has its demerits too. These are:
 all voters are not equally intelligent and so clever candidates have
more chances to win the voters in their own interest,
 wrong and undesirable methods are adopted by the candidates for
securing votes. Even vilification campaigns are launched. Reality is
distorted by false propaganda, and
 really good conscientious people avoid such elections though they
may prefer to try their fate in direct election.

The method of indirect election has its own merits and demerits. Its merits are:

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 it confines the electorate to a small body of person possessing a higher

average of political ability and necessarily feeling a keener sense of
responsibility,
 it tends to diminish the evils of a party passion and struggle by removing
the object of the popular choice by one degree and confining the function
of the electorate as a whole to the choice of those upon whom the ultimate
responsibility must rest, and
 it is well suited to infant democracy where the number of politically
conscious and intelligent people is very small.

The term suffrage indicates entitlement to cast a vote on, by electorate , public
election. However, this right was conferred, historically, to certain kind of
people. For instance, for John Locke, the right to vote is vested only on those
persons who are owners of property. Meaning, non-property owners are
excluded from casting a vote. In addition, historically, in the United States of
America, until the Fifth Amendment Declaration, the right to vote was conferred
to those people who are tax payers and property owners. Yet, this declaration
manifested that the right to vote should not be conducted based on
discriminatory manner. Moreover, until the 1965 voting right act, blacks were
excluded from voting in electoral campaign.

Yet, after world war second, the trend was to abolish voting right based on the
discriminatory manner. The tendency was to broaden this right to all groups of
people. One can indicate this trend on the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights under article 21(3) which states universal suffrage is decisive; in which the
will of the people is manifested. Since this law is now serving as international

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customary law, the principle of universal suffrage is applicable to the entire

world. In addition, in case of Ethiopia, article 54 of the FDRE Constitution
stipulates the applicability of universal suffrage.

However, the term universal suffrage is not as such absolute; rather this right is
susceptible to certain reasonable limitations. For instance, in our country
context, there are certain persons who are excluded from universal suffrage.
Some of them are the following:

 minors,
 non Ethiopian citizens,
 legally interdicted persons,
 judicially interdicted persons, and
 non registered persons to vote.

Internationally, this reasonable limitation to the right to vote is also recognized

under international covenant on civil and political right.

1.7.1. SECRET VOTING

The other principle of election is performing election through secret voting. This
principle is embodied in different international and domestic instruments. From
international perspective, UDHR states that genuine election should be
conducted by means of secret ballot. Domestically, our constitution states the
electors will choose the candidate and provide their will in secret ballot.
Therefore, the aforementioned instruments, both domestically and
internationally, confirm the need of voting through secret ballot. Moreover secret
voting was adopted or used first by Australia, and now serves as a guarantee for
securing free and fair suffrage.

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However, the question here is why we need to make voting in secret? Before the
twenty century, voting was performed in public. And, the practice was, every
person who is capable enough to vote was exercising his right through ‘loud
speech’. Thus, the consequence of this practice was, every body surrounding the
place in which election was performed, will simply know the electoral choice.
However, in the twenty century, the attitude regarding oral public election
would not provide sufficient guarantee for free and fair voting. Voters will not be
on equal footing with respect to their intellectual, educational and economic
status. This situation makes certain parts of the electorate exposed to the
influence of other people , open voting was no longer tolerable because undue
influence will be a threat to election, and this threat will no longer be tolerable;
and this threat will emanate from the hidden persuasion, intimidation and
frustration of the electorate and expose them to the influence of other peoples.
Here, the acceptable means of attacking such danger from out side, which is
accepted by the entire world state, that is recognized by UDHR is secret voting.

Further more, ICCPR not only obliges member states to make voting in secret but
also demands states to take positive measures to ensure the actual opportunity
for voters to cast their vote with out fear. Yet, secret voting is not the absolute
way in which voting is made secret. Voting, as universal suffrage, is also with
some limitation; that is some of the people are susceptible to opt their
representative on support of the persons with justified and factual reasons. For
instance, those disabled persons who are blind or persons with out fingers will
need other persons’ support. This is vividly stated under article(1) of our
electoral proclamation, which states ”any elector who needs assistant to put a

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mark on his ballot paper and insert it into the ballot box has the right to decide
his assistance”.

1.7.2. FREE AND FAIR SUFFRAGE

The other principle of election is free and fair suffrage; it is applicable to those
persons who have the right to participate on election, has the right to freely or
with out any coercion to choose their representative through fair mechanism of
participation. This principle is embodied both under intentional and domestic
instrument. For instance, UDHR of human right comprises this right by saying
the will of the people shall be express through free voting procedures. Locally,
electoral proclamation expressed the need for free and fair election process based
on the consent of the people.

However, the question is to what extent freedom and fairness is required and
what are the parameters of free and fair election? Electorates are with vested
right to freely choose their representatives so that their freedom is going to be
preserved. The main concern of freedom for electorate is to enable them to make
their own decision based on this free will.

Free and fair election process can be achieved via establishing effective,
impartial and non-discriminatory procedure for votes registration; setting up
ways in which appeal can be proved in case of denial or restriction of voting
rights by preserving the absolute right of electorate to choose in secret .The most
and decisive criteria of free and fair election is the electoral list; that is a decisive
feature of securing free and fair election conduct. This should be designed so as

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to enable or qualify citizens to be included, to prevent electoral abuses and fraud

by individuals, special interested groups, political parties and the government.

From the point of view of free suffrage, positive measures should be taken to
protect the principle of secret ballot suffrage. So, by making this, there will be
assurance of voters’ right to make their decision with out the influence of others.
This is expressed by international covenant of civil and political rights.

1.8 SUMMARY

This chapter has outlined some of the electoral systems in use throughout the
world. There are many systems, and an almost infinite number of variations.
Proponents of particular electoral systems tend to maintain that their particular
system is the best and that all others fail to measure up. However, it should be
stressed that there is no such thing that is described as the ‘best’ electoral system,
for no single system satisfies all possible requirements. The most appropriate
system for a particular location is the one that best satisfies those requirements
that are considered to be the most important by that particular region. A
satisfactory electoral system has been defined as one that ‘performs a range of
tasks reasonably well in a specific context even at the expense of doing none of
these tasks superbly well’.

Activities for the Chapter

Dear Students, discuss the following points.
1. What are electoral Systems?
2. What are the pros and cons of alternative electoral systems?

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3. What would you recommend if you are asked to advise about designing the
electoral system in either (a) Afghanistan (b) Iraq or (c) Indonesia? And why?
4. What are the effects and consequences of electoral systems on democracy?
5. Discuss the General principles of Election ?
6. Dear Student, what do you think characterizes a constitutional democratic
state?
7. Explain the following key terms
- Election - Secret voting
-Election System - Mixed system
-Electoral democracy - First-past-the-post
- Direct and indirect democracy - Second ballot
-Plurality System - Single transferable vote
-Majority system
- Proportional representation System
- Universal Suffrage

CHAPTER TWO
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE ON ELECTORAL PRACTICE

Unit Contents:
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Unit Objective
2.3 Electoral law in the United States of America.
2.3.1 Introduction
2.3.2 Electoral College
i. Origin of the name (Back ground)
ii. Nomination process

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iii. The Popular vote on Election Day

iv. Arguments against the Electoral College
v. Arguments in favor of the Electoral College
2.4 Electoral law in Developing countries.
2.4.1 South Africa
i. General Overview
ii. Advantaged of PR system in South Africa
2.4.2 India
i. Introduction
ii. Indian Electoral system
iii The Election Process
2.5 Summary

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2.1 Unit Objectives

By the end of this chapter, students are expected to:

 understand and comprehend the US electoral system,
 understand and comprehend the South African electoral system,
 understand and comprehend the Indian electoral system, and
 compare and contrast electoral systems of other countries with
the Ethiopian electoral system.

2.2 Electoral Law in the United States of America

2.2.1 Introduction

Elections for President and Vice President in the United States are indirect
elections in which voters cast ballots for a slate of electors of the U.S. Electoral
College, in turn, directly elect the President and Vice President. They occur
quadrennials (the count beginning with the year 1792) on Election Day, the
Tuesday between November 2nd and 8th. The most recent election occurred on
November 4, 2008, the next one is scheduled for November 6, 2012.

The process is regulated by a combination of both federal and state laws. Each
state allocates a number of Electoral College electors whose number is equal to
the number of its Senators and Representatives in the U.S. Congress.
Additionally, Washington D.C. is given a number of electors whose number is
equal to the number held by the smallest state. U.S. territories are not
represented in the Electoral College.

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Under the U.S. Constitution, each state legislature is allowed to designate a

method of choosing electors. Thus, the popular vote on Election Day is
conducted by the various states, not directly by the federal government. Once
chosen, the electors can vote for anyone. But, with rare exceptions like an
unpledged elector or faithless elector, they vote for their designated candidates
and their votes are certified by Congress in early January.

The nomination process, including the primary elections and the nominating
conventions, were never specified in the Constitution and were instead
developed by the states and the political parties. Article Two of the United States
Constitution originally established the method of presidential elections,
including the Electoral College. This was a result of a compromise between those
constitutional framers who wanted the Congress to choose the president, and
those who preferred a national popular vote. Each state allocates a number of
electors whose number is equal to the size of its delegation in both houses of
Congress combined. With the ratification of the 23rd Amendment to the
Constitution in 1961, the District of Columbia is also granted a number of
electors whose number is equal to the number of those held by the least
populous state. However, U.S. territories are not represented in the Electoral
College.

Constitutionally, the manner of choosing electors is determined within each state

by its legislature. During the first presidential election in 1789, only 6 of the 13
original states chose electors by any form of popular vote. Gradually, throughout
the years, the states began conducting popular elections to help choose their slate
of electors, resulting in the overall, nationwide and indirect election system that
exists today.

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Under the original system established by Article two, electors could cast two
votes to two different candidates for president. The candidate with the highest
number of votes becomes the president, and the second-place candidate becomes
the vice president. This presented a problem during the presidential election of
1800 when Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes as Thomas
Jefferson and challenged Jefferson's election to the office. In the end, Jefferson
was chosen as the president because of Alexander Hamilton's influence in the
House of Representatives. This added to the deep rivalry between Burr and
Hamilton, which resulted in their famous 1804 duel.

In response to the 1800 election, the 12th Amendment was passed, requiring
electors to cast two distinct votes: one for President and another for Vice
President. The Amendment also established rules to be applied when no
candidate wins a majority vote in the Electoral College. In the presidential
election of 1824, Andrew Jackson received a plurality, but not a majority, of
electoral votes cast. The election was thrown to the House of Representatives,
and John Quincy Adams was elected to the presidency. A deep rivalry was
fermented between Andrew Jackson and House Speaker Henry Clay, who had
also been a candidate in the election.

Although the nationwide popular vote does not directly determine the winner of
a presidential election, it does strongly correlate with who is the victor. In 52 of
the 56 total elections held so far (about 93 percent), the winner of the Electoral
College vote has also carried the national popular vote. However, candidates can
fail to get most votes in the nationwide popular vote in a Presidential election
and still win that election. In the 1824 election, Jackson won both the popular
vote and the electoral vote, but it was eventually decided by the House. Then, in

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1876, 1888 and 2000, the winner of electoral vote lost the popular vote outright.
Numerous constitutional amendments have been submitted seeking to replace
the Electoral College with a direct popular vote, but none has ever successfully
passed both Houses of Congress. Another alternative proposal is the National
Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an interstate compact whereby individual
participating states agree to allocate their electors based on the winner of the
national popular vote instead of just their respective statewide results.

2.2.2 Electoral College

i. Origin of the Name (Background)

Although the United States Constitution refers to "Electors" or "electors", the
name "Electoral College" — or any other name — is never used to describe the
collective vote of the electors. It was not until the early 1800s that the name
"Electoral College" came into general usage as the collective designation for the
electors selected to cast votes for President and Vice President. It was first
written into federal law in 1845, and today the term appears in 3 U.S.C. § 4, in the
section heading and in the text as "college of electors."

At the Constitutional Convention, the delegates used the Virginia Plan as the
basis for discussions, as the Virginia delegation had proposed it first. The
Virginia Plan called for the Executive to be elected by the Legislature. Delegates
from a majority of states agreed to this mode of election. However, a Committee
of Eleven was formed to work out various details including the mode of election
of the President, recommended instead that the election be by a group of people
apportioned among the states in the same numbers as their representatives in
Congress (the formula for which had been resolved in lengthy debates resulting

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in the Connecticut Compromise and Three-fifths compromise), but chosen by

each state "in such manner as its Legislature may direct." Committee member
Gouverneur Morris explained the reasons for the change; among others, there
were fears of "intrigue" if the President was chosen by a small group of men who
met together regularly, as well as concerns for the independence of the President
if he was elected by the Congress. Though some delegates preferred popular
election, the Convention approved the Committee's proposal, with minor
modifications, on September 6, 1787.4

The design of the Electoral College was based upon several assumptions and
anticipations of the Framers of the Constitution as stated below:
1. Each state would employ the district system of allocating electors.
2. Each presidential elector would exercise independent judgment when
voting.
3. Candidates would not pair together on the same ticket with assumed
placements toward each office of President and Vice President.
4. The system as designed would rarely produce a winner, thus sending the
election to Congress.

On these facts, scholars have described the intended role of the Electoral College
as simply a body that would nominate candidates from which the Congress
would then select a President and Vice President.

ii. Nominating Process

4
Chang S "Updating the Electoral College: The National Popular Vote Legislation". Harvard Journal on
Legislation ,Vol 44 (2007)(205, at 208).

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The modern nominating process of U.S. presidential elections currently consists

of two major parts: a series of presidential primary elections and caucuses held in
each state, and the presidential nominating conventions held by each political
party. This process was never included in the United States Constitution, and
thus evolved over time by the political parties to clear the field of candidates.

The primary elections and caucuses are run by state and local governments.
Some states only hold primary elections, some only hold caucuses, and others
use a combination of both. These primaries and caucuses are staggered between
January and June before the federal election, with Iowa and New Hampshire,
traditionally holding the first presidential state caucus and primary respectively.

Like the general election, presidential caucuses or primaries are indirect

elections. The major political parties officially vote for their presidential
candidate at their respective nominating conventions, usually all held in the
summer before the federal election. Depending on each state's law and state's
political party rules, when voters cast ballots for a candidate in a presidential
caucus or primary, they may be voting to award delegates "bound" to vote for a
candidate at the presidential nominating conventions, or they may simply be
expressing an opinion that the state party is not bound to follow in selecting
delegates to their respective national convention.

iii. The popular Vote on Election Day

Under the constitution, the manner for choosing electors for the Electoral College
is determined by each state's legislature. Today, the states and the District of
Columbia each conduct their own popular elections on Election Day to help
determine their respective slate of electors. Thus, the presidential election is

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really an amalgamation of separate and simultaneous state elections instead of a

single national election run by the federal government. Like any other election in
the United States, the eligibility of an individual for voting is set out in the
Constitution and is regulated at state level. The Constitution states that suffrage
cannot be denied on grounds of race or color, sex or age for citizens who are
eighteen years or older. Beyond these basic qualifications, it is the responsibility
of state legislatures to regulate voter eligibility.

Generally, voters are required to vote on a ballot where they select the candidate
of their choice. The presidential ballot is a vote "for the electors of a candidate"
meaning that the voter is not voting for the candidate, but endorsing a slate of
electors pledged to vote for a specific Presidential and Vice Presidential
candidate.

Many voting ballots allow a voter to “blanket vote” for all candidates in a
particular political party or to select individual candidates on a line by line
voting system. Which candidates appear on the voting ticket is determined
through a legal process known as ballot access. Usually, the size of the
candidate's political party and the results of the major nomination conventions
determine who is pre-listed on the presidential ballot. Thus, the presidential
election ticket will not list every candidate running for President, but only those
who have secured a major party nomination or the size of their political party
warrants having been formally listed. Laws are in effect to have other candidates
pre-listed on a ticket, provided that enough voters have endorsed the candidate,
usually through a signature list.
The final way to be elected for president is to have one's name written at the time
of election as a write-in candidate. This is used for candidates who did not fulfill

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the legal requirements to be pre-listed on the voting ticket. It is also used by

voters to express a distaste for the listed candidates, by writing an alternative
candidate for president such as Mickey Mouse or comedian Stephen Colbert
(whose application was voted down by the South Carolina Democratic Party). In
any event, a write-in candidate has never won an election for President of the
United States.

Because U.S. territories are not represented in the Electoral College, U.S. citizens
in those areas do not vote in the general election for President. Guam has held
straw polls for president since the 1980 election to draw attention to this fact
received votes from a majority of the electors. After the choosing of the President,
the person with the most electoral votes among the remaining candidates would
become the Vice President. If no one received a majority of the votes, the decision
would be made by the House of Representatives.

Each state's legislature determines how its electors are to be chosen. 5 Currently,
all states choose electors by popular election on the date specified by federal law.
Forty eight states and Washington D.C. employ the winner-takes-all method,
each awarding its electors as a single bloc. Two states, Maine and Nebraska,
select one elector within each congressional district by popular vote, and
additionally select the remaining two electors by the aggregate statewide
popular vote. The current system of choosing electors is called the "short ballot."
In all states, voters choose among slates of candidates for the associated elector;
only a few states list the names of the electors on the ballot. In some states, if a

5
United States Constitution, Art.icle II, Section 1. "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature
thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the
State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or
Profit under the United States, shall be appointed as an Elector."

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voter wishes to write in a candidate for President, the voter also is required to
write-in the names of candidates for elector.

iv. Arguments against the Electoral College

1. Irrelevancy of National Popular Vote

The elections of 1876, 1888 and 2000 produced an Electoral College winner who
did not receive the plurality of the nationwide popular vote. In 1824, there were
six states in which electors were legislatively appointed rather than popularly
elected. So, the true national popular vote is uncertain. When no candidate
received a majority of electoral votes in 1824; the election was decided by the
House of Representatives and thus could be considered distinct from the latter
three elections in which all of the states had popular selection of electors.
Opponents of the Electoral College claim that such outcomes do not logically
follow the normative concept of how a democratic system should function.

Outcomes of this sort are attributable to the federal nature of the system. From
such a configuration, argue supporters of the Electoral College, candidates must
build a popular base that is geographically broader and more diverse in voter
interests. This feature is not a logical consequence of having intermediate
elections of Presidents rather the winner-takes-all method of allocating each
state's slate of electors with the exception of Maine and Nebraska. Allocation of
electors in proportion to the state's popular vote would reduce this effect.

Scenarios exhibiting this outcome typically result when the winning candidate
has won the requisite configuration of states (and thus their votes) by small
margins while his opponent captured large voter margins in the remaining

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states. Given the allocation of electors in 2000, it is possible a candidate could win
with only a small margin of support in the 11 largest states. In such an example,
the very large margins secured by the losing candidate in the other states would
aggregate to well over 50 percent of the ballots cast nationally. Claims that the
Electoral College suppresses the "popular will" are therefore open to debate.

A result of the present functionality of the Electoral College is that the national
popular vote bears no legal or factual significance on determining the outcome of
the election. Since the national popular vote is irrelevant, both voters and
candidates are assumed to base their campaign strategies around the existence of
the Electoral College; any close race has candidates campaigning to maximize
electoral votes by capturing coveted swing states, not to maximize national
popular vote totals.

2. Focus on Large Swing States

Most states use a winner-take-all system, in which the candidate with the most
votes in that state receives all of the state's electoral votes. This gives candidates
an incentive to pay the most attention to states without a clear favorite, such as
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. For example, California, Texas, and New York,
in spite of having the largest populations, have in recent elections been
considered safe for a particular party (Democratic for California and New York,
Republican for Texas), and therefore candidates typically devote relatively few
resources, in both time and money, to such states.

It is possible to win the election by winning eleven states and disregarding the
rest of the country. If one ticket were to take California (55 votes), Texas (34),
New York (31), Florida (27), Illinois (21), Pennsylvania (21), Ohio (20), Michigan

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(17), Georgia (15), New Jersey (15), and North Carolina (15), that ticket would
have 271 votes, which would be enough to win. In the close elections of 2000 and
2004, these eleven states gave 111 votes to Republican candidate George W. Bush
and 160 votes to Democratic candidates Al Gore and John Kerry. In 2008, the
Democratic candidate Barack Obama won nine of these eleven states (for 222
electoral votes), with Republican John McCain taking a combined 49 electoral
votes from Texas and Georgia.

