CENTER for TRANSITIONAL and POST-CONFLICT GOVERNANCE
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CENTER FOR TRANSITIONAL and POST-CONFLICT GOVERNANCE Cost of Registration and Elections (CORE) Project by Rafael López-Pintor Jeff Fischer Funded by the United Nations Development Programme IFES | 1101 15th Street, NW • Third Floor • Washington, DC 20005 • Tel: 202.350.6700 • www.IFES.org TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page Acknowledgments 3 Introduction 4 Part One – Comparative Costs and Cost Management Case Studies Report 7 Part Two – Case Studies 52 Stable Democracies: Large and Medium-sized Electorates Case Study 1: Australia 53 Case Study 2: India 67 Case Study 3: Spain 85 Stable Democracies: Small-sized Electorate Case Study 4: Sweden 101 Transitional Democracies: Large and Medium-sized Electorates Case Study 5: Mexico 117 Transitional Democracies: Small-sized Electorate Case Study 6: Guatemala 125 Conflict Environment: Large and Medium-sized Electorates Case Study 7: Afghanistan 139 Case Study 8: Iraq 143 1 Conflict Environment: Small-sized Electorate Case Study 9: Cambodia 150 Case Study 10: Haiti 175 Part Three – Election Cost Survey Results 186 Part Four – Annexes 224 Annex I: Cost Concepts, Definitions and Measures 225 Annex II: Biographical Information 226 2 Acknowledgements The Center for Transitional and Post-Conflict governance would like to extend its appreciation to Linda Maguire with the United Nations Development Programme for her support of this project. The Center would also like to acknowledge the work in research and editing that was performed by Center staff Maya Serban, Jamie Crowley, Will Covey, and Joanne Faulkner. Without their assistance this project would not have been possible. 3 INTRODUCTION Measuring the costs of voter registration and elections is an elusive task; on the one hand, budgets for registration and elections are set by public appropriations provided to Election Management Bodies (EMBs). However, other cost factors such as subsidized services from partner agencies, international assistance programs, and other forms of assistance create a more complex cost structure than is evident through public accountancy alone. The Cost of Registration and Elections (CORE) Project was organized to evaluate the methods by which election budgets are established, tracked and funded; to identify the cost management practices that can be adopted by Election Management Bodies (EMBs); and to establish a methodology for the comparative assessment of electoral costs. The study is intended to be a topical extension into the area of election budgeting and financing of the research conducted on EMBs in Electoral Management Bodies as Institutions of Governance, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Other electoral studies have examined EMB structure, legal framework, and operational considerations. However, there has not been a project of global research exclusively devoted to EMB budget and cost. As such, comparing costs between electoral events in different countries with different conditions has been analytically deficient, and identifying the total costs of elections remains difficult to analyze. The CORE Project has practical and profound implications because elections are recurring events, and both marginal cost increases and cost reductions have cumulative impacts over time. Moreover, the election administration process must compete with other public goods and services - such as road and bridge infrastructure, infant mortality, and national defense - for government funding. As a result, it is important that EMBs be able to justify their budgets, be efficient, but have sufficient resources to conduct elections according to international standards and their political environments. There are four major features to the CORE Project: • CORE establishes working definitions of election costs and identifies cost variables such as voter registration, boundary delimitation, and political party or campaign public financing; • CORE identifies the sources of revenue for funding the administration of election processes. Revenue identification will include the contributions of international and bilateral donors to the election costs and to civil society that may extend the training or educational capacity of the EMBs; 4 • CORE evaluates election budgets of EMBs in order to identify practices in budgeting techniques that promote cost control and transparency. The evaluation examines the budget cycles, cash flow arrangements, and the legal obligations on governments to fund electoral events; and • CORE examines cost management practices such as the procurement arrangements for equipment, services, and supplies. The CORE Project uses two analytical tools to examine election costs – case studies and survey research. The case study report provides the dynamic analysis of election finances, while the survey results report baselines and quantification. The analysis of the survey research is followed by case studies for ten electoral processes. These cases were selected according to the following profiles: State/Size of Democracy Country Stable Democracies Large and Medium-sized Electorate Australia, Spain, India Small-sized Electorate Sweden Transitional Democracies Large and Medium-sized Electorate Mexico Small-sized Electorate Guatemala Conflict Environments Large and Medium-sized Electorate Afghanistan, Iraq Small Electorate Cambodia, Haiti The two reports were compiled through different sources of information. The case studies were written by election practitioners and academics familiar with the countries involved. The surveys were completed by EMBs. However, both reports share some analysis in common. For example, both reports required the development of new cost constructs and analytical indicators; they both examined internal budget and financial procedures; both address the election technology question; and both reports reveal that it is possible for election budgets to be reduced. The information from the CORE Project can be used by five principal audiences: 1. Election Management Bodies, and election and registration officials (at all levels); 2. Senior government officials, budget and government financial officers, and parliamentarians responsible for budget and fiscal affairs; 3. Multilateral and bilateral development assistance agencies which provide democratic development assistance; 4. Intergovernmental, parliamentary, academic, and non-governmental organizations providing assistance to election management bodies; and 5 5. Regional and international financial institutions (IFIs). By dedicating a study to the issues surrounding election cost, election organizers and policy-makers can identify ways to better manage financial resources, measure their relative costs of operations with other EMBs, and reduce the cost of electoral events. Rafael Lopez-Pintor Jeff Fischer Madrid Washington, DC January 2005 6 Part One Comparative Costs and Cost Management Case Studies Report By: Rafael Lopez-Pintor 7 Part One – Comparative Costs and Cost Management Case Studies Report Topical Presentation I. Introduction II. Working Definitions of Election Costs in a Core-Costing Model 1. Types of Costs 2. Developing a Methodology for Electoral Cost Assessment III. Election Budgets and Sources of Revenue for Funding the Administration of Elections 1. Election Funding: Legal Framework and Practice. Election Budget Processes and Cycles 2. Resource Sharing Arrangements with Other Public Agencies 3. How Much Do Elections Cost? 4. Budget Histories in the 1990s 5. Public Funding of Political Parties 6. Funding from the International Community IV. The Cost of Voter Registration 1. General Considerations on the Purpose of Voter Lists in Comparison with other Registries of People 2. Voter Registration Systems in a Global Perspective 3. Quality Standards of Voter Lists 4. Some Country Experiences V. Cost Management Practice 1. Procurement Procedures 2. Inventory Control 3. Cash Transactions 4. Cost Overruns 5. Budget Audit 6. High-technology Investment 7. Cost-effective Measures VI. References 8 I. Introduction This report contains the main findings and conclusions drawn from case studies on electoral costs in ten countries. The case study approach aims to deepen our understanding of the main issues covered in the survey questionnaires from 34 countries, the results of which are included in a separate chapter of this final report. The following countries were selected as illustrative of election management within different democracy environments from stable to transitional and post-conflict. In capitalizing on information gathered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study in the year 2000, the same countries were re-studied whenever possible; others were added from different regions of the world and by size of the electorate. State/Size of Democracy Country Stable Democracies Large and Medium-sized Electorate Australia, Spain, India Small-sized Electorate Sweden Transitional Democracies Large and Medium-sized Electorate Mexico Small-sized Electorate Guatemala Conflict Environments Large and Medium-sized Electorate Afghanistan, Iraq Small Electorate Cambodia, Haiti A standard case study methodology was followed. A panel of authors/election specialists was selected on-site; academics and practitioners with long experience in the field, most of them related to electoral authorities as senior staff or international consultants. Authors were guided by a checklist template, as well as documentary sources and individual informants for consultation. The cases were researched in the field and written between