“Building Confidence and Trust through Stakeholder Engagement” · Voters Register, Nomination of candidates, Campaigns and Voters education and training of polling officials and

“Building Confidence and Trust through Stakeholder Engagement”

Joseph N. BiribonwaDeputy Chairman of the Electoral

Commission of Uganda

8th International Electoral Affairs Symposium 2014

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UNDER THE THEME“BUILDING CONFIDENCE AND TRUST IN

THE ELECTORAL PROCESS”

26th JUNE, 2014

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Building confidence & trust through Stakeholder Engagement

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JOSEPH N. BIRIBONWA

DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON, ELECTORAL COMMISSION-UGANDA

THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

� The Electoral Commission is established under Article 60(1) of the Constitution and is mandated to conduct regular free and fair elections and referenda.

� Art. 61(a)-(h) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda provides for the functions of the Commission

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� compiling and updating the voter’s register,

� conducting voter education,

� demarcation of electoral constituencies,

� nomination and conduct of campaigns for nominated candidates,

� hear and determine election complaints arising before and during polling,

� conducting polls,

� Certifying & declaration, and

� publication of election results.

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� Practically, it is from some of these functions that the role and participation of stakeholders, which are absolutely crucial, come into play in the electoral process/cycle.

� The electoral process include continuous Voter Registration, Cut off of registration, Display of Voters Register, Nomination of candidates, Campaigns and Voters education and training of polling officials and polling day activities.

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� The need for stakeholder (interested parties) involvement, at the earliest opportunity, in the electoral process is equally crucial as this not only build their trust and confidence in the process but credence in the outcome of the process.

� Equally, there is need for stakeholder involvement at every stage of the electoral process, as part of the confidence building and trust building process.

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� Confidence and trust can be used synonymously.

� However, while the former connotes self-assurance and self-reliance, for purposes of this presentation, in a process (election); the latter may mean confidence and extends to ‘faith’, ‘belief’ and even ‘hope’, in a process.

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The stakeholders in the electoral process include the:-�Citizens/Voters �Government;�Parliament; �Judiciary, �Political Leaders; �Political Parties and Organizations; �Civil Societies, Development Partners; �Media; �Security organizations; and�Observers.

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� The citizens (voters) are perhaps the biggest stake holders in the country’s electoral process.

� Under the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, all power belongs to the people who shall express their will and consent to be governed through regular free and fair elections of their representatives or through referenda.

� It is therefore, not possible to divorce citizens from the electoral process. Any debate on electoral process must begin and end with citizen participation.

� Voter registration is crucial to citizen participation in the electoral process. Through voter education; citizens are mobilized to register as voters for purposes of compiling the voters’ register.

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� Under Article 59 (3) of the Constitution, the Government is enjoined to take all necessary steps to ensure that all citizens qualified to vote register and exercise their right to vote.

� Further, all the funding and logistical requirements pertinent to the conduct of elections and referenda are primarily borne by the Government of the Republic of Uganda.

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� Parliament, by law, ensures that the necessary laws and consequent amendments are in place to facilitate citizens to register and vote and the legal framework for election management and administration.

� Similarly, Parliament ensures that adequate resources and facilities are provided to the Commission to enable it perform its functions, effectively.

� In this regard, the Commission, however, is self-accounting and deals directly with the Ministry responsible for finance on matters relating to its finances.

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� Handling election petitions arising from Commission decisions (quasi-judicial decisions), by way of appeals and post-election disputes filed in the respective courts.

� Judiciary under Section 25 of the Electoral Commission Act is mandated to appoint Tribunal members comprising five members not being public officers to determine objections to inclusion into and/or exclusion from the voters’ register lodged with the respective Returning Officers.

� The Judiciary is further expected to handle petitions expeditiously; presidential petitions within 30 days; and parliamentary petitions within 6 months; and local government council elections within 3 months, from date of filing. In this regard, courts by law are required to suspend any other matter pending before court.

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� The National Consultative Forum (NCF), an umbrella organization for all registered political parties has been one avenue for engaging political parties and organizations,

� The NCF’s role, among others, include liaising with the Electoral Commission on matters pertaining to political parties and organizations and communicating the complaints and grievances of political parties and organizations to the Electoral Commission.

� The Commission shares its roadmap on the electoral cycle with all political parties and organizations; as well as with the rest of the stakeholders.

� Agents of political parties/candidates are trained together withelection officials

� Polling register by law is issued to participating political parties/candidates for each polling station

� Accredited political parties also observe the packing and transportation of voting materials like ballot papers.

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� Political party leaders and elected leaders as stakeholders have a following and can influence the electoral process.

� Through stakeholder engagement and consultations, their roles are defined and they participate in voter mobilisation and both voter and civic education.

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� The Civil Society has played a crucial role in the country’s electoral process in regard to voter education programs, citizen mobilization, electoral reforms and generally civic education.