Proponents of the Electoral College claim that adoption of the popular vote
would simply shift the disproportionate focus to large cities at the expense of
rural areas. Candidates might also be inclined to campaign hardest in their base
areas to maximize turnout among core supporters, and ignore more closely
divided parts of the country. Whether such developments would be good or bad
is a matter of normative political theory and political interests of the voters in
question.

3. Discourages Turnout and Participation

Except in the few closely fought swing states, it does not matter how many
people turn out to vote. The Electoral College eliminates any advantage to a
political party or campaign for encouraging voters to turn out, except in those
swing states.6 If the presidential election were decided by a national popular
vote, in contrast, campaigns and parties would have a strong incentive to work
to increase turnout everywhere. Individuals would similarly have a strong
incentive to persuade their friends and neighbors to turn out to vote. The
differences in turnout between swing states and non-swing states under the
current electoral college system suggest that replacing the Electoral College with

6
Nivola, Pietro Thinking About Political Polarization, Brookings Institution Policy Brief, (January 2005), Available
at http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2005/01politics_nivola/pb139.pdf (visited dec/2009).

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direct election by popular vote would likely increase turnout and participation
significantly.

4. Allows states to disenfranchise citizens without penalty

If a state makes it harder for its citizens to vote, whether by making voting more
difficult, or by legally disfranchising some citizens (such as those convicted of
felonies) from voting, and turnout in the state is reduced as a result, the Electoral
College insulates the state from being penalized. In fact, legal scholars Akhil
Amar and Vikram Amar point out that the original compromise of the Electoral
College was largely due to this very fact. Direct national election of the President
(which was proposed by a delegate from Pennsylvania) would have enabled the
North to outvote the South because "the South would get no credit for its half-
million slaves, none of whom, of course, would be able to vote. The Electoral
College system that ultimately emerged gave the South partial—three-fifths—
credit for its slaves." The states were thus allowed to disfranchise large numbers
of citizens while maintaining the same influence in the Electoral College. Akhil
and Vikram Amar note, "The founders' system also encouraged the continued
disfranchisement of women. In a direct national election system, any state that
gave women the vote would automatically have doubled its national clout.
Under the Electoral College, however, a state had no such incentive to increase
the franchise; as with slaves, what mattered was how many women lived in a
state, not how many were empowered."
The Electoral College continues to insulate states from losing any influence when
they disfranchise or suppress the votes of their citizens, whether through voter
suppression, through making it more difficult or expensive to vote, or through
actually taking away some citizens' votes by law. "Even today, a state with low
voter turnout gets precisely the same number of electoral votes as if it had a high

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turnout. By contrast, a well-designed direct election system could spur states to

get out the vote."

5 Favors less populous states

As a consequence of giving more per capita voting power to the less populated
states, the Electoral College gives disproportionate power to those states'
interests. Democrats often assert that the Electoral College system favors the
Republican Party by disproportionately boosting the electoral weight of the less
populous states, which have tended historically to vote Republican. In fact, on all
three occasions that the electoral vote winner and popular vote winner has been
different, the Republican party won the election. While this argument does apply
to the 2000 election, it is debatable whether it helps to explain the 1876 and 1888
results, since in these cases the small states were more evenly divided.

In one countervailing analysis, the Banzhaf Power Index (BPI) model based on
probability theory was used to test the hypothesis that citizens of small states
accrue more election power. It was found that in 1990, individual voters in
California, the largest state, had 3.3 times more individual power to choose a
President than voters of Montana, the largest of the minimum 3 elector states.
Banzhaf's method has been criticized for treating votes like coin-flips, and more
empirically-based models of voting yield results which seem to favor larger
states less.
v. Arguments in favor of the Electoral College

1. Prevents an urban-centric victory

Proponents of the Electoral College claim the Electoral College prevents a
candidate from winning the Presidency by simply winning in heavily populated

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urban areas. This means that candidates must make a much wider appeal than
they would if they simply had to win the national popular vote. 7

2. Maintains the federal character of the nation

The United States of America is a federal coalition which consists of component
states. Proponents of the current system argue that the collective opinion of even
a small state merits attention at the federal level greater than that given to a
small, though numerically-equivalent, portion of a very populous state. The
system also allows each state the freedom, within constitutional bounds, to
design its own laws on voting and enfranchisement without an undue incentive
to maximize the number of votes cast.

For many years early in the nation's history, up until the Jacksonian Era, many
states appointed their electors by a vote of the state legislature, and proponents
argue that, in the end, the election of the President must still come down to the
decisions of each state, or the federal nature of the United States will give way to
a single massive, centralized government.

3. Enhances status of minority groups

Far from decreasing the power of minority groups by depressing voter turnout,
proponents argue that, by making the votes of a given state an all-or-nothing
affair, minority groups can provide the critical edge that allows a candidate to
win. This encourages candidates to court a wide variety of such minorities and
interest groups.

4. Encourages stability through the two-party system

7
Berg-Andersson(supra note 7)

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Many proponents of the Electoral College see its negative effect on third parties
as a good thing. They argue that the two party system has provided stability
through its ability to change during times of rapid political and cultural change.
They believe it protects the most powerful office in the country from control by
what these proponents view as regional minorities until they can moderate their
views to win broad, long-term support from across the entire nation.

5. Death, Legally Defined Disability to Execute the Office or Legal

Disqualification from Office of a candidate
The Constitution grants each state the right to appoint electors in a manner
chosen by that state. While it is common to think of the electoral votes
impersonally, as mere numbers, the Electoral College is in fact made up of real
people (usually party regulars of the party whose candidate wins each state)
with the capacity to adapt to unusual situations. That capacity might be
particularly important if, for example, a candidate were to die or become in some
other way legally disabled or disqualified to serve as President or Vice President.
Advocates of the current system argue that these electors could then choose a
suitable replacement (who would most likely come from the same party of the
candidate who won the election) more competently than could the general
voting public. Furthermore, the time period during which such a death or the
onset of such a legal disability or disqualification might call for such an
adaptation extends, under the Electoral College system, from before Election Day
(many states cannot change ballots at a late stage) until the day the electors vote
(the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December).

Thus, until the electors cast their votes, it is not a federal issue, per se, but a
state's rights issue and state laws (should) regulate the situation. In Virginia, for

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instance, the law clearly states that the electors must vote for the name of the
candidate whom they represent on the ballot, and therefore these electors are not
able to adapt to unusual situations, unless they are willing to violate the law, and
suffer the penalties for so doing.

6. Isolation of election problems

Some supporters of the Electoral College note that it isolates the impact of any
election fraud, or other such problems, to the state where it occurs. It prevents
instances where a party dominant in one state may dishonestly inflate the votes
for a candidate and thereby affect the election outcome. For instance, recounts
occur only on a state-by-state basis, not nationwide.

7. Neutralizes turnout disparities between states

There are factors that affect the turnout around the country. Weather can vary
greatly across a large nation, rain or winter storms can impact voter participation
in affected states. In addition, when a state has another high profile contest, such
as a hotly contested Senate or gubernatorial race, turnout in that state can be
affected. Because the allocation of electoral votes is independent of each state's
turnout, the Electoral College neutralizes the effect of all such turnout disparities
between states.

8. Maintains separation of powers

The Constitution separated government into three branches that check each other
to minimize threats to liberty and encourage deliberation of governmental acts.
Under the original framework, only members of the House of Representatives
were directly elected by the people, with members of the Senate chosen by state

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legislatures, the President by the Electoral College, and the judiciary by the
President and the Senate. The President was not directly elected in part due to
fears that he could assert a national popular mandate that would undermine the
legitimacy of the other branches, and potentially result in tyranny.

2.3 Electoral Law in Developing Countries

2.3.1 SOUTH AFRICA

I. General Overview
South Africa’s transition through the National Peace Accord 1993, which paved
the way for the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) forum, was
negotiated with the principles of establishing a multi-party democracy in the
country. The document ensured that the stakeholders (political parties, the police
and security forces) agreed on certain principles or rather the codes of conduct
while the political groups had in common a vision to establish a multiparty
democracy in a non-violent and peaceful manner.

The constitution adopted in 1996, two years after the first democratic elections,
prescribed for an electoral system that “results in general, in proportional
representation”. As a result, South Africa chose to have a Proportional
Representation (PR) closed list system (herein referred to as a PR system) for an
electoral system at national and provincial level of government. At the local
government level, the country has a mixed electoral system where half of the
councillors are elected through a PR list process while the other half is elected
through local representation at ward level (that is, by a constituency system).

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The absence of an electoral threshold means the country’s national electoral

system is truly proportional, that is, every vote counts. There are currently (since
2007) 15 political parties represented in the National Assembly, this is up from 7
in 1994, and 13 in the 1999 elections. There is even a one-member party in
Parliament. The increase in the number of political parties across legislatures was
also a result of the floor-crossing legislation adopted in 2002 by which Parliament
amended the Constitution to allow elected representatives to change their
political affiliations without losing their seats at national, provincial and local
levels. One, therefore, can assert that South Africa’s Parliament personifies the
demographics of its people in the diversity of its make-up and its opinions,
which transmits and directs this diversity in the political process of legislation
making.

There is currently an ongoing debate on whether the electoral system should be

revised. This is because the representatives in national and provincial legislatures
are elected by their respective parties through a party list system instead of being
elected by the people through a First Past The Post (FPTP) system, often referred
to as a Constituency system. The proponents of the electoral change argue that
Members of Parliament (MPs) are more accountable to their political parties in
the PR system, therefore, eliminating the basic tenet of accountability in a
democracy.
Elections in South Africa take place on national, provincial, and local levels.
South Africa has a multi-party democracy with the African National Congress in
power with a significant majority since 1994. Although South Africa's democracy
is rated as flawed in the Democracy Index Survey conducted by the Economist,
its score for electoral process is the same as that of the United States and Japan. A

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system of proportional representation, incorporating party lists, is in place,

which makes it possible for small parties to achieve representation in parliament.

The parliament has two chambers, and elects the president. The National
Assembly has 400 members, and is elected for a five year term. The National
Council of Provinces has 90 members, and is elected for a five year term by the
provincial parliaments. The National Assembly and Provincial Councils are
elected when General Elections are held. The National Assembly seats are
allocated using a proportional representation system with closed lists. Seats are
first allocated according to the (integer part of the) Droop quota. Thereafter, the
most five seats are allocated using the largest remainder method (using the
Droop quota). Any additional seats are allocated amongst the parties who then
already will have seats using the highest averages method.

Voters have one vote at elections to the National Assembly. Seats are allocated in
ten multi-member constituencies via party lists. One constituency is a national or
'at large' constituency and nine others represent each of the nine provinces. The
lists were called the national lists and regional lists in the 2009 election. The word
'Regional' was used to avoid confusion with the provincial legislature elections
held at the same time. Previously, they were called 'National to National' and
'Provincial to National'. Parties decide whether they want to set up both national
and provincial lists or only provincial lists. If all parties choose national lists,
then half of the members will come from the national 'at large' constituency and
half from the nine provincial constituencies. If no party chooses a national list
then all members will come from the nine provincial constituencies. In the 2009
election, one party chose not to use a national list resulting in 168 members being

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elected from the national constituency and 232 from the nine provincial
constituencies.

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament
of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution, which came into full
effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and
to many other upper houses of legislatures throughout the world, in that its
purpose is to represent the specific viewpoints of individual provinces.

The NCOP consists of representatives from the nine provinces. Each province
has 10 delegates in the NCOP. These delegates are elected by the Provincial
Legislature according to the strength of the parties in the legislature. Members of
the provincial delegation in NCOP are directly accountable to the Provincial
Legislature. However, they also have an obligation to take account of the
national interest. The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is
also represented in the NCOP, but does not have the same kind of power as
provinces.

Election to the NCOP is indirect. Citizens vote for provincial legislatures. Each of
these legislatures then nominates a delegation of ten members to the NCOP. The
delegation, which includes the premier, must reflect the proportion of each
political party in the provincial legislature. Thus, each of South Africa's nine
provinces has equal representation in the Council regardless of population. A
delegation from the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) may
also attend sittings of the NCOP, but may not vote.

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The NCOP has two decision making mechanisms depending on the type of Bill.
In the first mechanism, bills are passed if the majority of members vote for that
bill. In the second, each provincial delegation may cast one vote. In such cases,
legislation is passed if five of the nine provinces vote in favour. A bill proposing
a Constitutional Amendment requires the approval of six provincial delegations
before going to the National Assembly for approval. The NCOP may consider,
amend, propose amendments, or reject legislation. It must consider all national
bills, and also has the power to initiate legislation which relates only to the
provinces or in areas in which both the national and provincial governments
have powers to make law.

Members to the local governing councils in the municipalities and mayors are
elected in municipal elections.

ii. Advantages of a PR system in South Africa

South Africa’s current electoral system is truly representative and this is reflected
at both national and provincial legislatures through the diversity in the members.
There are four principles that run through the current electoral system:
• Fairness: every vote counts and all votes are equal (hence, there is no
electoral threshold).This is also based on the history of the country where
for a long period Blacks and Africans in particular were disenfranchised
under the Apartheid regime.
• Inclusivity: to ensure demographic and political inclusivity
• Simplicity: it would accommodate even the illiterate in the society
• Accountability: to live to the connotation that democracy is the
governance of the people by the people.

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There is a consensus that the PR system has produced a system where the
minority groups have a voice in the legislation-making sphere of government
regardless of the political majority attained by the African National Congress
(ANC). The preoccupation of South Africa during the negotiations was the
concern of the representation of minorities in a system dominated by a political
majority. The ANC in particular was concerned about the dangers of too much
local representation within a racially divided urban system undermining
attempts to create a municipality-wide focus on longer-term development issues.
The ANC, for example, has used the PR system internally to ensure that the lists
are representative of marginal and minority groups in the country.

The ANC claims that it attempts to transform society. Hence, the party’s
guidelines for its internal list processes that is used to elect MPs reflects key
objectives of creating a united, non-sexist, non-racial and democratic society. The
guidelines normally include factors such as geographical representivity, racial,
ethnic, linguistic representation, skills, interest groups, 50% representation of
women in all party structures in order to comply with the party’s Constitution.

Although the above highlights the success of a PR system, the setback of this
system is the power of the party in determining representation and the benefits
that accrue to people elected to positions of leadership in legislatures. This
scenario creates a political milieu whereby it is in the interests of the aspirant and
the elected politicians to behave in ways that please the party leadership, rather
than Constituents.

It is, therefore, evident that the current electoral system has done very well in
ensuring and maintaining three of its principles, that is, it remains fair, inclusive
and simple. Accountability, however, remains a challenge.

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2.3.2 INDIA

i. Introduction
India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April
2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million (larger than the
European Union and United States combined), it was the largest democratic
election in the world to date. By constitutional requirement, elections to the Lok
Sabha (lower house of the parliament of India) must be held every five years, or
whenever Parliament is dissolved by the President of India.

ii. Indian Electoral System

The Parliament of India comprises the head of the country — the president —
and the two Houses which are the legislature. The President of India is elected
for a five-year term by an electoral college consisting of members of federal and
state legislatures. The Parliament of India has two chambers. The House of the
People (Lok Sabha) has 545 members, 543 members elected for a five-year term
in single-seat constituencies and two members appointed to represent the Anglo-
Indian community, (as envisaged by the Constitution of India, as of now the
members of Lok Sabha are 545, out of which 543 are elected for 5-year term and 2
members represent the Anglo-Indian community). The two unelected members
are a relic from the past. The 550 members are elected under the plurality ('first
past the post') electoral system.
Council of States (Rajya Sabha) has 245 members, 233 members elected for a six-
year term, with one-third retiring every two years. The members are elected by
legislators of the state and union (federal) territories. The elected members are
chosen under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single
Transferable Vote. The twelve nominated members are usually an eclectic mix of
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eminent artists (including actors), scientists, jurists, sportspersons, businessmen

and journalists and common people.

iii. The Election Commission of India

Elections in India are conducted by the Election Commission of India, an
authority created under the Constitution. It is a well established convention that
once the election process commences, no courts intervene until the results are
declared by the election commission. During the elections, vast powers are
assigned to the election commission to the extent that it can function as a civil
court, if needed.

The Election Commission of India is an autonomous, quasi-judiciary

constitutional body of India. Its mission is to conduct free and fair elections in
India. It was established in January 25, 1950 under Article 324 of the Constitution
of India. The commission presently consists of a Chief Election Commissioner
and two Election Commissioners, appointed by the president.

The Election Commission enjoys complete autonomy and is insulated from any
kind of executive interference. The body also functions as a quasi-judiciary body
in matters of electoral disputes and other matters involving the conduct of
elections. Its recommendations and opinions are binding on the President of
India. However, the decisions of the body are liable to independent judiciary
reviews by courts acting on electoral petitions.

The Election Commission is responsible for planning and executing a whole

amount of complex operations that go into the conduct of elections. During the
elections, the entire Central (Federal) and State government machinery including

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para-military forces and the Police is deemed to be on deputation to the Election

Commission, which takes effective control of personnel, movable and immovable
Government Properties it deems necessary for successful completion of the
electoral process. Apart from conducting elections to representative bodies, the
Election Commission has been on many occasions, called upon by the Courts to
oversee and execute elections to various governing bodies of other autonomous
organizations such as Syndicates of Universities, statutory professional bodies,
etc. The following are the principal functions of the Election Commission of
India:
1. demarcation of Constituencies,
2. preparation of Electoral Rolls,
3. recognition of Political parties and allotment of symbols,
4. scrutiny of nomination papers,
5. conduct of polls, and
6. scrutiny of election expenses of candidates

iv. Electoral Process

Electoral Process in India takes at least a month for state assembly elections with
the duration increasing further for the General Elections. Publishing of electoral
rolls is a key process that happens before the elections and is vital for the conduct
of elections in India. The Indian Constitution sets the eligibility of an individual
for voting. Any person who is a citizen of India and who is above 18 years of age
is eligible to enroll as a voter in the electoral rolls. It is the responsibility of the
eligible voters to enroll their names. Normally, voter registrations are allowed in
the latest one week prior to the last date for nomination of candidates.

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Pre elections
At first, before the elections the dates of nomination, polling and counting takes
place. The model code of conduct comes in force from the day the dates are
announced. No party is allowed to use the government resources for
campaigning. The code of conduct stipulates that campaigning should be
stopped 48 hours prior to polling day. For Indian states, pre-election is a must.

Voting Day
Campaigning ends the day before the voting day. Government schools and
colleges are chosen as polling stations. The Collector of each district is in charge
of polling. Government servants are employed to many of the polling stations.
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are being increasingly used instead of ballot
boxes to prevent election fraud via booth capturing, which is heavily prevalent in
certain parts of India. An indelible ink manufactured by the Mysore Paints and
Varnish Limited usually is applied on the left index finger of the voter as an
indicator that the voter has cast his vote. This practice has been followed since
the 1962 general elections to prevent bogus voting.

Post elections
After the Election Day, the EVMs are stored in a strong room under heavy
security. After the different phases of the elections are completed, a day is set to
count the votes. The votes are tallied typically, the verdict is known within
hours. The candidate who has mustered the most votes is declared the winner of
the constituency. The party or coalition that has won the most seats is invited by
the President to form the new government. The coalition or party must prove its

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majority in the floor of the house (Lok Sabha) in a vote of confidence by

obtaining a simple majority (minimum 50%) of the votes in the house.

Activities for Chapter Two

Dear student, assess your progress with the following questions.
1. Describe the electoral law system of USA and compare and contrast
it with our electoral system.
2. What do you understand by electoral College in the U.S?
3. Describe and explain the electoral system of South Africa and its
contribution towards the democratization of the country.
4. Describe the electoral law system of Indian and compare and
contrast it with our electoral system.

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CHAPTER THREE
ELECTION IN ETHIOPIA
Unit Contents:
3.1. Introduction
3.2 Unit Objectives
3.3. Brief History of Election in Ethiopia
3.3.1 Election during the Emperor Era
3.3.2 Election during the Derg regime
3.3.3 Election during the transitional Period
3.3.4 The 1992, 1995, 2000 and 2005 Elections
3.4. Major problems observed in the Ethiopian Election History
3.5 Current Legal Framework of Election in Ethiopia
3.6 Summary

3.1 INTRODUCTION

This unit is a survey of the election history of Ethiopia. It seeks to develop the
historical aspect of election starting from the emperor era up to the 2005 election
of Ethiopia. The unit draws the distinctions among the various major elections
held in the country. Section one is about the election history of Ethiopia in
chronological order. The second section deals with the major problem observed
during elections held specially during the 1992 – 2005 democratic election of the
country. Finally, the last section provides a highlight of the current legal frame of
election, and detail discussions of these laws will be made in the subsequent
units.

