Helpdesk
Question
Electoral Assistance Lessons: What are the trends, lessons learned and best practices on elections and international electoral assistance over the last 5-10 years?
Helpdesk response
Key findings: Since the 1990s, there has been a movement away from viewing elections and electoral assistance as one-off events, towards viewing them as an integral component of democratic transition and governance. Much of the literature notes that whilst electoral assistance has generally been successful in establishing and promoting the technical aspects of elections, such technical interventions are insufficient for good governance and democratisation. More attention must be paid to longer-term institutional and capacity development. As such, the UNDP and EC endorse the new ‘Electoral Cycle Approach’. The focus on capacity building extends not only to recipient countries but also to donors - to share and learn lessons and best practices; and to better coordinate their interventions.
There are additional considerations for electoral assistance in ‘fragile’ and post-conflict countries. Important elements of programmes in these contexts include:
- support for broad-based programmatic political parties
- allowing sufficient time for voter education
- election observation
Full response: http://www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/HD546.pdf
Date query received by the Helpdesk: 06 August 2008
Enquirer's contact details:
DFID Politics and State Team
