Southern Africa: The Use of State Resources in Elections
In this section
Together with partners in Southern Africa, the Justice Initiative is developing capacity to monitor the use of state resources in election campaigns
Background
The development of multiparty democracy in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region has progressed steadily since the 1990s. However, political parties have been known to use a variety of legal and illegal means to access or maintain power. A common practice, that has attracted civil society and media attention alike, is the misuse of state resources to support private political party campaigns. It is now widely accepted that unfair access to public resources by ruling parties leads to the existence of uneven playing fields for political competitors.
In order to contribute to curbing this practice and thereby helping increase the fairness of electoral processes, the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA), the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), and the Open Society Justice Initiative, are implementing a program to develop capacity within the Southern African Region to effectively monitor the use of state resources during elections.
Objective
The overall objective of the project is to develop a regional strategy for monitoring and assessing the misuse of state resources for election purposes. A pilot monitoring project was implemented in Mozambique during a four week period leading up to the December 1-2, 2004 general election.
The specific objectives of the project are:
- To explore the key regulatory issues governing the financing of electoral campaigns and the use of state resources in campaigning
- To raise public awareness of the dangers for core democratic values of the misuse of state resources in electoral campaigns
- To contribute towards the minimization of incidents of public resource misuse
- To develop specific recommendations for electoral management bodies and civil society groups that will assist the identification of cases of abuse
- To offer civil society sufficient tools and instruments to assess elections with a focus on the misuse of state resources thereby building on their already existing monitoring and advocacy capacity
- To introduce the participants to the guidelines recently adopted by the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries (ECF), EISA’s Principles for Election Management, Monitoring & Observation in the SADC Region, which provides a basis for assessing elections in the region
- To develop specific regulations governing the use of state resources
Activities
The program is conducting a legal analysis of the existing framework regulating state resource abuse, both on the African continent and in a selected number of countries in the SADC region. A pilot monitoring project in Mozambique has been launched, and a regional consultative workshop will be held to highlight the issue and present the pilot project results to stakeholders.
Contacts
Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA): sa@eisa.org.za
Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA): sammym@osiafrica.org
Open Society Justice Initiative: trivunovic@osieurope.org
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