3.2. UNIT OBJECTIVES

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At the end of this unit, students will be able to:

 explain the election process during the Emperor Era,
 define the election process during the Derg regime,
 explain the Election process during the transitional period,
 compare and contrast the various major election processes of the three
regime,
 examine the different major problems observed during the few democratic
elections held in the country, and
 determine the relevance of the current legal frame work of election in
Ethiopia for the establishment of democracy in the country.

3.3 A Brief History Of Election In Ethiopia

Though it is an ancient country, Ethiopia got an effective central government in

1889 when Menelik II became an Emperor. Since then, the country passed
through the following systems, (Political evolution since 1889).

1889-1935: Absolute monarchy.

1936-1941: Italian occupation.
1942--1974: Absolute Monarchy.
1975-1984: Military rule.
1985-1987: A mix of military and one-party dictatorship.
1988-1991: One party rule (Worker’s Party of Ethiopia seized
power).
1992-1995: Transitional government.
1996- to date : Emerging democracy.
3.3.1 Election and the Emperor Era

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In Ethiopia, election seems to have emerged since kings started to appoint

landlords in a nearby regime. However, it was only after the enactment of the
1930 constitution that landlords and elderly advisors of the king were elected in
accordance with the law. Accordingly, by 1931, the first Ethiopian
Council/Parliament was established and it functioned until 1935.

After the expulsion of the Italian troops, the second election in the history of
Ethiopia was conducted in 1942. The then parliament had stayed in office until
1955, which is for 14 years, advising the king. Since the 1955 Revised
Constitution had been promulgated and until 1974 when the Derg assumed
power, elections were conducted. As a result, one can conclude that, in one way
or another during the Emperor era, the public were made to have certain
understanding about election.

3.3.2 Election during the Derg regime

The Derg government, when it assumed power in 1974, dissolved the parliament
members elected during the emperors time, and suspended election for mean
while. As the Derg was follower of the communist ideology of the eastern world,
and its legitimacy was at stake due to internal problems and public strikes, there
were grounds for it to think about election.

The Derg has enacted a constitution in 1987 to alleviate the problem of public
strike and to change the external military feature. According to this constitution
public representatives were made to be elected. However, as the constitution it
self was the direct copy of the constitution of the then Soviet Union, it could not
help bring about free and direct election in the country.

3.3.3 Election during the Transitional Period

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Following the ouster of the military regime in Ginbot 20, 1991 (Ethiopian
Calendar), EPRDF has been taking concrete measures to democratize the
country. The foundation for multi-party system of government was laid at the
July 1-5, 1991 conference of all political parties and a number of armed groups.
The conference, held in Addis Ababa, was the first ever peaceful dialogue
between different political parties of the country. A delegation of 24 nationality
movements and representatives of armed groups such as the Ethiopian
Democratic Union (EDU), Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Afar Liberation Front
(ALF) and others took part in this conference. Subsequently, some 29 political
parties attending the conference shared 82 seats of the Transitional Government,
out of which 32 seats went to EPRDF, 12 seats to Oromo Liberation Front, 4 seats
to Sidama Liberation Front, 3 seats each to Oromo Islamic Liberation Front, Afar
Liberation Front, and the Islamic Front Liberation Organization. The rest seats
were shared by the remaining parties. The conference, thus, heralded democracy
to the country that languished in tyranny for centuries.

Thus, it is not difficult to understand that the then election was pioneer in its
kind and coverage although the election was not perfect. There were some
problems encountered. To mention some:
 boycotting of some political parties from the election,
 the establishment of the election board was through the composition of
political parties and hence highly criticized for being partial,
 armed groups interference in certain areas (e.g. Region 4), and
 financial problem of the election board.

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3.3.4 The 1992, 1995, 2000 and the 2005 Elections of Ethiopia

The First Multi-party Election (1992)

After the establishment of the transitional government in June 1991 and
enactment of the Charter, there was a plan to conduct election with in three
months of time to establish regional administration. However, for different
political reasons, that intended election was not realized until June 1992.

Ethiopia exercised its first ever contested multi-party election in June 21,
1992.Only the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which took part in the July
conference that formed the TG, won 12 seats while EPRDF won the remaining
seats. The election comprised not less than 26,000 constituencies. Fifty-two
political parties and around 3,000 individual candidates had participated.

Election 1995
After President Mengistu Haile Mariam fled the country, a national conference in
July 1991 led to the creation of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE).
The TGE's main goal was to establish a Constitution for a federal republic, as
well as create orderly elections for the legislative arm of that republic. On 5
January 1995, the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) set the date for the
general elections which would mark the end of the transition for May of that
year.

At this juncture seven national parties and 57 regional political parties secured
certificates of legal personality from the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia
(NEBE). The first federal legislative election had also independent candidates.
Opposition political parties, though registered, boycotted the election. All

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Amhara People's Organization (AAPO), Council of Alternative Forces for Peace

and Democracy in Ethiopia (CAFPDE), and Ethiopian Democratic Unity Party
(EDUP) were among the parties that boycotted the 1995 legislative election.
Despite this, 94 percent of the 21,337,379 registered voters cast their ballots. After
a long and remarkable competition, over 40 of the parties won seats in the
parliament. The election was monitored by OAU and local observers such as AD-
NET. Observers described the election as free and fair, with minor irregularities.
The process had, therefore, immense contribution to the ongoing
democratization in the country. Out of the 546 parliament seats, Ethiopian
Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front won 483 seats, other political parties 53
and independent candidates 10.

To handle the millions of citizens, who came to cast their votes, 40,000 polling
stations were opened. In addition to local observers, Britain, the United States,
Italy, France, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada,
Finland, Norway, and Russia provided observers and the Organization of
African Unity deployed 81 observers. The election process was reported to be
peaceful with a high turnout in most polling stations throughout the country.

Election 2000
Unlike the past election, all parties and independent candidates competed in this
election. Out of the 65 political parties, 57 were regional and the remaining were
national. What made the May 2000 parliamentary election different from the
preceding ones was the level of competition. Drawing lessons from their past
mistakes, a number of opposition political parties decided to take part in the
election and competed fiercely. Subsequently, close to 90 percent of the
21,834,806 registered voters elected 35 political parties. EPRDF won 481 seats and
affiliated parties secured 37 seats, while opposition parties and independent

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candidates won 39 seats. During this election, there were tabled programs of
different political parties which convinced many that the overall process was a
healthy development in the democratization of the country.

According to observers organized by Ethiopian Human Rights Council, local

U.N. staff, diplomatic missions, political parties, and domestic non-governmental
organizations, both the general and the regional elections that year were
generally free and fair in most areas; however, serious election irregularities
occurred in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR),
particularly in the Hadiya Zone. As a result, the National Election Board of
Ethiopia (NEBE) investigated the complaints and determined that many of them
had merit.

Election 2005
The clearly stated objective of the ruling party during the third national and
regional Election was to hold a democratic, free and fair election. Forums which
enabled the different political parties to air their alternative policies and
programs were accordingly broadcast through the state TV and Radio. Media
coverage was also fairly distributed. Some 46 percent of the allocated air time for
electoral campaign was given to opposition parties and 54 percent to the ruling
party.

There were 32,000 polling stations throughout the country. Over 26 million
people were registered to vote. The turn-out on election day was 90%. Election
campaigns were conducted for more than six months throughout the country.
Hotly contested debates between the opposition and ruling party candidates
were conducted. Town hall meetings and huge rallies were organized. On
Sunday, 15th May 2005 voting took place throughout the country, with the

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exception of the Somali region where elections took place on 15 th August. Both
elections took place peacefully and the Ethiopian people exercised their right to
elect representatives of their choice in this historic election in their country.

More than 300 foreign observers, including EU, Carter Center and AU, as well as
more than 5,000 local civic society representatives were invited to observe the
election across the nation. Out of the close to 26 million registered voters, 22.6
million turned out and more than 5,900 individuals representing 39 political
parties and independent candidates stood for election. This was indeed the first
exciting election in Ethiopia. The ruling party won four regional states and lost
Addis Ababa city. Other regional parties also won in the developing states. The
ruling party acknowledged its defeat in the capital and some major towns. The
opposition ultimately managed to win 170 seats, mostly in urban areas. This was
a huge gain.

The unexpected gains, however, emboldened the opposition parties to

undemocratically demand for additional seats. The Complaints Review Board
under NEBE finally received 380 complaints out of which 178 cases were
identified for the Complaints Investigation Panels (CPI) to be investigated.
Accordingly, 31 seats that went for revote were all won by the ruling party.

At this juncture, some hard-line opposition party leaders, in defiance of the

Constitution and National Electoral Board, started agitating their sympathizers
for violence. As a result, violence erupted on June and November, 2005 leading
to tragic loss of lives.

Alarmed by the political turmoil, many predicted that the democratic process
would be reversed. The ruling party and moderate opposition parties that joined

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the parliament have, nonetheless, been working to iron out differences peacefully
and democratically.

However, under pressure from the public and the international community, all
parties met for discussions held under the auspices of the NEBE. Finally, an
agreement was signed by representatives from the EPRDF, the CUD and the
UEDF on 10th June. Despite some initial set-backs caused by pre-conditions set by
the CUD, which were then retracted, agreement was reached, with all parties re-
affirming their commitment to the successful conclusion of the electoral process
and accepting the legal authority of the NEBE. In signing the agreement, all
parties also re-asserted their condemnation of all acts of violence or incitement to
violence and affirmed their resolution to resolve all issues through legal and
peaceful means only.

The Ethiopian Parliament was opened on 10 th October 2005 and all the parties
except the CUD took up their seats. Disagreeing with their party’s intention to
boycott the parliament, 38 CUD members out of 109 took up their seats in
parliament In conclusion, Ethiopia conducted the most free and fair elections in
its entire history on 15th May 2005. This election was monitored by international
and local election monitors. Accordingly, the following were among them.
 The African Union,
 The Carter Centre,
 The European Union,
 The US Department of State,
 The Donors’ Representatives in Ethiopia,
 The Arab League,
 Monitors from India, Japan, China, Turkey and Russia, and

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 Monitors from the Embassies in Addis Ababa and the Pan-African

Parliament.

3.4 MAJOR PROBLEMS OBSERVED IN THE ETHIOPIAN ELECTION HISTORY

These are some of the problems observed in the Ethiopian election history
specially during the periodic election held from 1995- 2005.

- The alleged reasons put by the boycotting opposition parties

were the incredibility of the electoral process and lack of
democracy. Aside the truthfulness or otherwise of these causes,
non-participation of such parties had affected the nature of the
election to a greater extent.
- Another problem faced was that life was not easy for the
participating parties. They faced problems that had bearings on
their competitiveness. They lacked the necessary funds that
enable them to carry out essential political activities such as
expenses of instrument to be used to propagate to the public their
general stand.
- Since most of the political parties were small ethnic groups
(minorities), their membership was limited to a small number of
the elite of the ethnic groups.

- For most political parties were established in the capital, Addis

Ababa (the capital) and their activities were limited only to Addis
Ababa and other major towns, they had limited activity in the
rural areas. Their reason was due to lack of resources like money

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for they were not financially strong. Logistical problems were

severe as we go from the capital to the peripheral areas.
- The high illiteracy rate of the people had created problems both
to the electoral officials and to the candidates. The voters were
not able to understand the stance of candidates due to lack of
experience or awareness. Consequently, this situation reduced
the voter’s ability to make intelligent decisions.
- There were some security problems in some regions that
hampered the election process.

3.5 Current Legal Framework of Election in Ethiopia

The basic principles of election envisaged under the international human right
laws were incorporated under the current Ethiopian electoral laws as the way
they appear in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the
International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

To begin with, with the promulgation of the 1931 constitution, the concept of
“election” come to picture in the Ethiopian legal arena at least theoretically
though it did not serve the free will of the society. Members of the upper
chamber- the senate were handpicked/appointed by the emperor from among
the nobility (mekuanint) and local chiefs (‘shumoch’), who served the empire as
ministers, judges or military officers. Members of the lower chamber, on the
other hand, were elected by the nobility and local chiefs.

The rights to vote and to be elected were also reflected under the 1955 Revised
Constitution. It was only in 1955 that the idea of election was introduced by the
revised constitution as members of the lower chamber begun to assume seats

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through election. Since the coming into existence of the revised constitution,
various laws meant to regulate the country’s election procedure were issued.

The first electoral law was issued on the 27 th day of August, 1956. This law
established a National Board for registration and elections and determined the
powers and duties of the Board. Later on, subsequent electoral proclamations
were amended and consolidated into a new proclamation, proclamation No.
264/1969, which regulated elections in Ethiopia until the 1974 revolution.

The PDRE constitution and electoral proclamations promulgated during the time
of Derg were directly taken from the constitutions and other laws of socialist
countries. These laws actually come up with the voting principles with the sense
of socialist thought, which do not generally go in line with the current
democratic electoral tenets. Proclamation No. 314/1987, which was meant to
govern the process of election for the formation of the National Shengo was
adopted.

With the coming into existence of the transitional government of Ethiopia (TGE),
ratification of the International Human Right Laws, i.e., UDHR came into
picture. So, the electoral law’s Proclamation Nos. 11/1992 and 64/1993, that were
promulgated after the TGE but before the establishment of the FDRE
government, adjust themselves to the voting principles envisaged under the
UDHR and ICCPR, which Ethiopia acceded to on 11 June, 1993. In those electoral
laws, a tendency of decrease in the age of voters and candidates was seen. The
age of voters was reduced from 21 to 18 and that of candidates was reduced from
25 to 21.

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The FDRE constitution came up with the concept of the right to vote and the
right to be elected in a very comprehensive manner. Following the FDRE
constitution, a proclamation to make the electoral law of Ethiopia conform with
the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, No. 1/95 was
promulgated for the implementation of the right to vote and to be elected is
stated under Art. 38 of the FDRE constitution and it reads as:

Article 38 -The Right to Vote and to be Elected

1. Every Ethiopian national, without any discrimination based on
colour, race, nation, nationality, sex, language, religion, political or
other opinion or other status, has the following rights:
(a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly and through
freely chosen representatives;
(b) On the attainment of -18 years of age, to vote in accordance with
law;
(c) To vote and to be elected at periodic elections to any office at any
level of government; elections shall be by universal and equal
suffrage and shall beheld by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free
expression of the will of the electors.
2. The right of everyone to be a member of his own will in a political
organization, labor union, trade organization, or employers' or
professional association shall be respected If he or she meets the
special and general requirements stipulated by such organization.
3. Elections to positions of responsibility within any of the
organizations referred to under sub-Article 2 of this Article shall be
conducted in a free and democratic manner.

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4. The provisions of sub-Articles 2 and 3 of this Article shall apply to

civic organizations which significantly affect the public interest.

Proc. No. 111/1999 as amended by Proc. No. 187/1999, was adopted with a view
to make the country’s electoral laws conform to the FDRE constitution. The
proclamation defines election as popular elections held at representative levels
for the formation of national and regional organs of state power and their
corresponding substitutes. The proclamation established the National Electoral
Board, which is accountable to the Council of Representatives of the transitional
Government of Ethiopia or its successor, i.e. the House of People’s
Representatives.

In addition to these, on 18 January 2005, a proclamation No 438/2005 that

amends some provisions of the previous election law was declared. The principle
of universal suffrage, direct suffrage, free suffrage and fair suffrage are
recognized by Art. 38(1)(c) and Art. 54 (1) of the FDRE constitution. Besides,
these basic principles of election envisaged under Arts. 21 and 25 of the UDHR
and ICCPR, respectively, are clearly depicted in proclamation No 111/95
(amended by proc. 438/2005). The most common reasonable restrictions on
election principles that are enumerated under Art. 25 of the ICCPR such as age,
residence, convicted criminals, citizenship are restated under the electoral
proclamation No. 111/95 and electoral proclamation (amendment) No. 438/2005.

In 2007, the house of people’s representative promulgated the amended electoral

law of Ethiopia. In proclamation number 532/2007 with the objective of guiding
all electoral activities of the country by an electoral law that meets international
standards. Electoral law of Ethiopia Amendment Proclamation No.532/2007

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(Proclamation No.532/2007) repealed proclamation No.111/1995, proclamation

No. 187/2000 and Proclamation No.438/2005 under its article 109.

The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) established by the Parliament, is

entrusted to conduct elections throughout the country. The NEBE was
established in 1993 as an independent body for conducting, in an impartial
manner, free and fair elections in Federal and State constituencies. The Board can
issue necessary regulations and directives and is responsible for appointing and
training electoral officers, providing the public with civic education related to the
elections, confirming results and officially announcing them.

It has the power to rectify electoral irregularities and investigate complaints

submitted to it. It may cancel election results and order fresh elections where it
finds that there have been violations of directives or fraudulent acts or
disturbances of the peace of such magnitude that they would create irregularities
in the election process. The Board also compiles and analyses statistical data, and
where necessary, makes recommendations to parliament concerning
improvements in the electoral process. The board’s functions and powers are set
out in the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1994,
and the Proclamation to make the Electoral Law of Ethiopia Conform with the
Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in Proclamation No.
111/1995, as amended by Proclamation No. 438/2005.
Laws and procedures of election practiced in the country ensure fairness, the
secrecy of the election and command the confidence of the people. In addition to
the principal legislations identified above, there are several regulations and
directives that facilitate the fair, free and transparent conduct of elections. Some
of these include the following.

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• Regulation to Determine Structure and Operation of Grievance Hearing

Committees at all levels, Regulation No. 1/ 2007/08;
• Regulation on Issuance of License and Code of Conduct for Civic and
Voter Education, Reg. no. 2/2007/08;
• License for the Operation and Code of Conduct of Local Election
Observers and Code of Conduct, Regulation No. 3/2007/08;
• Election Code of Conduct Regulation No. 4/2007/08;
• Electors’ Registration Directive No. 2/2007/08
• Voting, Counting and Announcement of Results Directive No.
5/2007/08
 The Amended Directive on the Code of Conduct of Election Officials to
be Recruited at various Levels, Directive No. 4/2009.
 Regulation Concerning the Procedure for Determining the
Apportionment of Government Financial Support to Political Parties,
Regulation No. 5/2009.
 Organization and Procedure of Grievance Hearing Committees
Established By the Board at Every Level during Elections, Regulation
No. 1/2009.
 Directive on the Registration of Candidates, No.1/2009.
 Directive concerning the procedure for the activities of public observers
and representatives of political parties and private candidates, No.
3/2009

All these directives and regulations are believed to have ensured the
confidentiality of the voting process, the security of the voters, and the
confidence people have in the electoral system of the country. In all polling
stations, conditions are created by which voters can cast their vote in secret and

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comfort. In accordance with the regulations and to build public confidence, all
polling stations and constituencies are made to have observers from the public
and representatives of candidates are assigned in the process of election from
voters’ registration up to announcement of results. Local and foreign observers
of election have been given recognition and permission by the Electoral Board so
that neutral third parties would observe the fairness and transparency of
elections conducted.

Check your Progress by the following questions

1. Explain the election process during the Emperor Era.

2. Describe the election process during the Derg regime.
3. Explain the Election process during the transitional period.
4. Compare and contrast the various major election processes of the three
regime .
5. Examine the different major problems observed during the few democratic
elections held in the country.
6. Explain the relevance of the current legal frame work of election in
Ethiopia for the establishment of democracy in the country.
CHAPTER FOUR
ELECTION ADMINISTRATION IN ETHIOPIA

Unit Contents:
4.1. Introduction
4.2 Unit objectives
4.3 The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia and Its Bodies
4.4 Constituencies and polling stations
4.5. Dispute Resolution mechanism in relation to Election in Ethiopia
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4.6 Summary

4.1 INTRODUCTION

In democratic countries, election as a pre-requisite needs the confidence of the

public at large together with the active participation of all eligible voters, private
candidates and political parties because those persons are the most vital and
integral elements for electoral campaign. Yet, in order to create trustworthiness,
as far as public confidence is concerned, and to enhance public participation, the
preservation of right’s which are accorded to voters and candidates, including
the principle of universal suffrage, equal and fair suffrage, and an impartial
procedure to ensure democratic election, is inter-dependent with the existence of
an organ conducting this mandate with impartial manner.

