The Role of Security Forces in the Electoral Process: the Case of Six West African Countries
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Mathias Hounkpe, Alioune Badara Gueye The role of Security Forces in the electoral process: the case of six West African countries Mathias Hounkpe, Alioune Badara Gueye The role of Security Forces in the electoral process: the case of six West African countries About the author Imprint Mathias Hounkpe, a Benin Citizen and Permanent Published by: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Resident, has several years experience working in capacity Regional Office Abuja, 12 Marrakesh Street , Wuse II, building, governance and institutional development with Abuja, Nigeria domains as diverse as good governance and accountability in new democracies, election cycle management, capa- Tel +234 (0)9-4137977 city building of democratic institutions (e.g. Parliament, [email protected] Political parties, Civil Society Organizations, …), instituti- www.fes-westafrica.org/abuja onal development (especially of the Parliament). He has been part of multidisciplinary research teams on subjects Coordinator: as diverse as the assessment of electoral systems and Sebastian Sperling institutions, good governance, elections and public policy related issues. He has designed and implemented training In collaboration with: and capacity building activities and evaluation for various ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Unit key stakeholders of electoral processes in Benin and some West African countries. He is bilingual with proficiency in First impression in October 2010 English and French. He holds an M. Phil in Political science (from Department of Political Science, Yale University) with Layout by Uta Herrmann Grafikdesign, Germany concentration on accountability mechanism design in new Coverpicture: © picture-alliance / dpa democracies and a doctorate in Mathematical physics (from Mathematical Physics Institute, Benin National University) Printed in Lagos and Abidjan with concentration on scattering theory. © Copyright with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Alioune Badara Gueye is a graduate officer of the Special Military Institute of Saint Cyr in France (1998). He then The material in this publication may not be reproduced, served in the Armed Forces of Senegal until 2002. He stored or transmitted without the prior permission of the also holds an MBA (2004) and is a member of civil society copyright holder. Short extracts may be quoted, provided organizations working on issues of Peace and Security in the source is fully acknowledged. The views expressed Africa. His research areas are Defense Resources Manage- in this publication are not necessarily the ones of the ment, Regional Security in West Africa and the Democratic Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung or of the organization for which Governance and Reform of the Security Sector. the author works. ISBN 978-978-911-038-4 MatHias HOUNKPE, ALIOUne BADARA GUEYE | THE ROLE OF SecURitY FORces in THE ELectORAL PROcess Table of Content Preface ...................................................................................................................................................6 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................7 PART I: ROLE OF PUBLIC SECURITY FORCES IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER I: THE ELECTORAL PROCESS AND THE ISSUE OF SECURITY ............................................9 1.1 Democracy and the electoral process .............................................................................................9 1.2 Some essential specific characteristics of the electoral process ...................................................... 11 1.2.1 Election is a process ..................................................................................................................... 11 1.2.2 Other characteristics of elections ................................................................................................. 11 1.3 The electoral process and its security related problems: the current debates .................................14 1.3.1 Elections: conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms .............................................................14 1.4 Security problems inherent in the implementation of the electoral process ...................................16 1.4.1 Legal framework of elections .......................................................................................................16 1.4.2 Poor management of competition and opposition ........................................................................18 1.4.3 Poor technical management of the electoral process ....................................................................18 1.4.4 Electoral dispute management .....................................................................................................19 1.4.5 Past role of Security Forces (SFs) ....................................................................................................19 1.5 Security sector reforms and West African specificities ...................................................................20 1.5.1 Scope of electoral problems .........................................................................................................20 1.5.2 Security Sector Reform ................................................................................................................21 1.6 Inequality of social groups in terms of electoral violence ...............................................................21 Summary of Chapter I ............................................................................................................................22 CHAPTER II: ROLES EXPECTED OF SECURITY FORCES IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS ...................24 2.1 The need to involve SFs in the electoral process ...........................................................................24 2.1.1 Role of security forces in the electoral process ..............................................................................25 2.2 Requirements for the involvement of SFs in the electoral process: internal requirements and SSR ...27 2.2.1 Behavioural requirements ..............................................................................................................27 2.2.2 Legitimacy requirements ..............................................................................................................28 2.3 Competence requirements ............................................................................................................28 2.3.1 Suitable organizational structure ...................................................................................................28 2.3.2 Competence required to ensure security for the electoral process ..................................................29 2.3.4 Staff strength required (quality and quantity) ................................................................................29 2.4 Resource requirements .................................................................................................................29 2.5 Problems that may arise from the involvement of security forces in the electoral process ...............30 2.5.1 A dangerous bias ..........................................................................................................................30 2.5.2 Inappropriate security offer ...........................................................................................................30 2.5.3 Other stakeholders in the process .................................................................................................31 Summary of Chapter II ...........................................................................................................................31 CHAPTER III: RELATIONS BETWEEN THE ELECTIONS MANA GEMENT BODY AND SECURITY FORCES INVOLVED IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS ....................................33 3 MatHias HOUNKPE, ALIOUne BADARA GUEYE | THE ROLE OF SecURitY FORces in THE ELectORAL PROcess 3.1 The elections management body and supervision of elections ......................................................33 3.1.1 Overview of duties of the Elections Management Body (EMB) .......................................................33 3.1.2 Monitoring the execution of key election-related tasks by the EMB ..............................................34 3.1.3 Monitoring the involvement of SFs in the electoral process ............................................................34 3.1.4 Regulatory links between institutions in charge of the EMB and Security Forces ...........................34 3.2 The organisational structure required for better collaboration between the EMB and SFs ..............35 3.2.1 Requirements for the participation of the SFs in the electoral process ...........................................36 Summary of Chapter III ..........................................................................................................................36 CHAPTER IV: ROLE OF SECURITY FORCES (SFs) IN THE POST-CONFLICT ELECTORAL PROCESS ...38 4.1 Security problems specific to the post-conflict electoral process ...................................................38 4.1.1 State decline ................................................................................................................................38 4.1.2 Legal vacuum ..............................................................................................................................38