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European Elections Obervation Missions

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Subido el 2 de julio de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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In the course of the last decade, numerous countries in the world have opened up by organising for the first time pluralistic elections, others have overridden human rights on a large scale. Respect for human rights and rule of law are fundamental European values. In this way, electoral observation missions have been created with the objective of controlling the regularity of the electoral process. This film exposes the different stages in the organisation of an electoral observation mission and the role played by the European Commission. In order to avoid involving the European Union in a situation where its presence could endorse an electoral process stained with irregularities, minimum conditions must be respected: universal suffrage, freedom for individuals and political parties to participate in the elections, freedom of speech including freedom to criticize the government, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly and lastly, reasonable access to the media by all parties and candidates.

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certain elections are considered to be high risk and the European Union is 00:00:30
present at the behest of the national authorities to help guarantee the 00:00:33
election process is democratic and also to defend the values that it shares with 00:00:37
its partners. Its support for human rights, democracy and the rule of law has 00:00:41
been established under various treaties. Article 6 of the Treaty on the European 00:00:45
Union clearly states that freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and 00:00:50
the rule of law are fundamental European values. Over the past decade a number of 00:00:54
countries have made themselves more open, organizing for the first time 00:00:59
multi-party elections while others have scoffed at these principles. It's because 00:01:03
of this that the European election observation missions were created. 00:01:08
The first election observed by the European Union was in 1993 in Russia and since then 00:01:13
has been a growing demand for intervention by the EU in this specific 00:01:17
field related to democratization. However each intervention has been very ad hoc so 00:01:21
there was no clear and systematic methodology applied. Therefore there has been a 00:01:26
request coming from within the institutions of the EU to establish a 00:01:31
more coherent and consistent approach which resulted in 2000 in a 00:01:36
communication by the Commission which is a policy document which defined the 00:01:39
foundations of this methodology to observe the elections. Following this 00:01:45
communication the Council and European Parliament endorsed this method 00:01:49
which has now been systematically adopted in all our operations. In fact 00:01:54
observers are more likely to be called upon in crisis situations or during a 00:02:00
return to democracy. This is why these observer missions are based on 00:02:04
fundamental principles. An electoral mission is a team of observers starting 00:02:08
from six persons and ending up with about 100 observers on election day 00:02:14
following the electoral process of a country basically to see whether the 00:02:18
behavior of electoral authorities and political parties and all the actors 00:02:24
comply to the law and also whether the atmosphere of the election is transparent 00:02:28
and there is political confidence in the system. So the presence of the mission of 00:02:34
these observers is to enhance those aims transparency and efficiency of the 00:02:39
process. So from the European Union perspective electoral missions are part 00:02:45
of the policy of human rights so this is the warranty of political rights at the 00:02:51
occasion of elections. With this what is finally aimed for is enhancing also the 00:02:56
democratization process or the consolidation of a new democracy in a 00:03:04
given country with the idea that if you have a democracy and you have the rule 00:03:07
of law economic development and social justice will be more easily achieved. So 00:03:12
these are the two pillars where these missions are set. Human rights and the 00:03:18
consolidation of democracy and the rule of law. 00:03:26
To avoid the European Union getting involved in a situation where its 00:03:32
presence gave credibility to an electoral process marred by irregularities 00:03:36
there are minimum standards that must be respected. These include universal 00:03:40
suffrage, freedom for individuals and political parties to take part in the 00:03:45
elections, freedom of expression and freedom to criticize the government, 00:03:49
freedom of movement, the right to hold meetings and a reasonable access to the 00:03:52
media for all parties and candidates who are standing. The mission is officially 00:03:57