Moreover, the very sensitive nature of politics needs an organ which is

independent from any kind of political contender and other externalities. This is
possible through organizing an organ which is in task of accomplishing this
mandate. Cognizant of this, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia was
established by the 1995 electoral law proclamation.

During the transitional period (at the beginning of 1990’s), when the multi-party
democratic system became operational in the country, members of the then
Election Commission and committees at constituencies were chosen from
political parties having seats in the then house of representatives. This initial
effort was transformed into a system aimed at ensuring fair and free election. The
Constitution ensured the independence of the National Election Board. The
Board was made to be free from any influence in order to conduct free and fair
election at federal and regional levels.

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Four proclamations were issued in the last fifteen years alone to ensure a fair and
free election. As a result, this has made it possible to make amendments deemed
to be necessary in the legal regime regulating the conduct of elections. Lessons
learnt in conducting elections were accommodated in the proclamations issued
subsequently. The present proclamation, Electoral Law of Ethiopia Amendment
Proclamation 532/2007, provides for members of the Board to be loyal to the
Constitution, be non-partisans, have professional competence, and be known for
their good conduct. Upon recommendation by the Prime Minister, Board
members are appointed by the HPR. The Prime Minister shall, before nominating
Board members, ensure that there has been sufficient consultation forum for
political organizations having seats at the House to ascertain that the nominees
are independent and impartial. This unit is designed to discuss the power and
duties of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopian (NEBE).

4.3 THE NATIONAL ELECTORAL BOARD OF ETHIOPIA (NEBE)

After the downfall of the Derg regime, a Transitional Government was

established. Based on the Charter of the Transitional Government, an Electoral
Commission was established by Proclamation no. 11/1984 E.C. In February 1984
E.C., the Electoral Commission conducted the election for transitional
administration committee members at the Woreda and Kebele levels. In May of the
same year, it conducted elections for National, Regional and Woreda Councils.

After the completion of its mission, the Electoral Commission was replaced by
the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia(NEBE), which was established by
Proclamation number 64/1985 E.C. The Board is accountable to the House of

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Peoples Representatives and is an independent and autonomous organ for

conducting elections having its own legal personality. Article 102 of the Federal
Democratic Republic of the Ethiopian Constitution declared the establishment of
permanent electoral board. The permanent nature of the national Electoral Board
keeps up the confidence of the people towards election. And, the major
rationales of having permanent Electoral Board are:
 As international instruments and domestic laws of Ethiopia regarding
election stipulates the tendency towards periodic election. Meaning the
government hold power for limited term of time; conversely, the incoming
and the out going nature of government confirms the existence of periodic
election. In order to get public confidence towards period election, there
should be a permanent electoral organ.
 Active participation of citizens on election is so much decisive, even if
there exists barriers to active citizen’s participation, avoiding this evil is
possible by promoting public awareness. Indeed, in order to enhance
active participation of people, it is decisive to have a permanent electoral
organ holding an objective to accomplished this task by providing
sufficient training for the public.

To this end proclamation no 532/2007 under its preamble justifies the necessity
of the establishment of the board to conduct free, fair and peaceful elections at
every level in an impartial manner, in which Ethiopians freely express their
will on the basis of equal popular suffrage and secret ballot systems.

National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, which is accountable to the House of

People’s Representative (HPR) of the Federal Government, and which has its
own legal personality, is established for conducting elections. The objectives of
the Board include ensuring the establishment of a government elected through a
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free, impartial and fair election conducted at all levels in accordance with the
Constitution; and enabling citizens to exercise their constitutional democratic
rights to elect and be elected. Missions of the Board include ensuring the
establishment of a government at all levels elected periodically through a free,
fair, impartial, transparent and peaceful election that fulfils national and
international standards; and also thereby maintain the integrity and credibility of
the electoral process in the country and to enable the citizens to exercise their
constitutional democratic rights to elect and to be elected. 8 Art. 5 of proclamation
no. 532/2007 states, as follows, the objective of the NEBE.

1. Ensure the establishment of a government elected through a fair

and, impartial election conducted in accordance with the
Constitution;
2. Ensure the existence of an electoral system that enables political
parties and private candidates that respect the Constitution and
institutions established by it to compete equally and impartially;
and
3. Enable citizens to exercise their constitutional democratic rights
to elect and be elected.

The Board is governed by nine members. What is new about the quantity of the
members is, during the 1995 electoral proclamation, the members of the electoral
Board were consisting of seven members. But, the proclamation no. 532/2007
stipulated the National Board to consist nine members. 9 The prime minister is
required by law to ensure that sufficient consultation is made with political
organizations that have seats in the House of Peoples’ Representatives to
8
Electoral law of Ethiopia Amendment proclamation No. 532/2007 (here in after Procl.no 532/2007) Art.icle 5(1-
3).
9
Ibid, Art..6(1) ‘ …the board shall have nine members appointed in accordance with Art.icle 102 of the
constitution by the House of peoples’ representatives upon recommendation by the prime minster.”

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ascertain that the nominees are independent and impartial before nominating
Board members who fulfill the criteria. The composition of Board members shall
take into consideration national contribution and gender representation, and at
least one member of the Board shall be a lawyer.10

Moreover, the Board has a chairperson and a deputy chairman. Nonetheless,

both the members of the board are appointed by the prime minister and are
approved by the House of People’s Representative on the criterion based on their
national contribution.

Despite the fact that the members of the National Electoral Board are elected
through national contribution, there are also other additional criteria to be a
member of the Board such as:
 IMPARTALITY: this is stated on the electoral law proclamation 532/2007
under article 6(3) which states “… The members of the Board shall be non-
partisan”. Conversely, it means the impartial nature of members of the
Board is the other criteria. Moreover, impartiality has a meaning that the
members of the Board should conduct our electoral or statutory function in
a politically neutral manner. In addition to this, impartiality embraces the
treatment of all voters, candidates and political parties fairly and
impartially with giving due regard to the law.
 PROFESSIONALISM: the other criterion to be member of the National
Electoral Board is being professional. This qualification is manifested in
the above mentioned article, under article 6(3) (b), which states that the
members of the National Board should be selected, as far as, if they are
professional. Professionalism includes:

10
Ibid, Art. 6(3).

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 the members of the Board, as far as professionalism is concerned,

should be passionate and devoted to preserve the integrity of
electoral process as the electoral law and the constitution
demands.
 accomplishing our electoral proclamation in a reasonable,
truthful, secured and timely manner.
 assuring that the members and employees act together with their
personal life and public life to act in the manner which is not
going to jeopardize their independence from any political party
act in politically impartial way, and
 when there exists a changing circumstance which creates hazard
to the electoral law, they will provide to the house of people’s
representative the high need of the changing of the existing law
on their report.
 GOOD CONDUCT: as it is stipulated in article 6(3)(c), members of the
Board got or hold their position if and only if they have good conduct.
This means, the members of the Board should be notorious to the society
with their good conduct. In addition, good conduct includes the
personality of the members of the Board. This is as far as the qualification
of members of the Board is concerned.

In addition, members of the board also have ethical duties to discharge their
responsibilities impartially , freely and in good faith; not to support or oppose
directly and indirectly any political organization and/or private candidate
participating in the election; not to seek and benefit out of confidential
information that he obtained by virtue of being a board member; not to disclose
to a third party any confidential information of the board and to refrain from

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any act that in any way damages the credibility , impartiality and independence
of the Board or its members.11

The duration (term of office) of the members of the Board in the position is for 5
years as stated under article 6(4) proclamation 532/2007. However, with out the
prejudice to the above statement, the House of Peoples’ Representatives may
terminate the term of Board member if he resigns for personal reasons or if the
House of Peoples’ Representatives believes that:

a) the Board member is unable to properly carry out his duties due to illness;
b) the Board member has committed serious misconduct.

The Board has a Secretariat headed by one Chief Executive and two Deputy
Chief Executives. The Chief Executive is accountable to the Board while the
Deputy Chief Executives are accountable to the Chief Executive. The Board has
permanent employees working at the head office and regional branch offices of
the Secretariat. In addition, it has temporary electoral officers recruited from
various governmental and non-governmental organizations, who assist the
Board during elections. Currently, the Board has 547constituencies and around
43,500 polling stations.

The board has the following Powers and Duties, which are vested on it pursuant
to procl.no.532/2007 to effectively conduct free, fair and peaceful elections at
every level in an impartial manner, in which all Ethiopians freely express their
will on the basis of equal popular suffrage and secret ballot system.

11
Supra note 8, Art. 12.

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 Execute impartially any election and referendum conducted in accordance

with the Constitution and the amended Proclamation number 532/1999
E.C.
 Facilitate and ascertain that elections held periodically and at every level
are conducted in free and fair manner.
 Prepare and distribute documents and materials necessary for conducting
elections.
 Widely provide to the public civic and voter education related to election;
issue license to other bodies engaged in civic and voter education; follow
and supervise their activities.
 Issue licenses to election observers and follow and supervise their
activities.
 Register and issue licenses to political parties; follow up and supervise
them in accordance with the law.
 Recruit, on permanent and temporary basis, competent and non partisan
electoral officers required to conduct elections at every level.
 Evaluate the implementation of periodical elections and electoral laws,
undertake studies, collect and compile statistical data, identify areas that
need amendments and submit it to the concerned body, keep properly any
electoral documents.
 Organize and coordinate political parties’ joint forum.
 Investigate, cancel election results, order re-election or order injunction of
the act and bring perpetrator before the court of law where it has received
information about violation of law in the election process, fraudulent act or
disturbance of peace and order of such magnitude and type, which would
determine the outcome of election from political organization running for

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election, private candidates, observers, electoral officers or any other

sources.
 Certify and officially announce election results.

4.3. Dispute Resolution and Miscellaneous Provisions

In the conduct of election, due process needs to be respected. The Proclamation

provides detailed procedure as to how election complaints are handled and
entertained.

Where a person is denied of registration as an elector, he shall have the right to

lodge a complaint with the electoral office of the polling station and seek
decision thereon. A person or political organization complaining that a person
who has no eligibility to register as an elector has been registered shall have the
right to lodge its complaints to the polling station Grievance hearing Committee
and seek a decision. The polling station GHC is expected to conduct
investigation and give decision within 24 hours.

If a party is not satisfied with the decision of the Committee, they may appeal to
the Constituency Electoral Office (Constituency Grievance Hearing Committee),
and then appeal to Woreda Court. The procedure is the same for complaints
related to voting. Complaints related to registration of candidates may also be
directed to Constituency Grievance Hearing Committee first, then to Regional
Electoral Office Grievance Hearing Committee, and finally to the Regional
Supreme Court. Complaints related to vote counting and results may be taken to
the Constituency Grievance Hearing Committee, then to the Election Board and
finally to the Federal Supreme Court.

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Grievance Hearing Committees (GHC) are established at each electoral office and
polling station. Their role is to make administrative decisions on complaints and
grievances received about the electoral process.

The Polling Station Grievance Hearing Committee is chaired by the Chief Officer
of the Polling Station and has two of the polling station observers as its members.
All decisions made must be majority decisions.

Complaints to the GHC can be made by:

 a person who has been denied registration,
 a person who request cancellation of registration, and
 a person who is prohibited from voting.

A complaint may be submitted in writing or orally. A complaint made in writing

must be made in triplicate and provide all the information related to the
complaint including:
 the name of the GHC to which the complaint is brought;
 the date on which the complaint is made;
 full name and address of the complaint;
 the facts constituting the cause for complaint and the remedy requested;
 list of evidence and documents; and
 where there is witness evidence, the list of witness.

The complainant is required to produce the witnesses.

Oral complaints are recorded by the GHC. Where a complainant is illiterate, the
record of his or her complaint is read to them in the presence of the committee

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members and the complainant verifies the complaint with their signature or
thumb mark.

The GHC examines each complaint and makes a decision which is conveyed to
the complainant. The decision of the GHC is made in triplicate; one copy goes to
the complainant, one copy to the party or body that needs to execute the decision
and the third copy is kept on record.

A person who complains that their right to vote has been denied has five hours
to make the complaint to the GHC or they forfeit the right. The GHC has five
hours to respond to the complaint and if they do not do so within five hours, it is
assumed that the person has a right to vote and may proceed with voting.

An appeal to the decision is made to the Appellate Committee and there is on

further appeal to the courts.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS WITH THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

 What are the rationales behind establishing an independent organ to

conduct periodic elections?
 Discuss the power and duties of the National Election Board of Ethiopia as
envisaged under proclamation no.532/2007.
 Discuss the objectives of the National Election Board of Ethiopia.
 Explain the criteria for the nomination of members of the Board.
 Discuss the power and duties of the chairman of the National Election
Board of Ethiopia as envisaged under proclamation no.532/2007.

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 Discuss the power and duties of the deputy board chairman of the
National Election Board of Ethiopia as envisaged under proclamation
no.532/2007.
 Explain the rights of Board members of National Election Board of
Ethiopia as envisaged under proclamation no.532/2007.

CHAPTER FIVE
ELECTORAL PROCEDURES UNDER PROCLAMATION no. 532/2007

Unit Contents:
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Unit Objectives
5.3 Registration of Electors
5.3.1 Age Requirement
5.3.2 Residency Requirement
5.3.3 Citizenship Requirement
5.3.4 Non Felony Requirement
5.4 Regulation on Candidacy
5.4.1 Education or Experience Requirement
5.4.2 Age Requirement
5.4.3 Residency Requirement
5.4.4 Citizenship Requirement
5.4.5 Qualified Elector Requirement
5.4.6 Petition Signature Requirement

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5.4.7 Miscellaneous Candidacy Requirement

5.5 Pre-election Campaigning
5.6 Voting
5.6.1 Establishment of Voting Station
5.6.2 Voting Station Observers
5.6.3 Voting Station Rules
5.6.4 Before Voting Begins
5.6.5. The Voting Process
5.6.6. At the End of Voting
5.7 Summary

5.1 INTRODUCTION

The establishment and strengthening of democratic processes and institutions is

the common responsibility of governments, the electorate and organized political
forces, that periodic and genuine elections are a necessary and indispensable
element of sustained efforts to protect the rights and interests of the governed
and that, as a matter of practical experience, the right of everyone to take part in
the government of his or her country is a crucial factor in the effective enjoyment
of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

This unit is designed to provide a basic overview of electoral procedure in the

Ethiopian election law. The main focuses of discussion in the unit are registration
of election, candidacy, campaigning and voting. The unit does not attempt to
provide a detailed analysis of election procedures; rather it attempts to present
an overview of basic principles that may be of use for discussions in the electoral
law course.

5.2 UNIT OBJECTIVES

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After going through the Unit, you will be able to:

 explain the procedural rules during registration of voters,
 explain the procedural rules for the regulation of candidacy,
 state the various rules in relation to pre-election campaigning,
 describe the general voting system in Ethiopian election process, and
 understand the regulations in campaigning.

5.3 REGISTRATION OF ELECTORS

The right to vote is regulated by establishing criteria voters must meet before
they can participate in elections. Individual’s right to vote is regulated to further
government’s interest in:
 electoral integrity,
 preventing “party raiding”,
 preventing fraud,
 limiting governmental participation to individuals who are
within the political community,
 making sure that all voters understand the nature and effect of
voting, and
 political stability.

Prospective voters must register to vote in advance of the election and by a

government -set deadline. Administration of voters registration must conform to
the constitutional protections individuals right to vote and other electoral laws of
the country. Failure to allow otherwise qualified individuals to register to vote
can void an election.

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Voter registration processes is regulated through provisions in the

procl.532/2007. It is widely accepted that voter registration is a threshold voting
requirement, where the inability to register results in the prospective voter’s
disenfranchisement. Electoral laws expand the franchise by removing barriers
that prevent or prohibit otherwise qualified individuals from registering to vote
or maintaining their registration status. They accomplish this by:

1. prohibiting discrimination,
2. expanding voter registration opportunities, and
3. regulating voter registration databases, including purges of voter
registration records.

The right to vote of individuals can be restricted if failed to satisfy the traditional
voter qualification criteria of age, citizenship, residency, and non-felon status.

5.3.1 Age Requirements

The Ethiopian Constitution granted the right to vote with out any discrimination
based on sex, language, colour, race, nation, nationality, religion, political or
other opinion or other status - to anyone eighteen or older. 12 By the same token,
Art. 33 of proclamation 532/07 states attainment of age of eighteen as a condition
for registration, and thus, for voting.

Hence, the Constitution and the electoral law of Ethiopia does establish a
minimum voting age that is eighteen. Although age may not be used to
disqualify voters who are eighteen or older, in reality, elderly voters are likely to
12
FDRE constitution Art.. 39(1)(b).

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be disenfranchised if they are not independently mobile, lack access to

transportation or if the polling place is inaccessible to them.

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5.3.2 Residency Requirements

Prospective voters are usually required to satisfy residency requirements before

they can register to vote. 13 Residency requirements generally encompass three
components: geographic residency, bona fide residency status and durational
residency.

A. Geographical Residency Requirements

Geographical residency requirements restrict voting to individuals who live
within a political subdivision. Individuals who live outside a political
subdivision’s boundaries have no right to vote in its elections, even if they are
subject to some of its laws.

B. Bona Fide Residency Requirements

Bona fide residency requires more than the voter’s presence in the locality by
requiring the voter to make the locality her domicile. Domicile is the union of
physical residency and the present intent to remain in the location indefinitely, or
the absence of a present intent to leave. A prospective voter’s bona fide residency
status may be of special concern in areas that experience the significant and
regular turn-over of an identifiable population subset compared to the rest of the
community such as communities that are extended from homes to colleges,
universities, military bases, or federal enclaves. States may require prospective
voters to demonstrate that they are bona fide residents before extending voting
rights to them. States may require prospective voter registrants to objectively
establish the necessary domiciliary intent by:
 acquiring a dwelling,
 obtaining a driver’s license, or
13
The ability of homeless individuals to meet residency requirements may also be arguable.

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 registering an automobile.

C. Durational Residency Requirements

Durational residency requirements establish the amount of time a new resident
must live in the community before becoming eligible to vote in its elections.
Durational residency periods may be created specifically by statute or they may
result from the operation of a pre-election registration deadline. Independent
statutory durational residency requirements receive strict scrutiny because they:
 burden the right to vote,
 burden the right to travel, and
 treat newly arrived bona fide residents less favorably than
established residents.

The Electoral laws of Ethiopia seem to adopt the third type of residency
requirement- durational residency requirement. Art 33 of the procl.532/2007 put
at least 6 month residency with in the constituency as a condition for registration.
The election shall be registered in a polling station where he resides by
producing an identification card or passport irrespective of its validity.

5.3.3 Citizenship Requirements

Governments have an interest in limiting political participation to individuals

who are within the political community, which does not include non-citizens. A
person shall be an Ethiopian national where either parent is Ethiopian based on
the Constitution and pertinent legislation on nationality in the country. Foreign
nationals may also acquire Ethiopian nationality. Every Ethiopian national,
irrespective of the method of acquisition of nationality, has the right to the

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enjoyment, exercise and recognition of all the rights and benefits accorded to
Ethiopian nationals as prescribed by the law.

The Constitution provides that every Ethiopian national has the right to take part
in the conduct of public affairs, directly and through freely chosen
representatives without any discrimination.14 Every national has also the right to
vote and to be elected at periodic elections to any office at any level of
government.15 Citizenship is also a condition for registration under procl.
532/2007 stating that any person who is an Ethiopian may be registered as an
elector as long as the person has attained 18 by the time of registration and has
been residing in the constituency for at least 6 months. 16

Traditionally, prospective voters are required to affirm their citizenship. And,

article 36 of the procl.532/2007 requires electors to produce an identification card
or passport by the time of registration to prove the residency and citizenship and
other conditions as discussed above. The identification card or passport may,
irrespective of its validity, serve the purpose of registration. In the absence of ID
card , evidence identifying the voter such as driving license , residence permit,
military discharge document, a refugee card issued by the UN bearing a recent
photograph of the elector , shall be deemed to be sufficient document for
registration purpose. In the absence of the aforementioned documents,
registration may be carried out upon recognition of the elector’s identity by the
electoral officials or through traditional or customary means in the case of rural
areas.

