DOCSLIB.ORG

Abstentions in 2014 and 2019 Indonesian Elections: Case Study of Pro-Democracy Activists

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Abstentions in 2014 and 2019 Indonesian Elections: Case Study of Pro-Democracy Activists Volume 3, Issue 1, June 2020 Page 27–42 Abstentions in 2014 and 2019 Indonesian elections: Case study of pro-democracy activists M. Syaeful Anam1*, Gumilar Rusliwa Somantri2 1&2Department of Sociology, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia *Corresponding author E-mail address: [email protected] DOI: https://doi.org/10.21107/sml.v3i1.7307 Article Info Abstract Keywords: This article discusses how the dynamics of the abstentions phenomenon Abstentions among pro-democracy activists in the 2014-2019 general election in Indonesia. While pro-democracy activists have increasingly chosen “struggle within”, Pro-democracy activists there are still critical groups that have voted for abstentions in 2014-2019 general election. Charles Tilly’s concept of collective action and contentious Elections politics is used in this study. This study uses a qualitative approach to the Collective action type of case study research. Researchers explore data through in-depth Contentious interviews as primary data and secondary data is extracted through library politics research. The analysis is carried out with the abstractive inductive logic. This research shows that abstentions are contentious collective actions. The abstentions movement was born from a network of pro-democracy activists who have been engaged in advocacy work. Abstentions carried out in protest against the authorities and the boycott of the election. The boycott choice is contentious politics. Citation suggestion: Anam, M. S., & Somantri, G. R. (2020). Abstentions in 2014 and 2019 Indonesian elections: Case study of pro- democracy activists. Simulacra, 3(1), 27–42. https://doi.org/10.21107/sml.v3i1.7307 Received 18 May 2020; Received in revised form 28 May 2020; Accepted 2 June 2020; Published online 25 June 2020. M. Syaeful Anam, Gumilar Rusliwa Somantri Introduction The basis of the abstentions movement is ‘protest’ - criticism of the political behavior Abstentions as a political movement in of politicians that harm the people, and a democratic climate, is considered highly considers alienation. The critical group plays necessary. The democratic system still needs an essential component of participation in and even fosters social movements. The a democratic society. This phenomenon democratic system itself does not guarantee is known as ‘democracy from below.’ The economic distribution and access to justice course of contemporary democracy is elite to all (Amenta, 2005). Abstentions in all democracy, with elections as merely a five- forms of articulation are also part of political year procedural political mechanism to participation. Huntington and Nelson (1980: maintain the circulation of elite groups. 6) defined political participation as “citizen Elections should open the way for the activities aimed at influencing government betterment of life, as Lane (2014) stated. decision making.” ‘Democracy’ and prosperity are seen as The abstentions movement or Golput the same thing, and in many ways, for the (golongan putih) first appeared in the 1971 people, both must be combined. Abstentions Election and was led by Arief Budiman. movements in Indonesia in the 2014 and The target of the abstentions movement 2019 elections could not be separated from at that time was the Golongan Karya democratic actors. Abstentions are defined Party (Golkar). The prefix ‘gol-‘ on golput as active and critical actions in assessing deliberately took the prefix of the Golkar social and political events that occur. Party name. Not just the name, the Golput There have been many studies of logo also copied the Golkar party logo. The abstentions. Abstentions were defined as Golput propaganda logo also used a similar political expressions and resistance to the pentagon logo. However, the middle was ruling regime (Obradovic-Wochnik and blank and white (Heryanto, 2019). At that Wochnik 2014; Superti 2015; Superti 2016). time, golput propaganda was disseminated Protests were made when the government in in public places and with the slogan ‘pick the power was less than optimal in performance. white color.’ That way, the vote could not Some scholars, such as Fachichini and Jaeck be counted as a valid vote. The abstentions (2019) and Plane and Gershtenson (2004), movement was also caused by the dominance focused their work more on the study of of the authority, which was supported voter behavior by explaining the causes of by the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI). abstentions’ decisions. Abstentions were also The limitation of political parties as to the expected when the existence of a political three main axes at that time was also seen system and political parties carry more elite as a barrier to democracy. In a structured, interests (Kang 2004; Birch and Dennison, systematic and massive way, the authorities 2017). Some research also stated that ensured victory for Golkar Party. As for abstentions were chosen because the reality Sanit (1992: 190), the abstentions movement was getting further away from democratic was considered as an act of political protest ideals (Blais et al. 2019; Katz and Levin, 2018; based on national issues. The demands of Powert and Roberts, 1995). In addition, the the abstentions movement were aimed at reason for abstentions was also associated the essence of the election as a medium to with political education, especially political achieve the dream of independence. knowledge and information (Feddenser and Pesendorfer, 1999; Almlund, 2018). 