International IDEA Director of Operations, Andrew Ellis, President of Costa Rica’s Supreme Elections Tribunal, Luis Antonio Sobrado, Moderator of the panel and staff of the Tribunal, Alejandro Bermúdez, and International IDEA Regional Director for Latin America, Daniel Zovatto.
‘Referendums can have an important role in complementing representative democracy, but the devil is in the detail’, was the message conveyed by International IDEA Director of Operations Andrew Ellis and Regional Director for Latin America Daniel Zovatto addressing a seminar called by Costa Rica’s Supreme Elections Tribunal and International IDEA in San José. Although Costa Rica has a record of 60 years of democratic elections, the referendum on the Central American Free Trade Agreement that is taking place in September 2007 is the country’s first direct democracy vote.
Andrew Ellis laid out a number of issues that need to be considered in referendum design and administration, such as the drafting of the referendum question, how to define a fair playing field between supporters of Yes and No options, the role of the government during the referendum campaign, and arrangements for regulating referendum finance. ‘Ultimately’, he said, ‘the legitimacy and credibility of referendums depend on the same criteria as the legitimacy and credibility of elections, such as transparency, freedom of expression, a level playing field, secrecy of the ballot, accuracy of the count’.
In his speech, Daniel Zovatto discussed the growing importance of referendums in Latin America: of the 18 Latin American countries, only Mexico and the Dominican Republic do not have provisions for referendums. He emphasized the need for the broadest possible debate during the campaign, and said that in a close fought contest, both sides ‘must be prepared to lose’. He added that civic education about the referendum would be of great importance.
Speeches: Andrew Ellis (in English) and Daniel Zovatto (in Spanish)
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