5.3.4 Non-Felon Requirements

14
FDRE constitution Art..38(1)(a).
15
Ibid. Art..38(1)(c).
16
Procl.532/2007 Art. 33 (1)(a),(b) &(c) .

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Disenfranchising felons because of their conviction does not directly violate the
constitution. Such disenfranchisement affects only those convicted of crimes
sufficiently serious to warrant an immediate custodial sentence. It, nevertheless,
had the effect of removing the right to vote from a substantial number of persons
in an indiscriminate manner, irrespective of the length of the sentence and the
nature or gravity of the offence. For this reason, some argue that, taking under
the ‘purpose of enhancing civic responsibility and respect for the rule of law’,
there is no clear, logical link between the loss of vote and the imposition of a
prison sentence.

Nevertheless, given the variety of political and penal philosophies and policies, it
could not be said that these aims were not legitimate; and accordingly the
Ethiopian electoral law also denies the right to vote for convicted persons
irrespective of the length of their imprisonment or serious offence. Art. 33(3)(b)
of procl.532/07 states that, without prejudice to the provision of sub article (1), a
person serving a term of imprisonment passed by a court of law is not eligible
for registration.

5.4. Regulation of Candidacy

A “candidate” is the prospective recipient of an award or honor or a person

seeking or being considered for some kind of position. "Nomination" is part of the
process of selecting a candidate for either election to an office, or the bestowing
of an honor or award. "Presumptive nominee" is a term used when a person or
organization believes that the nomination is inevitable. The act of being a
candidate in a race is called a "candidacy."

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"Candidate" is a derivative of the Latin "candida" (white). In Ancient Rome,

people running for political office would usually wear togas chalked and
bleached to be bright white at speeches, debates, conventions and other public
functions.

i). Candidates in Elections

In the context of elections for public office in a representational partisan
democracy, a candidate who has been selected by a political party is normally
said to be the nominee of that party. The party's selection (that is, the
nomination) is typically accomplished either based on one or more primary
elections according to the rules of the party and any applicable election laws.

Candidates are either incumbents or if they are already serving in the office for
which they are seeking re-election challengers, if they are seeking to unseat an
incumbent or are simply candidates for an open seat in an elective office for
which no incumbent is seeking re-election. In the context of elections for public
office in a direct democracy, a candidate can be nominated by any eligible person
and if parliamentary procedures are used, the nomination has to be seconded,
i.e., receive agreement from a second person.

In some non-partisan representative systems (e.g. administrative elections of the

Bahá'í Faith), no nominations (or campaigning, electioneering, etc.) take place at
all, with voters free to choose any person at the time of voting with some
possible exceptions such as through a minimum age requirement in the
jurisdiction. In such cases, it is not required (or even possible) that the members
of the electorate be familiar with all of the eligible persons in their area though
such systems may involve indirect elections at larger geographic levels to ensure

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that some first-hand familiarity among potential electees can exist at these levels
(i.e., among the elected delegates).

Presumed Advantages of Nominations

 Although a nominee need not have sought appointment by himself or
herself (presumably the existence of a system of nominating others implies
that a person desiring the position would not (or could not) necessarily
seek out a post by themselves), nominations frequently occur in the
context of elections with the active awareness of the nominee. An
awareness beforehand of the willingness of the would-be candidate to
accept the post might be seen as at least a time-saving advantage and an
indicator of their confidence in being able to handle the job (if not a
minimal indicator in their competence to handle the job).
 Having a narrowed down set of choices would allow people to study the
positions, character, etc. of the nominated choices before making their
choice.
 In typically two-party systems, the competitive process is seen to promote
moderate candidates (as they are believed to be able to have the best
chance to capture the vote for their party and have a broader appeal across
the voting spectrum).

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Presumed Disadvantages of Nominations

 The nomination process may limit the choices open to the voters at the
time of voting.
 The limited number of choices may lead to voter disenfranchisement and
lackluster participation.
 Nominations (and the often associated electioneering and campaigning)
are seen to more often elect self-aggrandizing, self-seeking and deal-
making individuals, instead of humble, selfless and
conscience-voting/independent-minded persons. As such, some often less
assertive or media-shy (yet potentially capable) groups such as women,
certain ethnic groups or skilled technocrats may tend to be overlooked in
such a process, especially when the nomination process is allowed to be
followed by campaigning.

Under the Ethiopian Electoral law regime, any Ethiopian national who fulfills the
criteria can become a candidate:

A. through a political party ,or

B. privately

A political organization can nominate only one candidate for a single seat in a
constituency.17Each political party shall notify the Board or the constituency.
According to the timetable issued by the Board, the list of candidates is grouped
separately based on the type of the council seat they are running for. The list of
candidates nominated by a political organization for a general election must bear
the signature of the top leadership of the organization and must also be attested
by the seal of the organization.

17
Directive on the Registration of Candidates Number 1/2009, Art. 15.

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The list of candidates nominated by a political organization for local elections

shall be notified to the constituency by the signature of the organization’s top
leadership or by its highest leadership in the zone or woreda and it must be
attested by the seal of the organization. If it appears that there is disagreement on
the nomination of candidates, the list submitted by the top leadership shall
prevail. An evidence of nomination by a party and the consent of the person
nominated shall be presented along with details of candidature for candidates
nominated by a political organization.

Every candidate shall register in person. 18 Without prejudice to the above

statement, if a candidate nominated by a political organization is unable to
register in person, he/she may register provided that concrete documentary
evidence or witnesses to prove the candidate’s fulfillment of the criteria for
candidature are presented through the political organization that nominated the
candidate, or through his/her representative. At the time of registration each
candidate shall specifically mention to the constituency office, which council she
is running for.

It is axiomatic that before a candidate can be elected to office, the candidate’s

name must appear on the ballot. Candidate’s ballot access is regulated by the
state as part of the general regulatory power over elections as long as the
regulations comport with the constitutional protections.

The legal effect of a candidate’s ballot access interest varies from country to
country and depends on whether the state constitution recognizes a fundamental
right to candidacy. Under the Ethiopian legal System the right to be recognized
18
Ibid Art..16.

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as a candidate is not a privilege but a right that is driven from citizenship.

Indeed, the federal constitution does recognize a fundamental right to
candidacy.19

Voters have an interest in candidate ballot access requirements because voting

for their preferred candidate is one means through which voters exercise their
constitutionally-protected interest in associating with politically like-minded
individuals. This protected interest is burdened if the state ballot access laws are
overly restrictive and few candidates gain ballot access. State ballot access
requirements must not restrict the right to vote by so heavily burdening
prospective candidates that few candidates (or only those candidates affiliated
with the major political parties) qualify for ballot access.

To be qualified for ballot access, candidates need to satisfy a number of legal

requirements. Some of these requirements—such as age, residency, citizenship
and education—are personal to the prospective candidate. Other requirements—
such as those related to petition signatures or political party nominations—are
intended to demonstrate that the candidate has public support. Finally, before
the state grants ballot access, the prospective candidate may need to pay a filing
fee, resign from a current office, or satisfy other criteria.

This section discusses the most common criteria required for prospective
candidates to personally satisfy to gain ballot access, followed by a discussion on
public support requirements. Miscellaneous qualification requirements are
discussed in the final ballot access criteria section. Because candidates are not
always able to maintain their candidacies through election day, the section
concludes with a discussion on candidate withdrawal and substitution.
19
Art. 38 of the FDRE constitution

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International Law jurisprudence recognizes a variety of conditions and

exclusions, including penal detention and residence requirements, but provides
generally that they shall be prescribed by law and reasonably necessary in a
democratic society. They must also not be arbitrary or violate the principle of
non-discrimination.

5.4.1 Education or Experience Requirements

Education or experience requirements are common qualification criteria for

ballot access. Laws that requires fulfillment of certain education and/or
experience need to specify:
 the deadline by which the requirements must be met,
 whether the requirements are currently satisfied, and
 whether the experience must be uninterrupted or whether earlier episodes
can be “tacked” onto more recent ones to achieve the relevant amount of
experience.

Under the Ethiopian electoral law, education or experience are not

incorporated as a requirement for candidature.

5.4.2 Minimum Age Requirements

Many legal systems established minimum age requirements for candidates for
state or local offices. Many age-related candidate qualification challenges concern
the date the candidate must satisfy the requirement when the statute does not
clearly specify one. The most common measuring dates or events are:
- the petition filing deadline,
- the date of the primary election,
- the date of the general election,

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- the date the election results are certified, or

- the date the winner is sworn into office.

The rationale for setting age as a requirement for candidacy is obviously to

ensure a sufficient level of maturity of the candidate. Accordingly procl.532/2007
under its art.45(1)(c), any person shall be eligible for candidature where he is 21
years old or above on the date of the registration. This specific provision does not
specify as to what evidence has to be produced to prove the attainment of the
required age taking under consideration of the poor level of birth registration
practice in the country as it has been stated under art 33(2) for the purpose of
registration of voters .

5.4.3 Residency Requirements

Candidate residency requirements are important derivative rights of voters

because they protect voters from fraudulent candidacies. Residency
requirements improve the likelihood that voters will have an opportunity to get
to know all the candidates before selecting amongst them in the election.
Residency requirements are also intended to ensure that candidates are familiar
with the local political climate and can identify important constituent concerns.
Candidate residency requirements may contain:
1) geographical and
2) durational components.

Under art 45(1)(d) of the procl.532/2007 a person shall be eligible for

candidature where she has been regularly residing in the constituency of her
intended candidature for two years immediately preceding the date of election
or her birth place is within the constituency of her intended candidature or

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where the city or wereda has more than one constituencies or she has been
regularly working in the city or wereda for two years. The exceptional grounds
where the aforementioned provision would not be applied are when the person
has been outside the constituency on duty or study leave and when the person is
on duty having been previously elected in the constituency as per sub article 2 of
the same provision.

5.4.3 Citizenship Requirements

States can deny ballot access to non-citizens without violating the fundamental
right to participate in political affairs of the country as envisaged in the
Constitution and international human right instruments. The right to participate
in a political system based on common and equal citizenship and universal
franchise is essential for the exercise of the principle of periodic and genuine
elections. Under Ethiopian Electoral law having Ethiopian nationality is the first
criteria set under art 45(1)(a) for a person to be eligible for candidature.

5.4.5 Qualified Elector Requirements

Certain legal system, sometimes require candidates to be “qualified electors”—

that is, registered and eligible voters in the jurisdiction before they can obtain
ballot access. Prospective candidates can be denied ballot access if they are not
registered voters, their voter registration information is not current, and they
have been disqualified from voting because of a felony conviction, they have
been adjudicated incapacitated or any other circumstance that impacts their
qualified elector status.

In this regard, under the Ethiopian legal system , the constitutionally granted
right the right to be elected can fully exercised if and only if the person with the
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intention to run election has not been deprived of his/her right to vote and to be
elected as per art 45(1)(e) of the proclamation at hand. Eligibility for voting is a
criterion for eligibility for candidature. A person who failed to fulfill the
requirements stated under art 35 cannot be eligible for candidature under art 45.

5.4.6. Petition Signature Requirements

Many states require prospective candidates to demonstrate the seriousness of

their candidacy by collecting a specified number of qualified voters’ signatures
on petitions of support. The number of supporting signatures required is
commonly a specified percentage of the registered voters, a percentage of the
voters who participated in a specified recent election, a percentage with a
maximum cap, or a fixed number of signatures. Petition signature requirements
that are too high may burden voters’ associational rights too severely.

In addition to specifying the minimum number of supporting signatures the

candidates need to qualify for ballot access, governments usually regulate
additional aspects of petition signature gathering such as:
- the maximum number of signatures a campaign may submit,
- who may sign the petition,
- who may circulate the petition,
- the time frame in which the petitions can be circulated, and
- the deadline for submitting the petitions.

The wording and format of the petitions as well as the required witness or
attestation statements may also be regulated.

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Under Ethiopian electoral law, only private candidates are required to produce
endorsement signature for not less than 1000 from among the people who are
certified by the local administration. To be residents of the constituency of his
candidature, voter should be 18 years old or above and not barred by law from
voting (Art.45(3) procl.532/2007).

According to art 12(6) of directive no.1/2009 20 the number of endorsement

signatures to be produced by a private candidate for Woreda or City
Administration or Kebele Council shall be as follows:
a. for Woreda Council, no less than 200 signatures;
b. for City Administration Council, no less than 200 endorsement
signatures; and
c. for Kebele Councils, no less than 50 endorsement signatures.

Without prejudice to the above provisions, the Board can reduce the number of
endorsement signatures. A private candidate must produce in certain
constituencies if it deems it necessary.

A person who is eligible to give an endorsement signature:

A. shall be an Ethiopian national;
B. has been residing in the constituency at least for six months;
C. is 18 years old and above;
D. should be a person who has not been deprived of her right to vote by
law ;
E. should be a person who is not insane; and
F. should be a person who is not serving a prison sentence. 21

20
Directive on the Registration of Candidates, Number 1/2009, Art. 12.
21
Ibid Art..13.

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A person cannot sign for endorsing more candidates than there are seats
available in the constituency. Every candidate shall present the endorsement
signatures he/she gathered to the constituency he is running according to the
timetable after having the endorsement signatures verified by the Kebele
administration they were gathered from. Endorsement signatures shall be
gathered and presented according to the following procedure:
a. every private candidate could gather endorsement signatures after
getting one copy of the form for endorsement signatures from the
constituency office and reproducing the same.
b. he/she shall sort out the people who gave him/her the endorsement
signatures according to the Kebele they reside in, and present the forms to
the respective Kebele Administration.
c. The Kebele Administration shall give back the forms to the candidate or
her agent after having screened and stamped them according to the law .
d. The constituency shall receive and screen the endorsement signatures
presented by the candidate. The Kebele Administration shall register the
candidate on the form for candidates if it finds that the required criteria
have been met.
e. If it is found that the endorsement signatures are lacking in any way, the
candidate shall be notified promptly so that he/she may be able to rectify
it, and present it according to the timetable.22

5.4.7 Miscellaneous Candidacy Regulations

In addition to meeting personal requirements and demonstrating public support

for their candidacy, candidates are also required to meet other miscellaneous
22
Ibid.

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candidacy requirements. This part of the section discusses the most common
additional restrictions placed on a candidate’s ballot access and the legal issues
that might arise with respect to those restrictions.

i. Limits on the Number of Simultaneous Candidacies

Some states limit candidates who are running or seeking nomination for only one
office at a time. Under the Ethiopian law too a person can be nominated as a
candidate in only one constituency. 23However, a candidate may be transferred
from one constituency to another during the period of candidates’ registration in
accordance with the law. As per art 49 of the proclamation, the number of
candidates running for election to the house of peoples’ representatives in a
constituency shall not exceed 12.

ii. Resignation Requirements

“Resign to run” statutes require current elective office holders to resign their
office before they become candidates for a different elective office. In addition,
“resign to run” statutes place fewer restrictions on election officials than
constitutional restrictions on civil servants’ political activity in general. If a state’s
constitution recognizes a right to candidacy, then a “resign to run” statute may
violate the state constitution.

Art 47 of procl.532/2007 laid the detail on the rights of government employees

who run for election. According to this provision any government employee can
run for election as a private candidate or a member of a political organization
and may not lose any benefits as a result of his/her running for election as long
as he/she has achieved the required performance. As an exception to the above
stated general principle certain groups of government employees are required to

23
Art..56 (1) procl.532/2007

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resign office if they decided to run an election. Pursuant to art 47(2) of the same
proclamation any judge, soldier or policeman shall resign from his post if he runs
for election as a private candidate or candidate of political party.

In addition, any judge, soldier and policemen may not participate in political
campaigning through speeches, writings and the like in support of any
candidate. In particular, armed force or police force may not participate in party
meetings or in election activities with his uniform on. 24 Such limitation are
intended to protect the integrity of the political system for it may threaten
legislative responsibilities.

iii. Election Code Violations

States may prohibit or restrict candidacies or individuals who violated election
statutes. Ethiopian electoral law also put this criterion among others for
eligibility of candidature. Accordingly, a person shall be eligible for candidature
where she has accepted and signed the election code of conduct as issued by the
board in accordance with Art 105 of the proclamation.25

iv. Candidate Removal or Substitution

Candidates who have gained ballot access sometimes die, withdraw their
candidacy or become disqualified before an election. Under these circumstances,
they (or others) may seek to remove their names from the ballot and may also
request a substitute candidate’s name to be included on the ballot.

In general, a candidate’s pre-election death, withdrawal, or disqualification does

not automatically remove the candidate’s name from the ballot. Instead, electoral

24
Art. 47(1-4) of proclamation 532/2007.
25
Art. 451)(f) of Procl.532/2007.

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laws govern the circumstances under which a withdrawal is allowed, who may
make a withdrawal request? and when the withdrawal request must be received?

According to art 54(1-4) of procl.532/2007, a candidate of political organization

or private candidate can withdraw from election. A political party candidate who
has withdrawn from the election shall notify his/her decision in writing to the
political party nominated her. In such case, the political organization may
replace the candidate but can only do so if the deadline for the registration of
candidates is not lapsed. However, if the candidate has withdrawn on the final
date of the timetable, it shall be made to replace the candidate in one week after
the date of the candidate’s withdrawal. The timetable for registration of
candidates is issued by the board and is to be carried out in constituencies where
the candidate decided to run for election.26

On the hand where the candidate of political organization has died after the end
of candidates’ registration, the political organization may replace the candidate
within 15 days before the voting date. The election shall continue with the
remaining candidates in accordance with the timetable if the party failed to
replace the deceased candidate within the prescribed dates. Conversely, where
the candidate of political party has died in less than 15 days preceding the voting
date, the election process in the constituency shall be discontinued, and another
election shall be conducted in accordance with the decision of the board after
replacement of the deceased candidate.27

According to the NEBE’s directive, 28 the registration of candidates shall be

conducted by the Election Execution Committee that will be established in each
26
Art. 44 proclamation no.532/07.
27
Art. 55(1-6) Proclamation no. 532/2007
28
Directive on the Registration of Candidates, Number 1/2009, Art. 11.

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constituency. Registration of candidates for the election of members of The

House of Peoples’ Representatives of the FDRE is conducted with Regional and
Zonal Councils of the respective constituencies. Whereas, registration of
candidates for City and Sub -City Councils is conducted in one of the polling
stations in a Kebele which had previously served as the Kebele Election Office. The
registration will be conducted by polling station officials thereof. Like wise for
the election of members of the Kebele Council, a candidate registration shall be
conducted in a Kebele constituency, locality or village apportioned according to
the laws of the Regions. The registration shall be conducted by election officials
of the polling station.

Candidate registration shall be conducted according to the timetable issued by

the Board, every day including weekends and public holidays, during working
hours of government offices. Without prejudice to the above statement, if the
Board deems it necessary, it could extend the candidate registration period or
arrange special registration hours.

5.5 Campaigning

A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision

making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns
often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or
referenda are decided. Political campaigns also include organized efforts to alter
policy within any institution or organization. Politics is as old as humankind and
is not limited to democratic or governmental institutions. Some examples of
political campaigns are: the effort to execute or banish Socrates from Athens in
the 5th century BC, the uprising of petty nobility against John of England in the

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13th century, or the 2005 push to remove Michael Eisner from the helm of The
Walt Disney Company

Campaign Message
The message of the campaign is composed of ideas that the candidate wants to
share with the voters. The message often consists of several talking points about
policy issues. The points summarize the main ideas of the campaign and are
repeated frequently in order to create a lasting impression with the voters. In
many elections, the opposition party will try to get the candidate "off message"
by bringing up policy or personal questions that are not related to the talking
points. Most campaigns prefer to keep the message broad in order to attract most
potential voters.
A message that is too narrow can alienate voters or slow the candidate down
with explaining details. For example, in the Election of 2008 John McCain
originally used a message that focused on his patriotism and political experience;
later the message was changed to shift attention to his role as a "maverick" within
the political establishment. Barack Obama ran on a consistent, simple message of
"change" throughout his campaign. If the message is crafted carefully, it will
assure the candidate a victory at the polls. For a winning candidate, the message
is refined and then becomes his or her political agenda in office.