28 Simulacra 3(1), June 2020 This paper discussed the dynamics of Results and Discussion the abstentions phenomenon among pro- democracy activists in the 2014 and 2019 Abstentions Movement in 2014-2019 General Elections in Indonesia. The dynamics General Election of abstentions were reviewed through the In the 2014 elections, abstentions thoughts of Charles Tilly (2008), ranging movements were present to alternative voice from collective action to contentious politics. narratives by progressive pro-democracy Thus, this research could provide a complete leftists. Abstentions movement were understanding of the abstentions movement, disseminated through the main channel namely as part of political participation and of Komite Politik Alternatif (Alternative alternative paths of struggle in order to Political Committee). The main slogan at the achieve a substantial democracy. time was “Lawan Pemilu 2014, Bangun Partai Alternatif!” (Opposing the 2014 Elections, Method Building an Alternative Party). The network was built by several organizations including This research used a qualitative KP SBGN, KP SGMK, SMI, GSPB, PPR, PPI, approach to case study research. The study KPO PRP, FPBI, SBMI, Pembebasan, LIPS, focused on the case studies of Abstentions PPBI Jatim, Mahardhika Mojokerto, SBM, in the Indonesian General Elections (2014 Frontjak, Sebumi, GRI, and SPRI (Arahjuang. and 2019) which started from the case of com, 2014). According to them, the candidates Pro-Democracy Activists. Pro-democracy of the 2014 election were essentially the same. activists who were studied in the research There were no candidates who provided were involved in the abstentions movement, answers to the real problems of the people. whose primary campaign was ‘SayaGolput.’ In addition, promises and welfare programs The purpose of this study was to explore and from political elites in the previous election understand the phenomenon of abstentions also failed to be realized. Thus, there needed in the General Elections in Indonesia in to be an alternative movement on a national greater depth. scale with a firm attitude and position in the Primary data were collected through 2014 elections. The movement was expected in-depth interviews and secondary data to encourage the people’s struggle. West in the form of a literature study related Papua National Committee Abstentions to abstentions. The informants in this (KNPB) also decided to abstain from the study were the abstentions actors. These election. They stated that they would make actors became key informants in the study no compromise with various products and were selected using the purposive from the Indonesian colonial state. KNPB sampling method. Four informants were remained in the position of abstentions or did selected purposively. Then, the researcher not participate in the 2014 elections. They did got the other informant with the snowball not compromise with any programs carried method. Finally, the researchers found three out by the Republic of Indonesia, especially more informants who contributed to the the presidential election (Suarapapua.com, abstentions movement. Transcript and data 2014). coding was done using Nvivo 12 software. There were three main ideas presented The data analysis approach used abstractive by the Alternative Politics Committee. First, inductive logic from exclusive to general. the 2014 election did not favor the people because of the absence vision and program 29 M. Syaeful Anam, Gumilar Rusliwa Somantri that favors the people and brings alternative generals who have violated human rights. In politics to the candidates. Second, democracy the context of the 2019 elections, there was had not been sufficiently implemented. a war of discourse as disagreements about As a result, elections did not lead to the abstentions emerged the media. transformation of people’s lives. Third, the alternative party vision indeed presented Pro-Democracy Activists’ Vote Not to alternative programs that favor the people. Vote Fourth, the alternative party appealed and invited all people’s movement to unite and The
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Surviving Elections: Election Violence and Leader Tenure
    Surviving(Elections:(( Violence(and(Leader(Tenure1( ! Emilie!M.!Hafner.Burton! Associate!Professor!! School!of!International!Relations!and!Pacific!Studies! !University!of!California,!San!Diego! [email protected]! ! Susan!D.!Hyde! Associate!Professor! Department!of!Political!Science! Yale!University! [email protected]!! ! Ryan!S.!Jablonski! PhD!Candidate! Department!of!Political!Science! University!of!California,!San!Diego! [email protected]! ! Draft:!2/18/13! ! ( ( Abstract( This!article!examines!how!government.sponsored!election!violence!influences!the!ability!of! incumbent!leaders!to!win!elections!and!remain!in!power.!We!argue!that!election!violence!is! a!costly!tradeoff!for!governments.!When!used!in!the!pre.election!period,!up!to!and! including!election!day,!government.sponsored!election!violence!against!opposition! supporters,!candidates,!and!the!citizenry!increases!the!probability!that!opposition!political! parties!boycott!the!election!and!the!incumbent!wins.!Yet!pre.election!violence!also! increases!the!probability!of!mass!post.election!protests!by!the!opposition,!which!in!turn! raise!the!odds!that!the!incumbent!will!be!forced!to!make!political!concessions!in!the!post. election!period!by!stepping!down!or!holding!new!elections.!Violence!against!protesters! does!not!change!these!odds.!! ! 1!Replication!data!are!available!at!____.! ! ! Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1975026 “RWANDA;!‘CLIMATE!OF!REPRESSION’!AS!VOTING!CONCLUDES”! !“VENEZUELAN!ANALYSTS!PREDICT!INCREASED!REPRESSION!AS!CHAVEZ!SUPPORT!WANES”! !“TWO!KILLED,!SCORES!INJURED!AS!VIOLENCE!MARS!BANGLADESH!CAMPAIGN”!
