Newsletter April-May 2004

• Political transitions on the air
• A new electoral code for Peru?
• Voter turnout in Western Europe
• Dialogue and constitutional processes in Nepal

Political transitions on the air

On 3 May, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), in partnership with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), broadcast the first radio programme in a series on political transitions in Burmese. Entitled ‘Transition to Democracy’, the series will assess, inter alia, the experiences of Cambodia, Chile, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Poland, Serbia, South Africa and South Korea. Each of the 20 programmes in the series contains interviews with academics, politicians and other key players in the political process, including ordinary people. The 12-minute programmes will be aired every Monday at 13.15 GMT until the end of October, and can be heard on the BBC Burmese Service. Topics are announced on IDEA’s website. Read more

On 23 May, IDEA and its local partner in Peru, Asociación Civil Transparencia, presented the Constitutional Committee of the Congress with a proposal for a new electoral code, developed through dialogue with representatives of each of the country’s main political parties. This six-month effort builds on the success of the Inter-Party Working Group, set up by IDEA and Transparencia in 2002 to draft Peru’s Political Party Law—approved by Congress in October 2003 and subsequently referred to as one of the strongest pieces of political party legislation in the region. Read more

Voter turnout in Western Europe

Building on the database of Voter Turnout Worldwide, IDEA is to publish a regional report entitled Voter Turnout in Western Europe at the beginning of June, which will be available in full on IDEA's website. The Report brings together an unrivalled set of data on parliamentary, presidential and European elections from 19 Western European countries. It amasses the information necessary to analyse the gap between turnout in national elections and European elections, on which further work is planned by IDEA. It analyses the impact of factors affecting voter turnout trends in the region generally, ranging from choice of polling day through electoral system choice to longevity of democracy. It considers the effects of compulsory voting and of the successes and limitations of the use of new technology in encouraging turnout. Read more

Watching out for the European Gap

Elections to the European Parliament on 10−13 June are likely to provide a special focus for the debate on turnout and participation. Will the difference in turnout between national and European elections become even wider? How will the ten new European Union (EU) member states compare with the previous 15? Material and expert commentary on these questions will be available on the IDEA Voter Turnout Worldwide website throughout June.

With the participation of almost 150 million voters, legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 5 April. The election results showed an increase in the number of women elected, from nine to approximately 12 percent in the national legislature (DPR). However, a higher number of women were elected to the country’s second legislative chamber, the Regional Representative Council (DPD), making up more than one-fifth of the total membership of what the media has dubbed the ‘senate’. IDEA is particularly pleased with the result, having provided training for one-third of the elected female ‘senators’. Read more

IDEA provides support to the referendum process in Bolivia

As a result of national popular demonstrations, a set of constitutional measures were approved by Congress in February 2004 that defines an agenda to guide the difficult democratic transition in Bolivia. One measure is a referendum planned for 18 July on the highly controversial matter of the management of national energy (gas) resources. At the request of the National Electoral Court of Bolivia, IDEA, in cooperation with the Organization of American States (OAS), has provided support for the planning of the referendum process. Five public seminars were held in May to highlight comparative experiences of referenda. Read more

In view of the recent and rapid developments in Nepal, a project to promote dialogue and constitutional processes to advance democracy in the country, with funds from the European Union (EU), was launched in May. Its main objectives are to forge national consensus on political reform and to develop the capacity of Nepalese stakeholders to professionalize their approaches to constitutional reform by making them aware of comparative processes and experiences. Read more

Political actors increasingly question the efficacy of the existing framework for election dispute resolution in Nigeria. Allegedly, it is tilted more towards fortifying the position of the victor than to the promotion of justice. IDEA has begun a three-phase Election Dispute Resolution (EDR) project to assess the effectiveness of dispute tribunals in Nigeria. It is hoped that the initiative will improve the country’s EDR framework.
Read more

DID YOU KNOW ...?

• Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Carin Jämtin made a call on IDEA’s headquarters on 10 May to discuss programme priorities.
  
  
• At a seminar on ‘Governance in Post-Conflict Situations’, held jointly by the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre and the Christian Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway, on 5−7 May, the Head of IDEA’s Electoral Processes Team, Andrew Ellis, was the chairman of a workshop on Electoral Systems and Processes. Experts gathered to develop guidance material on numerous issues facing post-conflict administrations and technical advisers.

Staff News

Mr Bernd Halling (Austria) joined IDEA in May as external relations officer. Before joining IDEA he worked for the European Parliament and for a Brussels-based organization that focuses on EU policy.

Ms Virginia Beramendi Heine (Uruguay) became an assistant programme officer with the Elections Team in April. Over the past three years, she has served as an IDEA consultant on various electoral projects.

Information about employment and consultancy opportunities at IDEA can be found on our vacancies page.