A campaign team (which may be as small as one inspired individual, or a

heavily-resourced group of professionals) must consider how to communicate
the message of the campaign, recruit volunteers, and raise money. Campaign
advertising draws on techniques from commercial advertising and propaganda.
The avenues available to political campaigns when distributing their messages is
limited by the law, available resources and the imagination of the campaigns'

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participants. These techniques are often combined into a formal strategy known
as the campaign plan. The plan takes account of a campaign's goal, message,
target audience, and resources available. The campaign will typically seek to
identify supporters at the same time as getting its message across.

Techniques of Campaign

 Campaign advertising
Campaign advertising is the use of paid media (newspapers, radio, television,
etc.) to influence the decisions made for and by groups. These advertisings are
designed by political consultants and the campaign's staff.
 Mass meetings, rallies and protests
Holding protests, rallies and other similar public events (if enough people can be
persuaded to come) may be a very effective campaign tool. Holding mass
meetings with speakers is powerful as it shows visually, through the number of
people in attendance, the support that the campaign has.

 Modern technology and the internet

The internet is now a core element of modern political campaigns.
Communication technologies such as e-mail, web sites, and podcasts are used for
various forms of activism to enable faster communications by citizen
movements, and deliver a message to a large audience. These internet
technologies are used for cause-related fundraising, lobbying, volunteering,
community building, and organizing.

 Husting
A husting, or the hustings, was originally a physical platform from which
representatives present their views or cast votes before a parliamentary or other

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election body. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event, such as
debates or speeches, during an election campaign where one or more of the
representative candidates are present.

 Other Techniques
- Greeting babies – it is a traditional campaign activity,
 Writing directly to members of the public (either via a professional
marketing firm or, particularly on a small scale, by volunteers),
 By distributing leaflets or selling newspapers,
 Through websites, online communities, and solicited or unsolicited bulk
email,
 Through a new technique known as Micro targeting that helps identify and
target small demographic slices of voters,
 Through a whistlestop tour - a series of brief appearances in several small
towns,
 Hampering the ability of political competitors to campaign, by such
techniques as counter-rallies, picketing of rival parties’ meetings, or
overwhelming rival candidates’ offices with mischievous phone calls
(most political parties in representative democracies publicly distance
themselves from such disruptive and morale-affecting tactics, with the
exception of those parties self-identifying as activist,
 Organizing political house parties,
 Using endorsements of other celebrated party members to boost support,
and
 Remaining close to or at home to make speeches to supporters who come
to visit as part of a front porch campaign.

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Process of Campaigning
Campaigns start anywhere from several months to several years before election
day. The first part of any campaign for a candidate is deciding to run.
Prospective candidates will often speak with family, friends, professional
associates, elected officials, community leaders, and the leaders of political
parties before deciding to run.

Candidates are often recruited by political parties and interest groups interested
in electing like-minded politicians. During this period, people who are planning
to run for office will consider their ability to put together the money,
organization, and public image needed to get elected. Many campaigns for major
office do not progress past this point as people often do not feel confident in their
ability to win. However, some candidates lacking the resources needed for a
competitive campaign proceed with an inexpensive paper campaign or
informational campaign designed to raise public awareness and support for their
positions.

Once a person decides to run, they will make a public announcement. This
announcement could consist of anything from a simple press release to
concerned media outlets to a major media event followed by a speaking tour.
Campaigns will often be announced and then only officially "kicked off" months
after active campaigning has begun. Being coy about whether a candidacy is
planned is often a deliberate strategy by a prospective candidate, either to "test
the waters" or to keep the media's attention.

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Campaigns often dispatch volunteers into local communities to meet with voters
and persuade people to support the candidate. The volunteers are also
responsible for identifying supporters, recruiting them as volunteers or
registering them to vote if they are not already registered. The identification of
supporters will be useful later as campaigns remind voters to cast their votes.
Late in the campaign, campaigns will launch expensive television, radio, and
direct mail campaigns aimed at persuading voters to support the candidate.

Campaigns will also intensify their grassroots campaigns, coordinating their

volunteers in a full court effort to win votes
Campaigns for minor office may be relatively simple and inexpensive - talking to
local newspapers, giving out campaign signs, and greeting people in the local
square.

Under Ethiopian electoral law, a candidate , after the date of issuance of

candidature I.D card and up until two days before the voting day, has the right,
by respecting his legal duties, to call rallies and hold peaceful demonstrations
by his own or through his supporters by notifying in writing the
administration or municipality, and without requesting for permission. He shall
also have the right to request for information useful for election campaign.
Campaigning activities shall be conducted peacefully and democratically by
respecting the constitution and other relevant laws, the rights of voters and other
candidates.

Any candidate or his/her supporters have the right to enjoy freedom of oral and
written expression, and the right to assemble supporters, organize peaceful
demonstration, and to request and obtain pertinent information even though it is
obvious that such rights should not be exercised in contravention of the law.

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With a view to the effectiveness of campaigning activities, government organs

and officials, at any level, have the obligation to allow equal access to candidates
in respect of such facilities as radio stations, assembly halls and newspapers
under their respective authority. All political parties and independent candidates
have the right of equal access to the mass media; that is, by way of entitlement to
free use of an air time on the radio and television and/or a column in the print
media.

Devoid of prejudice to rights and obligations specified above, the following are
the code of conduct for candidates during campaigning that need to be adhered
and respected:
 every candidate shall, during the campaigning period, carry his/her
Candidature ID and present it upon request by those so authorized;
 every candidate or political party shall, while campaigning, observe the
electoral law and other laws of the land;
 campaigning speeches made, written materials circulated and posters
displayed by candidates, candidates' representatives or political parties
may not violate the rights of other candidates or political parties;
 candidates and political parties shall refrain from misrepresenting,
defacing or removing the campaigning materials of other candidates or
political parties;
 candidates may not scorn, insult or affront other candidates or political
parties;
 campaigning activities shall not be carried out within a radius of 500
meters of a polling station;

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 candidates and political parties shall abide by the determinations of

electoral offices and by a code of campaigning ethics to be issued by the
Board, as necessary; and
 No candidate may display his/her electoral poster or candidature symbol
outside the respective constituency. Campaigning activities shall not be
carried out in: military camps; churches and mosques; educational
institutions, while class is being held; government and public institutions,
during their working hours.

5.6 Voting

A voting system contains rules for valid voting, and how votes are aggregated to
yield a final result. The study of formally defined voting systems is called voting
theory, a subfield of political science, economics or mathematics. A voting system
specifies the form of the ballot, the set of allowable votes, and the tallying method,
an algorithm for determining the outcome. This outcome may be a single winner,
or may involve multiple winners such as in the election of a legislative body. The
voting system may also specify how voting power is distributed among the
voters, and how voters are divided into subgroups (constituencies) whose votes
are counted independently.

Many elections are held to the ideal of "one person, one vote," meaning that
every voter's votes should be counted with equal weight. This is not true of all
elections, however. Corporate elections, for instance, usually weight votes
according to the amount of stock each voter holds in the company, changing the
mechanism to "one share, one vote". Votes can also be weighted unequally for

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other reasons such as increasing the voting weight of higher-ranked members of

an organization.

Voting weight is not the same thing as voting power. In situations where certain
groups of voters will all cast the same vote (for example, political parties in a
parliament), voting power measures the ability of a group to change the outcome
of a vote. Groups may form coalitions in order to maximize their voting power.

5.6.1 Establishment of Voting Stations

The law provides for the establishment of polling stations at locations suitable for
security.29 The polling stations are required to be organized in a manner that they
are sufficiently secured and protected prior to polling day. Polling stations can
be established at Office and Assembly Halls of Urban Dwellers Associations or
Peasant Associations or Producer’s Cooperative Associations. Polling stations
may not be established at military camps, police stations, places of worship,
hospitals, places where alcohol is sold, buildings of political and religious
organizations and places of residence.

Persons who are not electors and electors who have already voted , other than
those engaged in conducting electoral activities, are required to keep themselves
out of the vicinity of the polling station. No person may be present within the
radius of five hundred meters of the polling station while drunk, carrying a
weapon or in any other situation disturbing peace. Where a person is present in

29
Supra note 8,Art. 63.

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such situation, the chief electoral officer may authorize necessary measure
against the person.

When arranging the layout of the polling station provision must be made for a
booth where the voter can vote in secret and cannot be observed by anyone else.
The ballot box must be placed in a way that is possible to be observed for
security reasons. Seven days before voting day, each polling station must have a
ballot box, electoral roll, ballot papers, ink and ink pads, ballot box seals,
indelible ink, a box for storing ballot papers that have not been marked properly
and report forms.

5.6.2 Voting Station Observers

Ethiopian electoral law provides for the election of five observers for each polling
station. These observers must be independent and not affiliated to a political
party and must be residents of the area where the polling station is situated. The
role of the polling station observers is to observe the elections and report any
irregularities in the voting process to the person in charge of the polling station.
In Ethiopia, presiding officers are called Chief Officers of the polling stations.

5.6.3 At the Voting Station

Each polling station has three staff and a Chief Officer (the presiding officer). The
Presiding Officer is responsible for all voting day activities at his or her polling
station. They are assisted by the other staff that supports the voting process. The
Presiding Officer also has the responsibility of security at the polling station. No
one can come within a 500 metre radius of the polling station if they carry a

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weapon, are drunk or are disturbing the peace in any way. The Presiding Officer
determines whether they require police to assist them in ensuring security of
voters, and can request police assistance through the electoral commission
offices.

Representatives from the media are permitted to be in the polling stations on

condition that they present their credentials and do not interfere with the voting
process.

The Presiding Officer must arrange the polling station to accommodate the
following:
 seats for candidates' representatives,
 seats for public observers,
 a seat for Registrar No. I,
 a seat for Registrar No. II,
 a place for applying the voter marking-ink,
 a place for handing out ballot papers,
 a secret voting booth/shelter,
 a place for the ballot box, and
 a place for giving briefings on the voting process to voters and observers at
the entrance to the polling station.

Each polling station must be clearly marked and each stage of the voting process
must be identified through placards or tags. Polling station should also contain
posters with information on the candidates’ symbols, and a pictorial illustration
of the voting process. Special consideration is given to the prevailing

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circumstances in each polling station. The Presiding Officer is required to find a

secured space for election material that is free from pests, rodents, and humidity.

Presiding Officers must give a full briefing on the voting process and all the tasks
and functions that must be carried out on Election Day. All the officials who will
be present at the polling station will receive this briefing.
Unless the Board decides otherwise the voting hours are from 6:00 a.m. – 6:00
p.m. Under special circumstance, the board has the mandate to decide a different
voting hour as long as this is officially announced to the public. 30

5.6.4 Before Voting Begins

The Presiding Officer opens the sealed bag received from the Constituency
Electoral Office and counts out the election documents and materials inside and
verifies that the quantity and the variety tallies with the checklist. The tag
number of the ballot box and of the padlocks is recorded by the observers, the
party and candidates' representatives. The sealed bag is opened in front of the
observers and representatives.

The Presiding Officer sorts the ballot papers into piles for the different types of
elections and signs on the reverse side of each ballot paper. He/she then counts
out ballot papers equal to the number of registered voters and places and then
puts it in sight of the observers. The remaining ballot papers are kept aside as
reserve ballots.

Voting shall begin in the presence of representatives of political parties and

private candidates, electoral officers and election wardens, after the chief
30
Supra note 8,Art. 64 (1-2).

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electoral officer of the polling station shows to the bodies stated above that the
ballot is empty , sealed and put in an open place, and within close distance to
observers and after minutes are recoded and filled specifically designed for this
purpose. 31

5.6.5 The Voting Process

Before voters enter the polling station, the Presiding Officer takes them through a
briefing on the voting process. He/she waits until a group of voters are gathered
and gives these briefings throughout election day. The briefing includes an
explanation of the ballot papers and an explanation of who is contesting the
elections without showing any favouritism for or bias against the candidates or
parties. The briefing also contains information on how a ballot should be marked
and what constitutes a spoilt ballot.

After prospective voters receive their briefing, they enter the polling station and
produce their elector’s card. This card was issued to them at registration and
identifies them as people who have registered to vote. Their card is checked to
see if they are at the correct polling station and to identify which voters’ roll they
are on. Both the elector’s card and their identification document are checked
against the voters’ roll.

Once they have been checked against the voters’ roll and their fingers have been
examined for voter’s ink, the elector’s card is destroyed and his/her identity
document is returned.

31
Supra note 8, Art. 62(3)(a)&(b).

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The voter is required to sign, or in the case of illiterate voters make a thumb
mark, in a column of the voters’ roll that is designated for this purpose after
identification of her identity, and that she has not voted. 32After the elector signed
on the elector roll, her thumb, if she does not have a thumb, her any other finger,
shall be marked with indelible ink after which she shall be handed with a ballot
paper and directed to the voting booth. If she does not have fingers, the election
officers shall allow her to vote after ascertaining that she has not voted. 33The left
hand thumb of the voter is inked to prevent double voting.

In the voting booth the voter marks his or her ballot by placing an X next to her
choice or, if the voter is illiterate, places a thumb mark next to the preferred
choice; after which he/she shall fold the ballot paper and insert it in the ballot
box placed in front of him/her and in close sight to observers. Illiterate electors
shall vote by pressing one of their fingers in the square corresponding to the
symbol of the candidate for whom they want to vote after dipping it in ink made
available for this purpose.34

Voters who are blind or physically disabled may be accompanied by a person of

their choice to assist them in casting their ballot. However, the assistant has to be
18 years old and above, and should not be a candidate or representative of a
candidate.35 If a voter inadvertently spoils their ballot paper, they can return this
ballot and request another ballot. The spoilt ballot will be marked by the electoral
official with the words "spoilt and returned" and be kept in a special box.

People who are not allowed to vote are those:

32
Supra note 8, Art. 66(2)
33
Ibid , Art. 66(3)
34
Ibid, Art. 66(5)&(6).
35
Ibid , Art. 67.

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 without an electors card and whose name is not on the voters’ roll,
 who are not willing to have their thumb inked, and
 whose thumb is already inked.
Any elector may cast his/her vote freely where he/she appears in person and
each elector has to cast her vote only once. 36

5.6.6 At the End of the Voting Process

At 6:00 p.m. or where the final voting hour is completed, the gate of the polling
station must be closed. People who are at the gate and in the queue at the time of
closing will be allowed to cast their vote if they meet all the legal requirements
for voting. Election wardens are stationed at the gate to ensure that no people
will further try to enter the area. No person except electoral officers, public
observers, representatives of candidates and authorized election observers,
should be allowed to enter polling stations before the opening and after the
closing of polling stations.

After the last voter has cast his/her vote, the ballot box/es are sealed with a
special seal in front of all the observers, party and candidate representatives. The
tag number of the padlock of the ballot box is recorded by the election officers,
observers, party, and candidates' representatives.

36
Ibid,Art. 65(1).

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Check Your Progress

1. Students, what do you think is the logic of setting the age requirement for
candidature different from attainment of majority age?
2. Compare and contrast the requirements stated under proclamation 532 /2007
for voters registration and eligibility of candidature and try to understand their
essence and contribution for periodic and genuine election.
3. What are the rules and Regulations under the Ethiopian electoral law pertinent
to pre election campaigning.
4. Describe the voting process as prescribed in procl.532/2007.
5. Indentify the meaning and essence of the following key terms.

-Registration of Electors
- Age Requirement
-Residency Requirement
-Citizenship Requirement
- Non Felony Requirement
- Candidacy
-Qualified elector Requirement
-Petition Signature Requirement
- Campaigning
-Candidate Removal
- Voting
-Ballot

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CHAPTER SIX
STAKEHOLDERS IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS AND THE
LAW (POLITICAL PARTIES, MEDIA AND ELECTION
OBSERVERS)

Unit Contents:
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Unit Objectives
6.3 Political Party and Election
6.3.1 Notion and Essence of Political Party
6.3.2 Functions of Political Party
6.3.3 Political Party and Election
6.3.4 Financing Political Parties and Election Campaigns
6.3 Media and Election
6.4.1 Notion and Social Role of Media
6.4.2 Constitutional and Legal Role of Media
6.4.3 Media and Election
6.5. Election Observers and Election
6.6 Summary

6.1 Introduction

Article 25 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that every
citizen has the right, without discrimination, to take part in the conduct of public
affairs, to be elected, and to have equal access to public service in his or her
country. Those rights are not absolute, however, and may be subject to a variety
of reasonable limitations. This unit is dedicated for the discussion of the essence

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of political parties and their role in election, media and its role in ensuring fair
and free election and the ethical and legal obligations of election observers.

6.2 Unit Objectives

Upon the end of this unit, students are expected to:

 have clear understanding of the notion of Political party,
 explain the role of political parties in election,
 describe the extent of media’s involvement in election process, and
 understand the role of election observers in election.

6.3 Political Party and Election

A political party is defined as an organized group of people with at least roughly

similar political aims and opinions, that seeks to influence public policy by
getting its candidates elected to public office. States have broad, but not
unlimited, power to regulate the time, place and manner of elections because of
their acknowledged interests in orderly elections, electoral integrity, minimized
voter confusion, political stability, and electoral finality. By the same token,
individuals have a constitutionally protected right to associate others with like-
minded to advance their political goals. A common means individuals use to
advance shared political goals is the organization of a political party. Elections
can result in tension and conflicts between these public and private interests.
This sub-section discusses the state’s ability to regulate political parties and
hence to maximize parties’ role to in free and fair election.

6.3.1 Notion and Essence of Political party

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The institution of political party has now assumed an honorable place after
having a notorious past. The reason for this lies in the fact that now a political
party is considered fundamentally different from a destructive body like a clique
or a faction. Though it is true that the institution of political parties has assumed
a respectable place now, its meaning, nature and role are still a matter of serious
debate. While liberal view appreciates the existence and role of political parties
as agencies organized public opinion, with the help of which a political system
operates .The Marxist view of political party and its role are quite different from
the liberal. For Marxist political party is an instrument whereby the working
class develops class consciousness so as to overthrow the bourgeois order.
Lenin’s theory of party, in addition to this, has more formidable characteristics.
The party is not only the ‘vanguard’ of the working class, it alone is the
custodian of all power and any opposition to it is, visited by severe punishment.

From what we have said above, the following essential features of a political
party may be earmarked so as to offer a comprehensive meaning of the term:
1. a political party is not a loosely – knit organization of some persons. It is
required that the members of a political party must be organized on some
specific principles or interests in a tight manner so that the party may be
distinguished from any oligarchcal entity,
2. there must be close and intimate relationship among all the members of a
party. An intermittent relationship between the ‘lords’ and the ‘vassal’
does not constitute a party in this sense,
3. there must be a clear line of distinction between ‘principles’ and
‘personalities’. Despite the weighty influence of the personalities of few
leaders, the life of a party must not depend upon the life of its members,

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4. the leaders of a party must endeavour and struggle for maximizing their
base of popular support and legitimizing the circle of decision – makers,
and
5. in the end, a party must adopt constitutional means for the seizure of
power so as to implement its policies and programmes, or to protect and
promote some specific interest.

The party system essentially means the way the political parties of the day
interact with one another within the politically competitive nature of
Westminster and beyond. A number of different types of party systems have
been identified:

i. One-party system: a one-party system cannot produce a political system. One

party cannot produce any other system other than autocratic/dictatorial power.
A state where one party rules would include the remaining communist states of
the world (Cuba, North Korea and China), and Iraq (where the ruling party is the
Ba’ath Party). The old Soviet Union was a one party state. One of the more
common features of a one-party state is that the position of the ruling party is
guaranteed in a constitution and all forms of political opposition are banned by
law. The ruling party controls all aspects of life within that state. The belief that a
ruling party is all important to a state came from Lenin who believed that only
one party - the Communists - could take the workers to their ultimate destiny
and that the involvement of other parties would hinder this progress.
ii. Two-party system: as the title indicates, this is a state in which just two parties
dominate. Other parties might exist but they have no political importance.
America has the most obvious two-party political system with the Republicans
and Democrats dominating the political scene. For the system to work, one of the

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parties must obtain a sufficient working majority after an election and it must be
in a position to be able to govern without the support from the other party.

iii. The multi-party system: as the title suggests, this is a system where more
than two parties have some impact in a state’s political life. A multi-party system
is a system in which three or more political parties have the capacity to gain
control of government separately or in coalition. A multi-party system can lead
to a coalition government as Germany and Italy have experienced. In Germany,
it provided reasonably stable governments and a successful coalition can
introduce an effective system of checks and balances on the government that can
promote political moderation. Also, many policy decisions take into account all
views and interests. In Italy, coalition governments have not been a success;
many have lasted less than one year. In Israel, recent governments have relied on
the support of extreme minority groups to form a coalition government and this
has created its own problems with such support being withdrawn on a whim or
if those extreme parties feel that their own specific views are not being given
enough support.

iv. Dominant-party system: this is different from a one-party system. A party is

quite capable within the political structure of a state, to become dominant to such
an extent that victory at elections is considered a formality. This was the case
under the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. For
18 years (1979 to 1997), one party dominated politics in Britain.
6.3.2 The Functions of Parties

Although often abused by politicians and publics alike, political parties do

perform vital functions in every political system; and in countries with

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democratic traditions they are an indisputably necessary part of the democratic

process. Parties perform at least five major functions as discussed below.