� Discussions and consultations have been such avenues of engaging this category of stakeholders, given that they are vehicles through which some of the Electoral Commission’s messages can reach the citizens and voters.

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� The Commission organises periodical media dialogue and urges the media to act responsibly in their coverage.

� Media coverage of the electoral process is at three levels - during the pre-election, during elections and post-election periods.

� The major role to be played by the media is also embedded in its traditional roles of informing; educating; mobilizing and,eentertaining.

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� The Commission under Section 12 (1)(e) and (f) of the Electoral Commission Act (Cap 140) is to ensure that the entire electoral process is conducted under conditions of freedom and fairness and also to ensure that there are secure conditions necessary for the conduct of any election.

� The Commission issues a code of conduct for guiding the involvement in electoral process.

� The Electoral Commission thus assigns security related duties to the Uganda Police Force, in line with their Constitutional duties and functions which include;-

� Promoting national objectives, elections being one of them;� Guaranteeing peace and security;� Preserving law and order; and� Commitment to respecting the Constitution; among others.

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� Section 16 of the Electoral Commission Act mandates the Commission to accredit any individual, group or institution to act as election observers.

� Further, under the said section, political parties or organizations and representatives of independent candidates are accredited by the Commission as election observers.

� The role observers play in the electoral process cannot be ignored, given that they not only give credence to the process but help in building the trust and confidence of the other electoral stakeholders in the process.

� The Commission publicizes in the local media the period during which applications are to lodged for purposes of observing a given election activity or the electoral process.

� Guidelines and requisite materials/information are issued in this regard for purposes of the observation process.

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� Call to respective stakeholders to work/partner with each other

� Consultation forum with the public in workshops on electoral process, post election evaluations and identification of areas for electoral reforms

� Dialogue with respective stakeholders – political parties through the national consultative forum, civil society organizations (CCEDU, Inter Religious Council, etc)

� Involvement of all registered political parties in election related activities and areas for reforms through the National Consultative Forum

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� Media strategy for media engagement and publicity drive� Voter education through radios, talk-shows, etc� Voter education through both electronic and print media� Training programs – candidate’s agents encouraged to be

trained with polling officials� Information sharing with stakeholders, including the

Commission’s roadmap and budget for elections (general elections)

� Timeliness in handling election complaints and petitions lodged with the Commission

� Holding of regular consultative meetings, seminars, workshops with all stakeholders e.g. political parties/candidates, Government, Police, Parliamentary Committees, media, civil societies, etc

� Close partnership with the Police on security related issues

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� Establishment of a National Information Desk and District Complaints Desks during election periods

� Integration of voter education into the school and functional adult literacy curricular

� Intensive monitoring and supervision of all electoral activities

� Transparent identification, recruitment and training of election officials

� Timely display of lists of recruited temporary election officials for verification by public and political parties

� Zero tolerance for undisciplined electoral officials behaviour (black listing culprits)

� Decentralisation of election administration � Timely identification and submission of areas for electoral

reform to stakeholders

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� Training of party/organisation/candidates agents with electoral officials prior to demarcation, display and polling activities

� Secondary display of lists of voters’ particulars recommended for deletion from the voters register (natural justice)

� Provision of serialised Declaration of Results Forms for each polling station

� Organized and proper packing of the electoral kits at all levels

� Issuance of Statement of ballot papers indicating the quantity and serial numbers of ballot papers per polling station for easy tracking

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� Use of transparent ballot boxes at all polling stations

� Use of tamper evident envelopes for sealing and retrieval of election results from polling stations

� Computerised tallying of election results

� Development of software to reject any result returns of more than 100%

� Availing SMS facilities to voters to enable them locate their polling stations

� Display of election-related information on the Web-site

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� Throughout the preparations of implementing election activities, the Commission has found it rewarding to be open and transparent throughout the election cycle.

� Various stakeholders including the Political Parties, Local and international Observers, and the Media, are allowed to observe all the activities right from the re-organisation of polling stations, to the printing, packing and dispatch of the polling materials to the Districts, the polling stations and to the tally centres, where votes are tallied.

� Results are announced in clear view of the voters at polling stations and before observers and agents at tally centres.

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� The issue then is, whether the Electoral Commission has built trust and confidence in its process through stakeholder engagement?

� The same is answered in the affirmative. However, issue ofperception of the Commission by the public and losing parties/candidates, voter apathy, voter fatigue, commercialization of the elections, etc still remains a challenge to be resolved by each of the stakeholders playing their civic roles, duties and obligations.

� A call for multi – stakeholder approach in delivering free, fair and transparent elections is not only pertinent, but further builds trust and confidence in the electoral process.

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Documents

“Building Confidence and Trust through Stakeholder Engagement” · Voters Register, Nomination of candidates, Campaigns and Voters education and training of polling officials and