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State Structure and Electoral Systems in Post-Conflict Situations

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State Structure and Electoral Systems in Post-Conflict Situations STATE STRUCTURE AND ELECTORAL SYSTEMS IN POST-CONFLICT SITUATIONS Authors Jarrett Blanc Aanund Hylland Kåre Vollan ii PREFACE In contemporary peace processes, almost without exception, the arrangements that bring about transition from conflict to stability include requirements related to elections. These requirements range in level of detail from general calendars to specific, almost legislative requirement for the nature and conduct of the elections. In either case, the electoral requirements are only very rarely subjected to a thorough process of expert review and public consultation. Unintended consequences often result, such as unrealistic timetables (and consequent postponements) in Afghanistan or guarantees for minority representation in Kosovo which, if implemented literally, could have deepened rather than moderated ethnic divisions. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Dayton accord introduced strong protection of the three major parties to the conflict, but at the same time created a government at state level which has had difficulty passing laws and making decisions in a reasonably efficient way. In addition, the protection of other groups has been weak. Post-conflict elections often bring conflicting groups back to the positions that created the conflict in the first place. If well designed and managed, elections can create legitimate political structures which promote conciliation and lead to controversial issues being solved through negotiations. If poorly designed and managed, they can simply restart passionate disputes and undermine the peace process. Careful consideration of the closely related issues of state structure and electoral systems is therefore essential at an early stage of any peace process. Identifying the requirements of state structure and electoral system design – such as protection of minority groups with separate identity at a national or sub-national level – can help to achieve robust political solutions. This report aims at presenting an overview of the most common issues and most commonly discussed potential solutions in state structure and electoral system design, including federal and unitary states, protection of group and minority rights, protection against changes to constitutionally protected rights, and requirements for efficient government. It should provide a useful handbook for negotiators, mediators and others involved in peace processes. The division of labor has been as follows: After initial discussions of the scope and structure of the report, Hylland and Vollan wrote the first draft of most of Parts I and II, while Blanc drafted the case studies (Part III). The drafts have been modified after discussions among the authors. All three authors are responsible for the entire report. This research has been made possible by a generous grant from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. iii iv CONTENTS Summary......................................................................................................................................................... vii Part I: Preliminaries 1 Scope and structure of the report.............................................................................................. 1 1.1 The purpose of the report ...........................................................................................................1 1.2 Issues not separately discussed....................................................................................................2 1.3 The structure of the report .........................................................................................................2 2 Explanation of terms and concepts........................................................................................... .3 3 Selection of case studies.................................................................................................................. 5 Part II: General issues 1 Overview of Part II............................................................................................................................. 7 2 Post-conflict situations ..................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 The peace process and its repercussions..................................................................................8 2.2 Recourse to pre-existing institutions.........................................................................................9 2.3 Priorities and timing .................................................................................................................... 10 2.4 The constituent assembly........................................................................................................... 11 2.5 The draft constitution................................................................................................................. 12 2.6 "All public power originates with the people" ...................................................................... 13 3 State structure – unitary or federal.........................................................................................15 3.1 Federalism as an instrument to reduce conflict.................................................................... 15 3.2 Federalism – definition and basic characteristics.................................................................. 15 3.3 The national parliament in a federal state.............................................................................. 17 3.4 "Non-geographic federalism" .................................................................................................... 18 3.5 Examples and discussion............................................................................................................. 19 4 Further examples of federal systems......................................................................................22 4.1 Switzerland .................................................................................................................................... 22 4.2 Belgium ........................................................................................................................................... 23 4.3 Canada............................................................................................................................................ 25 5 Bosnia and Herzegovina................................................................................................................26 5.1 Background.................................................................................................................................... 26 5.2 State organization on the national level.................................................................................. 26 5.3 Ineffective decision making ........................................................................................................ 27 5.4 Possible human rights problems............................................................................................... 27 5.5 Dilemmas and alternative........................................................................................................... 28 6 Division of power............................................................................................................................... 29 6.1 General considerations............................................................................................................... 29 6.2 Unicameral or bicameral parliament ....................................................................................... 30 6.3 Parliamentary or presidential system of government.......................................................... 32 7 Electoral systems – general issues............................................................................................34 7.1 Historical background................................................................................................................. 35 7.2 International standards ............................................................................................................... 36 7.3 Criteria for good electoral systems – overview................................................................... 37 7.4 Criteria for good electoral systems – specific criteria........................................................ 39 7.5 Equality ........................................................................................................................................... 41 7.6 Uniform rules for election or appointment........................................................................... 45 7.7 Overview of electoral systems ................................................................................................. 47 v 8 Plurality and majority elections in single-member constituencies ..........................48 8.1 Plurality elections......................................................................................................................... 48 8.2 Majority elections in two rounds............................................................................................. 49 8.3 Majority elections by the alternative vote ............................................................................. 50 8.4 Constituency structure............................................................................................................... 50 9 Plurality elections in multi-member constituencies........................................................51 9.1
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