    [Show full text]
  • Is Boycott the Best Way to Participate?
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives IS BOYCOTT THE BEST WAY TO PARTICIPATE? A study of the possible democratizing effects of election boycotts in the Arab world: 1990-2010 DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN MASTER THESIS ROGER VALHAMMER MAY 2011 ii Abstract This thesis aims to determine if election boycott is a sound strategy if the opposition in Arab states aspires democratization. No scholars have conducted research focusing on this specific subject up to date, despite the recent increase in the numbers of parliamentary elections being boycotted in the Arab region. The general research question is: “What are the democratizing effects of opposition boycott of parliamentary elections in the Arab world?” Studies on election boycotts do not abound, but generally speaking, there are two opposing camps. On the one hand, one finds those scholars who support the arguments following Staffan I. Lindberg’s theory of democratization by elections. On the other hand, there are those who argue for the possible democratizing effects of certain types of boycotts, namely major boycotts. Based on the fact that the Arab world evidently has not democratized due to the various regimes’ electoral openings, I anticipated democratizing effects of major boycotts. In order to identify possible boycott effects on the democratization process in Arab states, the thesis employed the method of comparative historical analyses, including both qualitative and quantitative approaches, to test possible effects on specific democratizing variables. The analyses were conducted utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data, including my own collected data, Judith Kelley’s dataset, monitor reports as well as other secondary sources.
    [Show full text]
  • Surviving Elections: Government-Sponsored Election Violence and Leader Tenure
    Surviving Elections: Government-Sponsored Election Violence and Leader Tenure Emilie M. Hafner-Burton Associate Professor School of International Relations and Pacific Studies University of California, San Diego [email protected] Susan D. Hyde Associate Professor Department of Political Science Yale University [email protected] Ryan S. Jablonski Lecturer Department of Government London School of Economics and Political Science [email protected] Draft: 3/27/14 Abstract When governments use election violence against their own citizens, are they more likely to remain in power? Using the National Elections Across Democracy and Autocracy (NELDA) data for the period 1981-2004, we demonstrate that using election violence produces a costly tradeoff for governments. When used in the pre-election period, up to and including election day, government-sponsored election violence against opposition supporters, candidates, and the citizenry increases the probability that opposition political parties boycott the election and the incumbent wins. Yet pre-election violence also increases the probability of mass post-election protests by the opposition, which in turn makes it more likely that the incumbent will face significant costs in the post-election period, including resignation, coup, or new elections. Government violence against protesters does not decrease these odds. Overall, an incumbent’s use of election violence can inadvertently undermine the benefits of electoral victory and potentially lead to greater political liberalization. Surviving Elections: Government-Sponsored Election Violence and Leader Tenure1 In some countries, political participation is a dangerous business. In Hun Sen’s Cambodia, where he has been in power for most of the past three decades, government sponsored election violence and intimidation are among the tools by which the incumbent Cambodian People’s Party has remained in power (Human Rights Watch, 2003; McCargo, 2005).
    [Show full text]
  • No Referendum, No Election: Biafra Agitation and the Boycott of the 2017 Anambra State Gubernatorial Election
    1 | Page No Referendum, No Election: Biafra Agitation and the Boycott of the 2017 Anambra State Gubernatorial Election Introduction The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have threatened to stop the November 18, Anambra Governorship Election. The IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had earlier posited that unless the Nigerian State calls for a referendum to determine the status of the country, there would be no election in Anambra State. In series of press interviews and YouTube videos, Kanu insisted that the November Anambra election would not hold. It is important to point out that the agitation for the Sovereign State of Biafra never died since the end of the civil war in 1970. The agitation is not unconnected to a perceived skewed distribution of resources and opportunities in the country since the end of the civil war in 1970. The opportunity to return the Biafra issue to the political front burner was provided immediately the country returned to democracy in 1999 when the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) was launched under the leadership of Ralph Nwazurike. The strong resurgence for the Sovereign State of Biafra received a fillip immediately after President Buhari’s address at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) on July 22, 2015. In his response to a participant on how he would bring development to the oil-rich Niger Delta region in the south that has suffered decades of environmental degradation due to oil spills and oil bunkering, he remarked that: "I hope you have a copy of the election results, Naturally, the constituencies that gave me 97 percent cannot, in all honesty, be treated in the same way on some issues with constituencies that gave me five percent” (Aljazeera 30 May, 2017).