launched when the chief observer arrives normally about two months before 00:04:02
election day. He immediately makes contact with the national authorities 00:04:05
and then makes a declaration to the media. The observation work can then 00:04:09
begin with a thorough look at all the elements that arise during the mission 00:04:15
including observance of electoral laws, the workings of the media and a setting 00:04:18
up of voting stations. The observers are deployed throughout the country and in 00:04:22
each province meet all the main players in the electoral process. The electoral 00:04:28
authorities, the candidates, the political parties and civil society. On the day of 00:04:32
the election itself they observe procedures in various polling stations. 00:04:37
They also look at the way votes are counted and the compilation of results 00:04:41
right up until they're officially announced. But what is the role of the 00:04:45
European Commission in the observation of elections? Every year it's about 15,000 00:04:49
million euro of which a small part 15 million euro is allocated for election 00:04:55
observation and Europe's job in that is to make sure that when a political 00:05:02
decision is taken to launch a mission to observe an election the necessary 00:05:06
people are mobilized to make sure the observation takes place in the best 00:05:13
conditions. We try to put together a team of mixed gender, age, nationality to make 00:05:17
sure it's a coherent group of people who can then make a judgment about the 00:05:25
process. Each time the team is selected according to the needs of the country 00:05:29
and an estimate really of how you can get a the best form of observation with 00:05:36
a minimum number of people. Europe's job, my unit's job, my staff's job is to make 00:05:43
sure the people are selected with and given the right tools for the job. We 00:05:49
have communication equipment, satellite communications. We have often to use 00:05:55
extra contracts with companies to provide housing, escape mechanisms if you 00:06:02
like when things go bad and insurance cover and so on. But our job is to make 00:06:12
sure that when the people are in the field they are well catered for, that the 00:06:18
terms of reference of the mission can be properly carried out and everyone can 00:06:24
get home safely. We're doing it with a definite amount of enthusiasm in 00:06:28
difficult conditions with a quite significant work rate. Coming to the help 00:06:32
of nations fighting for their freedom is never free of risk and there's also a 00:06:37
price for the investment in personnel and technical and logistical support. In 00:06:41
2002 Europe spent 15 million euros on democracy and human rights. This year 00:06:45
numerous countries requested the presence of European election observer 00:06:51
missions. Cambodia, Congo Brazzaville, Zimbabwe, East Timor, Sierra Leone, 00:06:54
Pakistan, Ecuador, Madagascar, Kenya. There are no formal criteria for deciding 00:07:10
whether to commit to an election observation mission. There are only two 00:07:25
preconditions for the intervention of the EU. There must be a request from the 00:07:29
authorities where the elections are being held and there must be a general 00:07:33
acceptance of the mission by the main political parties and their other 00:07:36
potential partners. The country must also guarantee freedom of movement and 00:07:40
contact with government ministries and other non-governmental partners. In fact 00:07:44
there has to be an assurance that the observers will be able to have access to 00:07:48
all important information. Finally wherever possible the safety of the 00:07:52
observers must be guaranteed. But is being an observer really a career? 00:07:56
In fact we have three types of observers. Long term, short term and 00:08:03
those who are part of the management team. The observers who are part of 00:08:10
management are professionals. Inside this team we have different experts. A media 00:08:15
expert, a security expert, an election expert and a legal expert. We have many 00:08:20
different categories. These are the ones making a career out of it. The people who 00:08:27
go on many missions who only do this for a job. We take professionals, experts. 00:08:33
Short term observers have another role. Often they work in their own countries 00:08:38
and decide that for ten days every year they will do some work to support 00:08:45
democracy and human rights. These are people who have a certain political 00:08:49
awareness and are interested in this type of work. The long term observers 00:08:54
have already had one or two experiences as a short term observer. They like doing 00:08:59
it and they have decided to continue and gain long term experience. Doing 10 to 00:09:04
15 missions, maybe specializing in something within a management team and 00:09:10
then becoming a permanent member of that team. 00:09:14
So observers are out in the field during and after the elections. They must become 00:09:19
familiar with the electoral problems linked to the campaign that's underway. 00:09:24