I. Aggregation of Demands
In any society, social groups with particular interests to promote or defend need
some means whereby their demands can be aggregated and articulated in
government. Traditionally, political parties have performed this function – hence
the association of party with particular social groups, regions or religions.
Political parties bring together sectional interest, overcome geographic distance
and provide coherence to sometime divisive government structure. Political
parties tend to provide the highest common denominator.

II. Staffing the Government

In a modern and complex society, parties are a necessary link in the relationship
between government and people. According to social-contract theory,
governments must be held accountable for their actions. If they are perceived to
be failing, then the people can always replace them at election time.
Unfortunately, accountability and responsiveness can never be continuous or
complete except in very small societies or communities. Given this, parties
provide the public with a focus for accountability. Once elected, a president
appoints government officials to fill the major posts in the new administration.
Not only departmental chiefs (members of the cabinet) but also the top civil
service positions are filled with party linkages. When judging the performance of
the government, therefore, the public can look to the record of an administration
united by a common party label, and presumably, a common set of policies. As
the party is rooted in society via party organizations, staffing the government
through party helps to ensure an intimate link between the implementation of
policies and public preference.
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III. Coordination of Government Institutions

National legislature is separated from executive. Federalism adds a further
fragmenting influence by giving state (and through the states, local)
governments considerable independence from the federal authorities. In
centralized systems with cabinet government, parties actually dominate
institutions. In Britain, for example, powerful political-party organizations
nominate candidates, fight elections and, if successful, form the government out
of a majority in the House of Commons. By exercising control over the party
organization, governments (or oppositions) can usually ensure the obedience of
individual members of the parliament.

Iv. Promotion of Political Stability

Parties do not always promote political stability. In many countries, parties
mobilize movements against existing regimes and are a major force in bringing
regime change. Moreover, if governmental (as opposed to regime) stability is the
measure, it is clear that the multi-party systems of Western Europe do anything
but promote stability. In ‘mature’ democracies, however, parties do help to
socialize citizens into an acceptance of the regime, only by legitimizing national
parliaments and assemblies and facilitating the peaceful transfer of power from
one government to another.

In addition, political parties perform several important functions in modern

political system that may be enumerated as under:

 the parties struggle for capturing power; they strive to form order out of
chaos. They seek to widen the interests they represent and harmonize
these interests with each other,

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 they provide a link between the government and its people. They seek to
educate, instruct and activate the electorate. That is, they perform the job
of political mobilization, secularization and recruitment,
 they present issues: they set value goals for the society. All parties have
philosophical bases no matter how blurred and no matter how divorced
from the actual political behavior of the party they are, and
 in newer and developing nations of the world where political habits and
traditions are yet to grow up, political party or parties does or do the job
of political modernization. That is, they strive to give a particular shape to
the government, provide the main link between different social and
economic groups, constitute the chief agency for political education and
socialization, break down traditional barriers and act as the binding force
in communities divided by groups based on tribal affiliation, religious
denomination or national origin.

To perform the above mentioned tasks and functions, political parties and
citizens need some rights and obligations guaranteed or ruled by constitution or
law. These include
 freedom of organization,
 freedom to stand for election,
 freedom of speech and assembly,
 provision of a fair and peaceful competition,
 mechanisms of plurality,
 inclusion in the electoral process and contacts with the EMB,
 a level of playing field and freedom from discrimination,
 media access and fair reporting, and
 Transparent and accountable political finance.

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6.3.3 The Role of Political Party in Election

Political parties are vital political institutions for contemporary democracy. They
are essential for the organization of the modern democratic polity and are crucial
for the expression and manifestation of political pluralism. Political parties
perform a variety of functions, all of which are to some degree quintessential to
modern liberal democracy. Parties perform an important function as a channel
for integrating individuals and groups in society into the political system; they
mobilize and socialize the general public, particularly at elections; and they
constitute the core vehicles for the articulation and aggregation of social interests.
Political parties, furthermore, fulfill an important role in the recruitment of
political elites by nominating and selecting candidates for public office; they are
essential for the organization of government; and perform an important policy-
making function by making political decisions and implementing these in
political practice.

6.3.4 Financing Political Parties and Election Campaigns

In order to carry out their core activities, political parties need appropriate
funding. The relationship between money and politics, however, is controversial
and much of the debate on the role of money is concerned with the improper
influence of money on the democratic political process and with the illegitimate
personal enrichment of politicians. While the shady aspects of finance and
politics should not be ignored, the relevance of money extends beyond
illegitimate sources that flow into party coffers and the pockets of politicians. The
scope of political finance has a wider relevance in the context of the functioning
of democracy and should thus be seen as broader than merely involving illicit

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transactions. More generally, political activity involves expenses which should

be seen as the necessary and unavoidable costs of democracy.

Under the Ethiopian legal system, a substantial legislative action has been taken
in recent years to regulate the practice of party financing. The relevant laws in
this regard are The Revised Political Parties Registration Proclamation No. 573/2008
( here in after proclm. No.573/2008) and Regulation Concerning the Procedure for
Determining the Aporsionment of Government Financial Support to Political Parties
Regulation Number 5/2009. The objective of this Regulation is to lay down a
transparent procedure for determining the criteria for the distribution of
government support to political parties as well as for its utilization and
administration so that political parties could play their part in building a
democratic system in addition to the electoral law proclm. no. 532/2007.

According to proclamation no.573/2008, government shall grant support for

political parties that have representation at the Federal and at State houses for
conducting their day to day activity and to effect for election purpose. The
support to be granted by the government according to this Article may be in the
form of money, in kind and in service.37

The main traditional sources of internal party financing are membership fees,
income from property, revenue from party activities such as the sale of
newspapers or other party publications, fundraising activities, party festivals and
other social events, and occasional public collections. Political parties are private
voluntary associations which should in principle be in control of their own
financial affairs although these may be subject to some degree of state regulation.

The Revised Political PArt.ies Registration Proclamation No. 573/2008 ( here in after proclm.
37

No.573/2008) , Art. 42.

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Membership contributions are an attractive form of party finance because they

are donated on a voluntary basis, and, notwithstanding material incentives
which may underlie an individual’s motivation to join a party or clientelist
services which are offered to party membership, they do not imply a direct pay-
for-service relationship. Membership contributions are not accompanied by
direct demands for influence on programming decisions or access to party-
related functions. From a normative point of view, membership fees are,
therefore, the most unproblematic form of party financing.

Pursuant to art 51 of Proclamation .no 573/2008, the income source of a political

party may be:
- membership dues collected from members;
- donations or grants by Ethiopian nationals and companies in
accordance with the limit to be set by the Board on the basis of its
study; and
- the grant and support to be given by the government as provided from
Article 42 to Article 50 of the same Proclamation.

However, a political party may, upon the approval of the government or regional
state administration, collect money from the proceeds of events organized on
non-permanent basis to enhance its financial position. This, being the case under
Ethiopian law, no political party that has attained legal personality may directly
or indirectly be engaged in commercial and industrial activities.

i. Qualification of Donors
Because private donations may run the risk of establishing inappropriate links
between money and specific political decisions, it is advisable that state laws

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adopt a set of general principles on private donations. Measures taken by states

governing donations to parties should provide specific rules to avoid conflicts of
interests to avoid prejudice to the activities of political parties to ensure
transparency of donations and to avoid secret donations. Public law should be
tailored such that it does not endanger the autonomy of political parties and that
it ensures their independence.

Regulations on the qualification of donors can take two basic forms. Germany
provides an example of the first approach, which is through the identification of
“impermissible donors”, outlining the types of donors which are excluded from
making financial contributions to political parties altogether or whose donations
are strictly limited. A second approach, such as the one which was recently
adopted in the United Kingdom, provides a positive list of “permissible donors”.
In contrast with this negative list of impermissible donors, the positive
identification of permissible donors entails a potentially more restrictive
approach, as no donations may be accepted from a person or entity not included
in the list.

The first approach is adopted under the Ethiopian legal system. 38 Every political
party is prohibited to accept donation or grant from the following persons or
bodies:
a) foreign nationals;
b) foreign government or foreign political party;
c) welfare organization or non-governmental organization;
d) religious organization;
e) prisoners of law;

38
Proclm. No.573/2008 , Art. 52.

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f) an organized group or person assuming state power in a manner

other than that provided under the Constitution;
g) terrorist organization;
h) donation or grant having unknown source;
i) government organization; and
j) donation or grant from any body or person for the execution of
any future object that conferred inappropriate benefit or for
receiving unlawful benefit.

Anonymous donations should be limited or prohibited. From the standpoint of

equality of the democratic process and the transparency of political finance, it
would perhaps be best to prohibit any type of anonymous donation. The same is
true for secret funding of politicians and parties by foreign governments that has
a long history. The example of the Soviet Union financing communist parties
from abroad is particularly well known. When it comes to foreign money
funding politicians and parties, a distinction should thus be made between secret
and clandestine activities with a political purpose, on the one hand, and legal
activities often explicitly targeted at democracy building on the other hand.

Various objections, of principle as well as practice, can be raised against foreign

contributions. The most important principled objection to foreign donations to
political parties is that it interferes with the autonomy and sovereignty of
domestic politics. More pragmatic objections include the difficulties involved
with ensuring the accountability of the donor and the fact that they may remove
an incentive for parties and politicians to raise money from their own supporters.

ii. Financing the Electoral Campaigns of Political Parties

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Since campaigning constitutes a special type of party activity, the types and
amounts of necessary resources are likely to be different from those required to
sustain the party’s daily functioning. Furthermore, and despite the fact that
modern day electioneering may have become an almost uninterrupted activity,
campaigning is likely to be heavily concentrated in particular periods, reaching
its peak immediately before Election Day.

Given their special nature, election campaigns may be subject to a financing

regime different from that of normal party operations. Governments may,
therefore, adopt special provisions covering the amounts and sources of
permissible private donations, expenditure limits and the criteria for state
subventions for the financing of elections. However, the considerations
underlying the advantages and disadvantages of different types of private and
public funding are the same, regardless of whether they concern election
campaigns or routine party activity. The framework of party finance legislation
should, therefore, be inspired by a common set of principles which applies
qualitate qua, to both the financing of routine operational costs and the financing
of election campaigns.

The proclamation for political parties registration set rules applicable to the
support granted by government for the purpose of election. 39 The support to be
granted by government to political parties participating in election shall only be
utilized for the purpose of election at federal or state houses. Limits on party and
campaign expenditure are a device used to avoid excessive increases in the cost
of party politics, control inequalities between political parties and restrict the
scope of improper influence and corruption. In the absence of an upper threshold
on expenditure, there are no limits to the escalation of campaign costs. This can
39
Proclm. No.573/2008 , Art. 47

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be prevented by setting legal limits on election expenditures. Expenditure limits

should also be seen as a means to prevent candidates or parties from buying
votes. Unrestricted spending gives an unfair advantage to those with access to
money and may make elected officials excessively dependent on contributors at
the expense of being responsive to the public at large. In order to ensure equality
of opportunities for the different political parties, electoral campaign expenses
should have a fixed ceiling.

Under Ethiopian Electoral law, expenditure for the purpose of election, as

determined by Regulation no. 5/2009, which is issued by the board with the
mandate given to it under art 47(2) of procl.532/2007, are expenses incurred for:
A. the nomination of candidates,
B. for conducting a campaign to publicize its political program to the
whole people,
C. conducting civic education widely with a view of making the election
free, fair, peaceful, lawful and democratic, and
D. training and deploying party agents and other similar expenses.40

iii. Monitoring
Important elements of the legal framework on political financing need to
incorporate rules which oblige parties to publish their financial accounts and
which subject them to independent scrutiny. In case of evasions of obligations,
breaches of the law or attempts to fraud, clear and enforceable sanctions should
be imposed. To this effect, party financing legislation should include stipulations
regulating at least four distinct aspects related to the transparency of political
finance. These are:
40
Regulation Concerning the Procedure for Determining the Aporsionment of Government
Financial Support to Political PArt.ies Regulation Number 5/2009,(here in after Regulation
No.5/2009), Art. 14.
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• Disclosure: rules which oblige political parties to open up their financial

accounts and reveal information on their levels of income, including the
identity of donors and expenditure.
• Reporting: regulations stipulating that party accounts be made public and
reported to the appropriate institution.
• Monitoring: provisions for an independent body to inspect and control
party accounts.
• Enforcement: a legal system of sanctions to ensure that regulations on
party financing are not evaded, and to impose penalties when the law is
breached.

Disclosure and reporting of information on party finances is crucial to the

transparency of political funding, and it provides the cornerstone for public. In
most circumstances, disclosure of party income and expenditure should be seen
as in the public interest. The main argument in favour of disclosure rules is that
they enhance transparency and may prevent improper financing. The type and
sources of financial support may inform the electors of the party’s type of
policies, activities and political style, and thus, may reasonably be expected to
influence electoral choices. Voters should, therefore, be entitled to know who the
financial supporters are, from the different political parties and candidates they
vote for. In addition, disclosure of political donations makes it easier to detect
(and thus potentially to avoid) political corruption. If a corporate entity would
donate a large sum of money to a political party and would subsequently benefit
from favourable government decisions or acquire a favourable public contract,
public disclosure of political contributions will make it easier to detect such
possibly questionable transactions.

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Accordingly, the Ethiopian electoral law imposes the duty to report periodically
to the Board in the audit report by the political parties after listing the
expenditure of the grant in expenditure heading, and certified by the auditor. 41
Hence, any political party has the obligation to deposit the support granted by
government in specific bank account; transact the account according to the law
and may not expend outside the allowed expenditure ;keep the granted support
in specific books of account by listing under every expenditure heading; submit
audit report certified by auditor, according to finance law, specifying the amount
granted by the government in the budget year and the particulars for which the
money has been expended. The auditor shall forward his comment in the audit
report as to whether the account audited by him has been expended outside the
legal scope.

iv. Intervals of Reporting

For reporting to be effective, they should be timely. This requires that parties
should submit reports at regular intervals. Separate reporting requirements
should be adopted for operational activities and electoral activities. For routine
operational costs, reports should include all income and expenditure related to
the maintenance of the party organisation, the employment of paid party
personnel and all activities with no direct electoral purpose. Reporting at annual
intervals would seem suitable. Special records of all direct and indirect
expenditure should also be required on electoral campaigns for each political
party and each candidate. Reporting on election activities should more or less
follow the electoral cycle. Under the political party registration proclamation too
the political parties are required to submit their reports to the Board 42 within 3
months from the end of the budget year if the report relates to the support

41
proclm. No.573/2008 , Art. 48
42
Ibid, Art. 48 (3).

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granted to it for conducting its day to day activity and within the period as
determined by the Board if it relates to the report to be submitted as to the
support granted for the purpose of election.

V. Infringement of Rules Concerning the Funding

Any infringement of rules concerning the funding of political parties and election
campaigns is subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions. The
existence and effective imposition of sanctions plays an important role in
discouraging parties and party officials from attempting to evade the rules of
public accountability and transparency. Legal regulations on disclosure and
reporting, and provisions for monitoring and control are of little value if they are
widely disregarded and if offences go undetected and unsanctioned. Party
finance, thus, needs a system of concrete and effective sanctions to act as a
deterrent to violations of the law.

Frequently occurring types of offences are the evasion of legal restrictions on

donations, exceeding the limits on campaign expenditure and violation of
reporting requirements. Possible sanctions for these offences are forfeiture of the
relevant donations, administrative fines and loss of public funding. In case of
severe violations of the law, parties and candidates may face a loss of public
office, or even prison sentences.

By the same token, the political parties registration proclamation declared 43

that
where a political party utilizes the government grant outside the purpose of the
support, or not submits report on the required time, or submits a false financial
document, or is in default of the obligation in relation with the grant:
a) the support for the party may be declined or terminated;
43
Ibid Art. 49.

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b) the party may be, according to the criminal law, fined, suspended
or dissolved;
c) the party may be cancelled from registration, or
d) the leader or leaders of the political party may be fined or
sentenced.

In addition any political party which secured income by receives “directly” or

“Indirectly” the donation or grant prohibited by art 52 of the same proclamation
will be punished by the confiscation of the property or money donated. Where a
political party happened to get in any way the donation or grant prohibited, the
party shall return the donation or grant to the Board together with related
documents within 21 days from the date it received the donation or grant.

6.4. Media and Election

6.4.1 Notion and Social Role of Media

For an election to go well, it must be free and fair. There must be free speech so
that all citizens and all political candidates can speak without fear. The media
must be free to tell everyone what was said without pressure not to twist the
truth. That is the job of professional journalists – to fully inform citizens of the
issues and their choices so they can decide for themselves for whom to vote.

Elections are great challenges for the media. Journalists need to know the
election rules. They must report fairly on all candidates, parties and issues. The
media should be the voice of the voters. Journalists must adhere to professional
standards of accuracy, impartiality and responsibility. And, they have to work

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amidst great excitement, under pressure from powerful interests, and with very
little time.

Given that a choice between government and policy alternatives is central to the
democratic ideal, access to the media in modern society is self-evidently crucial
to the dissemination of party platforms and programmes. As the CSCE
Copenhagen Document puts it, ‘no legal or administrative obstacle (should
stand) in the way of unimpeded access to the media on a non-discriminatory
basis for all political groupings and individuals wishing to participate in the
electoral process.’ Only if such facilities are available, will candidates effectively
enjoy the right to express themselves freely, including by way of criticism and
electors take the benefit of the freedom to seek and receive information.

6.4.2 Law or Regulations on Media during Elections

Whatever the differing political culture as regards media regulation, it is

generally acknowledged that the media have a vital role to play in
communicating information to the electorate. This makes it rather surprising that
so few electoral laws deal to any great extent with the media. The absence of
formal statutes or regulations might indicate a mature media environment in
which there is a free interchange of political ideas in the press and over the
airwaves and where every party has fair access to the media to get its ideas
across. Or it might not.

In situations where large sections of the media are either publicly owned or
under the control of one particular political interest group (this may in practice
be the same thing), then it probably makes sense for the law to set out some basic

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rules for election coverage. These will often differ in their provisions for public
and privately owned media. The areas that the law (or subsidiary regulations)
may cover include the following:
 how time or space will be allocated to candidates and political parties,
 whether paid political advertising is to be permitted,
 what duty the media have to carry voter education material or candidate
debates, and
 whether there is to be a right of reply to factual misrepresentation in the
media.

In addition, the regulations may deal with other more specific issues such as:
 news blackouts or "reflection periods",
 restrictions on reporting of opinion polls, and
 policies on "hate speech" and defamation.

The law or regulations will probably create a legislative body with responsibility
for oversight of the media during election or will assign that responsibility to
some existing body such as the electoral commission or broadcasting regulator.
Included in the law, there is likely to be some speedy mechanism for dealing
with complaints about media coverage.

One of the most widespread features of modern electioneering is the allocation of

time to political parties to allow them, free of charge, to deliver their messages on
television and radio. Given the overwhelming importance of television as a
medium of political communications, this “free time” is a vital benefit-in-kind,
though it is hard to calculate its commercial value. The methods and principles of
allocation of free broadcasting time are usually similar to those of direct funding:

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parties are either given an equal amount of time or the time for party political
broadcasts is allocated proportionally according to party performance in the
previous general election. In order to meet the requirements of such state aid, a
party must obtain a minimum of votes and/or must compete in a fixed number
of constituencies.

The first press law in the history of Ethiopia was adopted in 1992. According to
Proclamation No. 34/1992, titled the “Proclamation to Provide for the Freedom
of the Press”, the freedom of press was recognized and respected in Ethiopia and
censorship of the press and any restrictions of a similar nature were prohibited
(Article 3). The proclamation stated that any Ethiopian national would receive
press license from the Ministry of Information or from the Information Bureau
(for regions) by submitting the following particulars: the name of the propertior
or the editor in-chief of the press, the type of press activity, the address of the
head office of the press, the name of the press, and the name and address of the
publisher (Article 7).