    [Show full text]
  • The Pseudo-Democrat's Dilemma: Why Election Observation Became an International Norm
    THE PSEUDO- DEMOCRAT’S DILEMMA THE PSEUDO- DEMOCRAT’S DILEMMA WHY ELECTION OBSERVATION BECAME AN INTERNATIONAL NORM Susan D. Hyde CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON Cornell University Press gratefully acknowledges receipt of a grant from the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University, which helped in the publication of this book. The book was also published with the assistance of the Frederick W. Hilles Publication Fund of Yale University. Copyright © 2011 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2011 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hyde, Susan D. The pseudo-democrat’s dilemma : why election observation became an international norm / Susan D. Hyde. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-4966-6 (alk. paper) 1. Election monitoring. 2. Elections—Corrupt practices. 3. Democratization. 4. International relations. I. Title. JF1001.H93 2011 324.6'5—dc22 2010049865 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fi bers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Participation and Political Violence in Advanced Democracies by © 2018 William Hatungimana M.A., University of Kansas, 2018 B.A, Luther College, 2016
    Political Participation and Political Violence in Advanced Democracies By © 2018 William Hatungimana M.A., University of Kansas, 2018 B.A, Luther College, 2016 Submitted to the graduate degree program in Political Science and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. ____________________________ Chair: Dr. John Kennedy _____________________ Dr. Mark Joslyn _____________________ Dr. Michael Wuthrich Date Defended: 30 July 2018 ii The thesis committee for William Hatungimana Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Political Participation and Political Violence in Advanced Democracies _________________________ Chair: John James Kennedy Date Approve: 30 July 2018 iii Abstract I take a cross-national analysis of advanced democracies to examine the cause of political violence in advance democracies in order to understand representation. I mainly look at the effect of political participation on political violence. I test a preliminary and the main hypothesis. The preliminary hypothesis confirms an institutional argument that inclusive institutions—that facilitate impartial political participation for the public provide proper avenues for political participation, therefore, mitigating political violence. I expect to see a negative relationship between political violence and regulation of participation. In the second part of the paper, I develop an argument consistent with the existing literature contesting that high voter turnout shows satisfaction with institutions, nonetheless by employing the median voter theorem I take the argument further and demonstrate that higher voter turnout will have a positive relationship with political violence—dissatisfied extremist groups in the margins rejecting the ballot box and opting for political violence.
    [Show full text]
  • Conceptual Reflections on Boycott: Understanding and Interpreting Boycotts in the Arab World
    Conceptual Reflections on Boycott: Understanding and Interpreting Boycotts in the Arab World Michael Schmidmayr* Abstract: Over the past decades, the Arab polities have witnessed some degree of political opening and the enhancement, the reactivation or the mere creation formal political institutions. This clearly forms part of the incumbents’ endeavour to stabilise their authoritarian power through re-legitimization patterns. While many political activists—both from the regime-loyal and the opposition side—have been tempted to play by the new rules, others occasionally decide to stay away from that new formal arena of political engagement, preferring to concentrate on alternative patterns. However, rather than a mere black-and-white picture, political activity can also oscillate between formal and informal mechanisms, partly accepting the system’s rules while rejecting some other elements. A specific tool used in this middle-course strategy is the device of boycott, which has been amply used in Middle Eastern polities in the past. Boycott both addresses the incumbents and the boycotters’ constituencies and potential supporters. While it is certainly used as a tool of political baragaining with the incumbents, it also serves the purpose of upholding support from constituencies and international actors. Despite the amplitude of the phenomenon, however, literature on boycott within authoritarian regimes remains slender; the present study therefore seeks to add some conceptual reflections. This is attempted by conceptualizing the rationales
    [Show full text]
  • Parliamentary Boycotts in the Western Balkans
    Parliamentary Boycotts in the Western Balkans Western Balkans Democracy Initiative Parliamentary Boycotts in the Western Balkans 2 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................................... page 3 2. CASE STUDY: ALBANIA .......................................................................................................................................................... page 7 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ page 10 2.2 A brief background on the history of parliamentary boycotts from 1991 to 2019 ........................................................... page 12 2.3 Boycotting in Albania: A final analysis of issues and bottlenecks ................................................................................... page 19 2.4 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................................................... page 29 3. CASE STUDY: BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ..................................................................................................................... page 30 3.1 Background ......................................................................................................................................................................... page 33