When it comes to monitoring, training or elaborating on reports, their performance 00:09:27
can influence the final result given by the entire mission. They must also ensure 00:09:32
that contact with the media and the use of public resources is accessible to all 00:09:38
candidates and their presence must back up the effectiveness of national 00:09:42
observers. Everyone must respect a code of conduct written up in June 1998. But 00:09:46
what checks are there regarding the quality of an observer's work and what 00:09:54
training are they given? An observer's quality of work is ensured in two ways. 00:09:58
Firstly, the selection criteria that must be met is increasingly demanding. 00:10:05
When we look for observers, we go to the states of the European Union who 00:10:11
propose candidates. We put forward conditions covering professional 00:10:15
experience, languages, and knowledges of the country concerned. We think this is 00:10:20
necessary to make sure that a mission goes well. Then we make selections from 00:10:25
those recommended to us. Secondly, the European Union organizes training for 00:10:30
observers. We have more than 1,000 observers who are sent every year on 00:10:36
different missions around the world, who come from different countries, from 00:10:41
different backgrounds. It's important that we are able to guarantee a 00:10:45
common approach when carrying out observation work. This is why the 00:10:50
European Commission has decided to support different training projects 00:10:54
which have been running for two years. This training is aimed at different 00:10:58
observers, short-term and long-term, but also the experts in the management team. 00:11:04
This year, the training has also incorporated local observers, 00:11:08
the people who observe elections in their own countries, in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. 00:11:15
With the aim of guaranteeing democracy, thousands of people are 00:11:21
dedicated to their difficult job of watching over and validating the voting. 00:11:28
So, how do they become observers? We have a lot of people who are interested in 00:11:33
participating in these missions. We're going to change that system in the next 00:11:39
few months. What we plan to do is, through the Internet, establish what we 00:11:44
call a roster of election observers, and then any individual who wants to 00:11:48
do it will be able to register across the Internet. They will still have to be 00:11:54
selected by the member states, but this will be done electronically, 00:11:58
and so we hope there'll be a great opportunity for a large number of people 00:12:03
to participate in these exercises. The evaluation of an electoral campaign and 00:12:07
the decision on whether or not to send an observer mission are delicate issues 00:12:11
on a political level. They bring into play political interests, but also the 00:12:15
credibility of the European Union. Criteria must always be applied with 00:12:19
flexibility, according to the different types of elections. The most flexible 00:12:23
approach should be used for elections that come after the resolution of a 00:12:27
conflict, as well as first elections. But in concrete terms, how are countries 00:12:29
selected as destinations for election observation missions? The decision to 00:12:34
send an election observation mission is prepared by a long debate within 00:12:38
institutions. First of all, we need to establish a list of what we call priority 00:12:43
countries, which are countries where we think that the EU could contribute to 00:12:48
the election process. This list is established through a dialogue within 00:12:53
the Commission, with the Geographical Services, as well as with the other 00:12:58
institutions of the EU, the European Council, and, of course, the European 00:13:02
Parliament. An election exploratory mission visits the country a few months 00:13:06
before election day, and the main task of this mission is to collect 00:13:10
factual elements to establish whether an observation mission is advisable in the 00:13:14
sense that the condition exists for competitive election, whether an 00:13:20
observation mission is feasible from a security and logistic point of view, and 00:13:24
whether an observation mission is useful in the sense that the observers from the 00:13:28
European Union could have an added value in increasing the transparency and the 00:13:33
trust in the process. At the end of this process, the exploratory mission 00:13:38
returned to Brussels, producing a report, and on the basis of its findings, a 00:13:43
decision is made whether to observe or not a country. And following this decision, 00:13:48
the country is notified if there's been an invitation, and procedures are started 00:13:54
to deploy the election observation mission. The decision also to send an 00:13:59
observation mission is an independent decision made by the EU, but there are 00:14:03
usually discussions with other regional organizations or international 00:14:07