The proclamation also stipulated that the publisher or the editor of any press
may not be forced to disclose the source of the news (Article 8(4a)). However, in
case of a crime committed against the safety of the state, administration, the
national defense force, or in the case of proceedings of a serious crime, the court
may order the publisher or the editor of the press to disclose his (her) source of
information (Article8(4b)).

Moreover, the proclamation requires that any press product should not give rise
to criminal and civil liability (Article 10); should be free from a criminal offence
against the safety of the state (Article 10(2b)); should be free from defamation or

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false accusation against any individual, national/nationality or organization;

should be free from criminal instigation of one nationality against another, or
conflict between peoples (Article 10(2c))

In 1994, Ethiopia adopted a new Constitution, and under its article 29, the
Constitution declares that, “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression without
any interference. This right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information
and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the
form of art, or through any media of his choice.” According to the Constitution,
“Freedom of the press and other mass media and freedom of artistic creativity are
guaranteed.”

The second press law titled “Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation,”
which was adopted by the parliament in July 2008 was initiated for the first time
in 2003. The revised version banned the censorship of private media (Article 4.1),
and the detention of journalists (Article 43.1). It also gave a right for government
prosecutors to stop the publication and distribution of materials by invoking
national security (Article 42.2).

The May 2005 parliamentary election (regional and federal) was the most
contested multi-party election in the history of the country. Prior to the election,
the NEBE issued media accreditation guidelines. According to these guide lines,
the media people were requested to: “strive for balance, accuracy and impartiality”,
“avoid facilitating discrimination based on race, sex, language, religion, political or other
beliefs, national or social origins”, “report only on credible and well-sourced facts.”
Moreover, they were requested not to “hide key information or falsify documents.”
The guidelines also instructed the accredited media representatives not to:

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“interview voters, candidates’ representatives, observers or election observers during

registration or polling”; “film, photograph or interview any voters or election officials
without their consent”; “film, photograph or copy the Electors’ Registers, voters’
registration identity documents or any other documents which would infringe on the
privacy of voters.” 44The guidelines also stipulated that all interviews should be
conducted out side polling stations.

Proclamation no 532/07 under its Art 59 & 60 declare that political organizations
and sections of the community that are in support of candidates shall be
entitled to get access to free airtime and equal access to state owned mass
media including radio, TV and newspapers. With a veiw to effectively carry out
campaigning activities , government organs and officials at any level shall have
the obligation to create a conducive condition to provide , both for candidates
and their supporters , equal access to such facilities as radio station, meeting
halls and newspapers that are under their respective authority.

Broadcasting law requires any broadcasting service provider to allocate free

airtime for political organizations and candidates registered in accordance with
the relevant law, to publicize their objectives and programs to the people or to
transmit statements during election period. Any political organization or
candidate may also transmit election campaign advertisements. This would
assist in alleviating financial constraints political organizations and private
candidates face in reaching the public with their political programs. The
Broadcasting Service Operation Directive provides detailed information on the
assignment of free air time during election. A broadcaster (a body carrying out
radio and television transmission on the basis of the Broadcasting Service
44
NEBE, “NEBE Media Accreditation Information and Guidelines on Election Coverage.”
<http://www.electionsethiopia.org/Whats%20New17.html>

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Proclamation) is under obligation to assign free air time to candidates. The

assignment of air time has to be just and reasonable for all political parties and
private candidates.

6.4.3 Media and Election

There may be pressure on the election administration bodies from political or

other powerful and interested bodies. The parties may try to do everything to
win the election. It will be difficult for the election administration bodies to catch
every trick and abuse that may occur. But, the election must be fair and honest if
it is to have legitimacy with the people and the world. That is why a reliable
media is needed as a watchdog against corruption and illegal activity in the
election.

It is the role of the media to report problems and possible violations of the rules,
as well as to inform voters about the issues and the political parties and
candidates’ policies. The media does not work for the commission or the political
parties, but the media can shine its own spotlight on the election process and
expose corruption or other illegal activities. The commission and the parties
know that there will be public criticism of the commission and the parties if the
abuse is not stopped.

Reporters need to be well aware of the election rules, how the election
administration bodies operate and how the voting will be conducted. Also, there
should be a policy and practice of equitable or fair news reporting about the
political parties. This means, all parties receive some amount of news reports
about them, but the amount of reporting about each party should reflect the

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significance of the party in previous elections as well as their significance in the

current campaign. One good indicator is the number of candidates. Bigger
parties will receive more coverage. This is a policy that the news media should
practice as part of reliable journalism.

But the election administration bodies may make rules to require the news media
to do this, during the election campaign period. The election administration
bodies may also require the news media to provide equitable or fair amounts of
free advertising or free airtime for each political party. State media should accept
all parties’ advertising. Private media have a public responsibility. Private media
should provide equitable or fair news reports on all parties as defined by the
election administration bodies, and should treat all parties’ advertising the same.
When the election administration bodies advertises in the media to inform voters
about election procedures, it should advertise it in all media. Reporters should
not show any political preference in their news reports. Their news reports
should be accurate, impartial and responsible.

The most important role of the media in an election campaign is to allow voters
to be well-informed about their choices. Another role is to observe whether the
election is free and fair. A third role for the media is to report on the strategies
the parties are using to try to win votes. Voters deserve to know if a party is
making different promises to different people. Voters need to know about party
leaders, but also party policy and the party’s past record. The media’s roles in an
election are many. The media serves to inform the voters. The media is a
watchdog to prevent corruption and large errors in the election. The media is the
voters’ voice.

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Nevertheless, there should also be monitors of the media, to ensure that the
media meets its important responsibilities, and that the election is free and fair.
Voters want to know if they are well informed by the media. The election
administration bodies needs to know that the media provides equitable and fair
reporting for all parties. Political parties want the same assurance. International
observers want to know that reporting is without interference by the government
or powerful interests so that the election has legitimacy. All of this is called
media monitoring. There need to be an independent organization or independent
officials to monitor the media.

Media monitoring must be done by respected and non-partisan persons or

organizations with no personal gain or vested interest in who wins the election.
Monitoring requires professional direction and trained persons to measure the
accuracy, fairness and freedom of media coverage in an election. It can be done
by a university or non-governmental organization or by an association of the
media or a press council. Media monitoring can be paid for by the election
commission or by other independent interests. There can be more than one
organization doing media monitoring. But monitoring must be respected as non-
partisan.

Monitoring should cover all significant media, including regional media with a
strong influence on voters’ opinions. It should measure not just the number of
stories of each party, candidate or leader receives in the media, but also the
accuracy and fairness of the stories. The monitoring should include
measurements of the advertising, and how well it conforms to the election
commission rules. The findings of the media monitoring, if possible, should be

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made public, and reported in the media during the campaign as well as
afterwards.

The best kind of monitoring is supported and respected by all the major media,
both state and private. This approach means the media organizations and
individual journalists agree to a code of media conduct, and agree to be guided
by the advice and the public reports of the monitoring organization. Using a
code of conduct creates media accountability.

To be accountable, the media must be willing to publish or broadcast the reports

of the monitoring commission and to correct mistakes discovered by the
monitoring organization. The election administration bodies can take the advice
of the monitoring organization and direct the media, the government or the
parties to correct mistakes or stop unfair reporting and advertising.

Media monitoring is not a substitute for a system of laws and regulations, which
would guarantee journalists’ freedom from government interference, freedom of
information, and media owners’ freedom. The legal system should protect
journalists from censorship, intimidation or arbitrary arrest. It should also
protect citizens from media libel and slander, or malicious or irresponsible
journalism. But, the legal system itself must be honest and competent, and not be
used by powerful interests to interfere with media freedom.

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6.5. Election Observers and Election

Election Observation is one of the methods by which the transparency of an

election can be ensured. Neutral, independent and conscientious observation of
the electoral process can also help ensure the credibility and impartiality of all
elections. Election observation is not concerned with any particular election
result, but is concerned with electoral outcomes only to the degree that they are
reported honestly and accurately in a transparent and timely manner. In addition
to providing credible information on an electoral process, the presence of election
observers builds voter confidence in the integrity of the process as well as the
integrity of an electoral management body. Election observation also helps to
deter or expose violence or intimidation, as well as cheating or manipulation of
the vote or election results.

6.5.1 Historical Background

The first monitored election was that of a plebiscite in Moldavia that was
monitored by most of the major European powers. Election monitoring was
uncommon until after World War II. Election observation activities have
expanded significantly following the end of the Cold War, along with the
development of international standards on the conduct of democratic elections.
In the 1990s, international election observation focused on elections in countries
with weak democracies or democracies in transition. In recent years, however,
there has been an increasing number of observer mission monitoring elections in
long-standing democracies, including the United States, France, the United
Kingdom and Switzerland.

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International organizations such as the Organization for Security and Co-

operation in Europe, the European Union, the Council of Europe and the African
Union regularly deploy monitoring teams. The United Nations no longer
provides monitoring services, instead, it focuses on electoral assistance.
Individual governments also participate in monitoring efforts, generally under
the umbrella of an international organization. These national efforts are normally
managed by the local electoral commission. International observation is
complemented in many countries by domestic observer groups.

Standard international election observation missions, as deployed by, for

example, the European Commission or Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights (ODIHR), monitor the entire electoral process. Election experts
and long-term observers begin their work weeks before the actual Election Day,
looking at candidate registration, the legal framework, the media situation, the
work of the election administration and the campaign environment. On Election
Day, short-term observers monitor the opening of polling stations, the vote cast
and the counting and tabulation of results. After Election Day, observers remain
in the country for another few weeks to monitor how possible election-related
shortcomings and complaints are dealt with by the election administration and
the judiciary. The findings of the observers are made public in reports issued
after election day.

There are commonly two types of election observers - Long Term Observers
(LTO) and Short Term Observers (STO). LTO’s observe all aspects of the election
process including, but not limited to, voter registration, logistic support,
nomination of candidates, campaigning, polling, counting, announcement of

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results, and processing of complaints and disputes. Most observation missions

send a small number of long-term monitors for a period of six to eight weeks.

The STO’s observe the election process on the polling day. A larger number of
short-term observers then join the mission for the final week of the campaign.
STOs provide mostly quantitative observation of polling station and count
procedures, with LTOs supplying qualitative analysis and contextual
information about the wider political situation.

Specifically, national and international observers will need to know whether

freedom of movement, assembly, association and expression have been respected
throughout the election period; whether all parties have conducted their political
activities within the law; whether any political party or special interest group has
been subjected to arbitrary and unnecessary restrictions with regard to access to
the media or generally with regard to their freedom to communicate their views;
whether parties, candidates and supporters have enjoyed equal security; whether
voters have been able to cast their ballots freely, without fear or intimidation;
whether the secrecy of the ballot has been maintained; and whether the overall
conduct of the ballot has been such as to avoid fraud and illegality.

The essential human rights dimension to many political and electoral rights
should not be ignored, so far as some of those applicable in the elections context
may not be subject to any derogation whatsoever, while others may only be
restricted in accordance with law and, among other limitations, to the extent
reasonably necessary in a democratic society.45

45
See the 1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, for example, in pArt.icular Art.. 12(3)—freedom of movement;
Art.. 19(3)—freedom of expression; Art.. 21—freedom of assembly; Art.. 22(2)—freedom of association.

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6.4.3 Ethiopian Electoral Law and Election Observation

It is the constitutional obligation for the National Election Board of Ethiopia to

hold free, fair, credible and transparent elections. 46 Article 38 of the constitution
provides that every citizen, who has attained the age specified by the law, shall
have the right to elect and be elected in periodic elections. To ensure the
transparency of elections, Procl.532/2007 vested the power to the government to
invite foreign observers and the board to grant a license to interested domestic
election observers to observe election process in Ethiopia. 47 Article 79, 80 and 81
of the said proclamation envisages licensing, rights of election observers and
duty of election observers.

Procl.No.532/2007 under its article 80 provides :

1. a representative of an organization who is issued with an election observation
license has the right to monitor the election process and request and obtain
appropriate information, and
2. election observers may report to the secretariat of the board any irregularities
they observed or encountered related to the election process.

46
Art. 102 of the FDRE constitution.
47
Art. 78 of Procl. No 532/2007- Election Observers (1) Interested domestic election observers may
observe the election process upon the issuance of license from the Board. (2) Without prejudice to the
international conventions to which the country is a pArt.y, the government may invite foreign observers
as deemed necessary.

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Criteria for an organization to observe election

According to art 78 of procl.No.532/2007, the national election Board of
Ethiopia has the power to issue license for organization to observe elections to
be conducted in the country. The Board may issue election observation license
and ID card where the requesting organization48:
 is legally registered and operating domestic organization;
 is independent of any political partnership;
 has made preparations that create a conducive atmosphere for free, free
and peaceful election: and
 upon investigation by the board of the capability of the election
observers deployed by the organization to observe the election
impartially, and where the organization and its observers sign the
election observers code of conduct issued by the board.

The observer licensed by the Board shall have the following duties;
 carry and display her election observation license;
 respect the orders given by the electoral officer;
 to refrain from any act that may obstruct the proper and efficient
conduct of the election process;
 respect the code of conduct for observers issued by the board
 refrain from making assertion about the election within or outside the
country before the official declaration of results; and
 to submit detailed report to the Board.

Observers are expected to enjoy freedom of movement and access to all stages of
the electoral process, to examine factors ‘impinging on the credibility’ of the
process, and to determine whether, in their judgment, ‘the conditions exist for a
48
Art. 79/2007 Procl. No.532/2007.

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 ELECTORAL LAW FANA HAGOS BERHANE- MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

free expression of will by the electors’, and whether ‘the result of the elections
reflects the wishes of the people’.

Specifically, national and international observers will need to know whether

freedom of movement, assembly, association and expression have been respected
throughout the election period; whether all parties have conducted their political
activities within the law; whether any political party or special interest group has
been subjected to arbitrary and unnecessary restrictions with regard to access to
the media or generally with regard to their freedom to communicate their views;
whether parties, candidates and supporters have enjoyed equal security; whether
voters have been able to cast their ballots freely, without fear or intimidation;
whether the secrecy of the ballot has been maintained; and whether the overall
conduct of the ballot has been such as to avoid fraud and illegality.

According to art 3(7) of directive no. 3/2009 49“Public Observer” shall mean an
impartial resident of each constituency or polling station elected by the people to
observe elections. Each polling station shall have 5 public observers. The public
observers shall be directly elected by the residents of the polling station. The
candidates who are to be elected as public observers shall fulfill the following
criteria:
A. be an Ethiopian national;
B. be loyal to the constitution;
C. be non-partisan;
D. be resident of the polling station for at least 6 months;
E. be 18 years old and above; and
F. be a person who has earned the trust of the local people.50
49
Directive concerning the procedure for the activities of public observers and representatives of political
pArt.ies and private candidates number 3/2009
50
Ibid Art..9.

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 ELECTORAL LAW FANA HAGOS BERHANE- MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

The principle for having public observers to observe election is to promote the
public’s fundamental right to closely follow the electoral process through its
representatives. Only those people who are non-partisan and neutral who are
elected by the people, and who are accountable to them can follow the electoral
process as public observers.

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ELECTORAL LAW FANA HAGOS BERHANE- MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

Check Your Progress

1. Discuss the role of political party in election/democratization/ of a

country.
2. Discuss the role of media in election.
3. Discuss the legal frame work in Ethiopia governing media regulations
during election.
4. Discuss the role of election observers in election.
5. Explain the main functions of political parties.
6. Discuss the legislations in Ethiopia governing Financing the Electoral
Campaigns of Political Parties
7. Discuss the code of conduct that needs to be adhered by political
parties and private candidates during election.
8. Explain the meaning of the following key terms of the unit.
- Political party
- Media
- Election Observers
- Party system
- Short term observers
- Public observers
- Election observer
- Long Term Observers

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 ELECTORAL LAW FANA HAGOS BERHANE- MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

REFERENCE MATERIALS
- Alexander H. (ed.) Political Finance( Beverly Hills, CA and London: Sage,
1979)
- Austin R, Governing: An Introduction to Political Science, (Prentice Hall,

Englewood Cliffs, 6th ed., 1993).

Beyond( Bologna: Cooperativa Libraria Universitaria Editrice
Bologna,1999)
- Bjornlund, E. C, Beyond Free and Fair: Monitoring Elections and Building
Democracy, (Washington D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004).
- Burnell, P. & Alan W. (eds.) Funding Democratization. (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1998).
- Chang S. Updating the Electoral College: The National Popular Vote
Legislation. Harvard Journal on Legislation ,Vol 44 , 2007).
- Colin T.; British government and the Constitution: Text, cases and material
(4th ed.)
- Dionne E.J. Jr. and Kristole W. (eds.); Bush V Gore: the Court Cases and
the Commentary, (Brookings Institution Press, 2001)
- Ewing, K. D. (ed.) The Funding of Political Parties: Europe and
- Gunlicks A. B. (ed.) Campaign and Party Finance in North America and
Western Europe (Boulder, Colorado: West view Press, 1993)
- John H. Overview of Current Electoral Law Developments in the United
States,(2005) available at http://www.usdoj.gov.last visted April 2010.
- Jowell J. & Oliver D.; The changing constitution, (2nd ed.)
- Lintott A., The Constitution of the Roman Republic, (Oxford University
Press, 1999)

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 ELECTORAL LAW FANA HAGOS BERHANE- MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

- Maisel L.S. The Parties Respond ,changes in the American system

(westview Press , Oxford, 1990).
- Marthoz J.P. (ed). : Election Reporting Handbook, A Media for Democracy
(Handbook. London: IFJ International Federation of Journalists, 2000).
- Marthoz, J (ed). Election Reporting, A Media for Democracy Handbook
(London: International Federation of Journalists, 2000).
- Martin H. and William L. M, Elections and Voters: A comparative
introduction,( Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1987).
- Michelman F.I.; Brennan and Democracy, (Princeton University Press,
1999)
- Monshipouri M. et al (eds.), an article entitled "The consequences of a
Constructed Universal: Democracy and Civil Rights in the Modern State
on the book "Constructing Human Rights in the Age of Globalization,
(Prentice-Hall of India, 2004)
- Nino, C.S.; The Constitution of Deliberative Democracy, (Yale University
Press, New haven & London, 1996)
- Robert M.J., et al; Bush V Gore: the fight for Florida's Vote, (Kluwer Law
International, 2001)
- Samuel et al (eds.); The Internal Governance and Organizational
Effectiveness of Labor Union, (Kluwer Law International, 2001)
- Samuel J. Political parties : A Behavioral science,(1966, Rand Mcnally &
company ,Chicago).
- Sorauf F.J. Inside Campaign Finance: Myths and Realities(New Haven,
Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1990).
- Thompson, D. Election Time: Normative Implications of Temporal
Properties of the Electoral Process in the United States,(2004)( American
Political Science Review, 98(1)).

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 ELECTORAL LAW FANA HAGOS BERHANE- MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

- Whitehead L. (ed.), The International Dimensions of Democratization:

Europe and the Americas Expanded Edition - Oxford Studies in
Democratization, (Oxford University Press, 2001)
- Wonwosen Teshome B: International Election Observers in Africa: The
Case of Ethiopia ( Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations, vol.
7, No.1, pp. 119-137, 2008).

Laws

 Electoral law of Ethiopia Amendment proclamation No. 532/2007 .

 International Covenant for civil and Political Rights adopted Dec. 16,
1966, G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI), UN. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, at 52,
art. 2, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered in to force Mar.
23, 1976).
 The Revised Political Parties Registration Proclamation Proclamation
No. 573/2008
 The Amended Directive on the Code of Conduct of Election Officials to
be Recruited at various Levels Directive No. 4/2009.
 Regulation Concerning the Procedure for Determining the
Aporsionment of Government Financial Support to Political Parties
Regulation No. 5/2009.
 Organization and Procedure of Grievance Hearing Committees
Established By the Board at Every Level during Elections Regulation
No. 1/2009.
 Directive on the Registration of Candidates No.1/2009.

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ELECTORAL LAW FANA HAGOS BERHANE- MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

 Directive concerning the procedure for the activities of public observers

and representatives of political parties and private candidates No.
3/2009

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