By Shana Kaiser, Editorial Anchor of International IDEA’s Direct Democracy Handbook

• Direct Democracy: The International IDEA Handbook

The air in Pretoria is alive with thunder, lightening and talk of the upcoming 2009 general elections. This electric environment proved to be the perfect backdrop for the 4 December 2008 launch of International IDEA’s newest publication, Direct Democracy: The International IDEA Handbook at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) Kutlwanong Democracy Centre in Pretoria.

Speakers at the book launch: Edward Shalala, Paddy McGuire, Paulos Tesfagiorgis, Thoko Mpumlwana, and Paul Graham.
Photo ©:Rushdi Nackerdien/IDEA

The most recent South African referendum in 1992, is an example of how referendums have been put to use to dramatically change the political landscape of a country, as mentioned by one of the speakers, Paul Graham of Idasa. During this referendum, white South Africans voted on the question “Do you support continuation of the reform process which the State President began on February 2, 1990, and which is aimed at a new constitution through negotiation?” Although the majority of white South Africans voted yes (68.73 per cent voted yes, while 31.27 per cent voted no) the question gave room for considerable controversy as it implied that the State President could negotiate on behalf of all white South Africans: a sentiment that was not met with complete agreement. Despite the controversy that the referendum faced, the result eventually led to the first multi-racial elections in South Africa on 27 April 1994 with Nelson Mandela becoming the first black President of the Republic.

Examples of direct democracy can be found all over the world, although the way it is applied and the name given to it may vary from country to country. As used in the Handbook, direct democracy can be identified in four different forms:

• Referendums, giving people a direct vote on a specific political, constitutional or legislative issue (for example the 1992 South African referendum to end apartheid, the 2007 Thai constitutional referendum called by the military government and the various EU treaties in Europe);
• Citizens’ initiatives which allow people to force a vote on an issue (introduced in New Zealand in 2003, used in California and Oregon, and at the local level in Germany);
• Agenda initiatives that enable people to place an issue on the government’s agenda (as used in Austria, Poland and Argentina); and
• Recall procedures which set a framework for citizens to vote to remove an elected official from office (such as the California recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003, the Venezuelan recall campaign of 2003 and the 2007 Presidential recall in Romania).

International IDEA’s Direct Democracy Handbook is the first of its kind to detail the definitions, usage, best practices and challenges of these four democratic measures. The Handbook provides case studies from Switzerland, Venezuela, Oregon, Hungary, Uganda and Uruguay and offers numerous other examples of the usage of such instruments.

"I recommend this book for those of you who are in government departments responsible for writing constitutions … those of us here who are from electoral bodies to influence the discourse … any elected representatives and of course civil society and other interest groups who care about participatory democracy". Ms Thoko Mpumlwana, Deputy Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa 
Photo ©: Rushdi Nackerdien/IDEA

Five distinguished speakers spoke at the book launch including Ms Thoko Mpumlwana, Deputy Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa; Mr Paddy McGuire, one of the lead authors; Mr Paul Graham, Executive Director of Idasa; Mr Paulos Tesfagiorgis, from International IDEA’s Africa and Middle East Programme; and Mr Edward Shalala, Head of the design of democratic institutions and processes programme at International IDEA.

Representatives from diplomatic missions, civil society organizations, electoral management bodies and a variety of local governments from across the SADC region were also present to discuss the Handbook and welcome it as the latest addition to International IDEA’s series of comparative knowledge resource tools. Topics canvassed during the launch ranged from the practicalities of implementing the various direct democracy mechanisms to the various challenges that such mechanisms face when being applied.

Ms Mpumlwana identified many of the key questions: “The current electoral discourse and some political party manifestos are starting to show that some parties are reflecting on the questions that this handbook on direct democracy is addressing. Such questions are… does direct democracy increase voter participation? Does direct democracy reduce dissatisfaction with elected representatives? Does it act as discipline on the behaviour of the elected representatives if they know that voters hold more power?”.

The Handbook therefore stimulates debate about how political parties might consider the use of direct democracy mechanisms in their manifestos and the consequences of such mechanisms for the overall electoral system.

"This is my personal product warning … read this book before implementing any form of direct democracy". Mr Paul Graham, Executive Director, Idasa. Photo ©: Rushdi Nackerdien/IDEA

Paddy McGuire gave the audience a chance to hear about the reality of implementing direct democracy provisions by describing his personal experience with direct democracy in the US state of Oregon. While stressing the need for the proper usage of any one of the given mechanisms, Mr McGuire noted that, “although not perfect, the process [of direct democracy] does allow citizens to be involved in government decisions and provides a check on the legislature.” 

Although South Africa has used tools such as referendums, other forms of direct democracy such as citizen’s initiatives, agenda initiatives and particularly, citizens’ assemblies, were clearly intriguing to Paul Graham. “In amongst various examples given in the book there is reference made to a quite new phenomenon which was tried in Ontario and British Columbia and that is citizen’s assembly. In other words, not a broad referendum and not a citizens’ initiative but a gathering of a representative group not of politicians, but of citizens who were given the task to establish, in one case, a proposal for a new electoral system. We might want to try that here. It was a very interesting approach and it is well worth exploring further.”

From statements such as these, it is clear that Direct Democracy: The International IDEA Handbook introduces mechanisms and procedures that are pertinent in many instances and countries around the world. International IDEA would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the publication of the Handbook and in its launch.