organizations on the opportunity and cooperation on the ground. It's important 00:14:11
in fact that when an election is observed by several groups, there's an 00:14:16
attempt for the international community to speak with one voice, and therefore on 00:14:21
the ground, our observers will try to seek a common position on elections with 00:14:26
other groups. Of course, as I said, the observation mission remains an 00:14:33
independent entity, and therefore the findings of our mission shouldn't be 00:14:38
diluted in order to reach a consensus where there's a fundamental disagreement. 00:14:44
They also work, of course, with the domestic observers, that is, the observers 00:14:48
national from the country where they observe. And I think it's important to 00:14:53
draw a very important distinction between the two activities, while 00:14:56
international observers are completely external to the process, domestic are 00:15:00
part of the process because they're citizens of the country where we 00:15:04
observe. The EU supports domestic observation as an important tool to 00:15:08
increase transparency of the election process. I'm a fanatic when it comes to 00:15:12
democracy and the rule of law. I'm an extreme centrist, therefore I'm very 00:15:18
attentive to all procedures concerning rules and responsibilities. I believe 00:15:23
that democracy is above all the respect for the rule of law. We have been 00:15:30
saying that anyone who has proof of fraud must come and tell us, otherwise 00:15:37
they are not responsible. I believe that has helped a lot in terms of 00:15:41
bringing calm to many places. 00:15:47
If there is fraud in a given election, the electoral mission should, and actually 00:15:49
does, issue a public statement saying these elections were not properly 00:15:56
conducted because there was this and this and that element, which we consider 00:16:01
fraudulent. And therefore the consequences of this negative statement 00:16:07
are the consequences that in a given country a foreign actor, who has been 00:16:11
invited to observe and speak out what has been observed, may have. I mean that 00:16:18
obviously is something which is not likeable for anybody, so there are 00:16:22
political consequences. 00:16:28
Patriotic society, patriotic society, democratic left. 00:16:30
But what's the upshot of electoral fraud? 00:16:37
Normally the political consequences are that somehow the relationship between the 00:16:39
European Union and that country become a bit more tense, and this might have 00:16:48
consequences on other aspects of the international cooperation. Usually we 00:16:54
don't go to a country where you expect fraud. We go to help that fraud doesn't 00:17:02
exist. But there have been cases where the negative statement has been made 00:17:06
because the electoral process was not properly conducted. 00:17:11
The mission felt that the vote and the counting in the second round went 00:17:15
according to plan, and that the electoral process should be considered as 00:17:19
acceptable according to international standards. 00:17:24
What we're expecting, and what's equally necessary for the country, is that as soon 00:17:27
as the new government comes to power, the country develops in a constitutional 00:17:35
context with all the economic and political reforms that the people and 00:17:40
the Ecuadorian parliament deem necessary. In any case, we have the 00:17:46
compromise in the general report that we're going to make public in a few weeks. 00:17:53
The European election observation mission ends with the final report. 00:17:58
The final report is basically the historical memory of the mission, and 00:18:03
it's a public document. It's first sent to the authority of the country and the 00:18:07
political parties, the civil society, and then published on the website of the 00:18:12
European Commission. It's important to stress this is a document which belongs 00:18:16
to the election observation. It's not a new document as such. It reflects the 00:18:20
view of the observation mission. But of course there's a commitment by the EU 00:18:25
institutions to follow up on the report. If there are groups of the civil society 00:18:30
that have played a role and could play a stronger role in the election process, 00:18:35
the Commission usually try to follow on this up as well through projects 00:18:39
addressing this specific question. 00:18:44
The European Union is also attempting to safeguard the choice of the people, so 00:18:47
their freedom doesn't depend on where they were born. 00:18:52
Thank you. 00:19:00
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
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      • Nivel Intermedio
Autor/es:
The European Union
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
754
Fecha:
2 de julio de 2007 - 15:30
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
European Commission
Duración:
19′ 09″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
288x216 píxeles
Tamaño:
107.32 MBytes

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