    [Show full text]
  • Fraudulent Elections, Political Protests, and Regime Transitions
    Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Political Science Dissertations Department of Political Science Fall 12-14-2011 Fraudulent Elections, Political Protests, and Regime Transitions Alla Manukyan Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/political_science_diss Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Manukyan, Alla, "Fraudulent Elections, Political Protests, and Regime Transitions." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2011. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/political_science_diss/21 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Political Science at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FRAUDULENT ELECTIONS, POLITICAL PROTESTS, AND REGIME TRANSITIONS by ALLA MANUKYAN Under the Direction of Jennifer L. McCoy ABSTRACT This research studies protests after fraudulent elections in a collective action framework, examining the impact of the potential cost, benefit and likelihood of success of protest on the occurrence and intensity of protests. Quantitative analysis of fraudulent elections in about 100 countries from 1990 to 2004 shows that the odds of protest after fraudulent elections are greater when the level of state repression is moderate with a possible backlash effect of high repression, when the opposition
    [Show full text]
  • Timing and Sequencing of Transitional Elections International IDEA Policy Paper No
    Timing and Sequencing of Transitional Elections International IDEA Policy Paper No. 18 Timing and Sequencing of Transitional Elections International IDEA Policy Paper No. 18 Sead Alihodžić and Nicholas Matatu with Oliver Joseph and Katrin Lewis © 2019 International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance International IDEA publications are independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of International IDEA, its Board or its Council members. The electronic version of this publication is available under a Creative Commons Attribute-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) licence. You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the publication as well as to remix and adapt it, provided it is only for non-commercial purposes, that you appropriately attribute the publication, and that you distribute it under an identical licence. For more information on this licence visit the Creative Commons website: <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/>. International IDEA Strömsborg SE–103 34 Stockholm Sweden Telephone: +46 8 698 37 00 Email: [email protected] Website: <http://www.idea.int> Design and layout: International IDEA DOI: <https://doi.org/10.31752/idea.2019.13> ISBN: 978-91-7671-240-5 Created with Booktype: <https://www.booktype.pro> International IDEA Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... 5 Key recommendations .................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Surviving Elections: Election Violence, Incumbent Victory, and Post-Election Repercussions
    Emilie M. Hafner-Burton, Susan D. Hyde and Ryan S. Jablonski Surviving elections: election violence, incumbent victory, and post-election repercussions Article (Accepted version) (Refereed) Original citation: Hafner-Burton, Emilie M. and Hyde, Susan D. and Jablonski, Ryan S . (2016) Surviving elections: election violence, incumbent victory, and post-election repercussions. British Journal of Political Science. ISSN 0007-1234 DOI: 10.1017/S000712341600020X © 2016 Cambridge University Press This version available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/64957/ Available in LSE Research Online: September 2017 LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. This document is the author’s final accepted version of the journal article. There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it. Surviving Elections: Election Violence, Incumbent Victory, and Post-Election Repercussions Emilie M. Hafner-Burton Associate Professor School of International Relations and Pacific Studies University of California, San Diego [email protected] Susan D. Hyde Associate Professor Department of Political Science Yale University [email protected] Ryan S.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Report
    November 15, 1990 EGYPT ELECTION CONCERNS On November 29, Egyptian voters will go to the polls to elect 444 representatives to the People's Assembly, Egypt's national legislative chamber, which passes laws and nominates the President of the Republic every six years. The election is being boycotted by three legal opposition parties -- the New Wafd, the Socialist Labor Party and the Liberal Party -- and the technically banned Moslem Brotherhood, by most accounts the largest opposition force in the country. Together, these four groups captured 27.9 percent of the vote in the previous People's Assembly election, held in April 1987. Among the reasons cited for the boycott are the insufficient safeguards to prevent electoral fraud and the restrictions on campaigning by opposition candidates. Although Middle East Watch takes no position on the appropriateness of the boycott as a response to these conditions, we share the boycotters' concern that these deficiencies pose serious obstacles to the holding of free and fair elections. We take the occasion of the upcoming national election to highlight these concerns, both as they relate to the People's Assembly contest and as they pertain to general electoral conditions in Egypt. In addition to persistent allegations of electoral fraud, a variety of systematic practices taint the conditions for holding elections. Egypt has been under a continuous state of emergency since the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat, affording the authorities the right to administratively detain any individual without charge or trial; the abuse of this broad detention power has resulted in many thousands of arbitrary arrests.
    [Show full text]