Topic Guide: Electoral Corruption

Database of Obligations for Democratic Elections. Carter Centre, 2014. www.cartercenter.org/des-searc...  

This database is intended to assist election assistance providers, election observers and others in their efforts to monitor and assess the quality of electoral processes by identifying obligations for democratic elections based in public international law. The database contains a broad range of public international norms and regulations which have been spliced into quotes and tagged so as to facilitate access to quotes related to specific actors, countries, and situations. A specific section on preventing corruption offers a systematic overview of relevant international obligations covering a wide range of issues such as election management; candidacy and campaigning; voter registration; voting operations; and vote counting.  

ACE Electoral Integrity. The Electoral Knowledge Network, 2013. http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/ei/ei10  

The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network is the world’s first online resource of its kind in the field of elections and the world’s largest repository of electoral knowledge, providing more than 10,000 pages of specialised thematic information, country and region specific information and comparative data. This entry on electoral integrity from the ACE Encyclopaedia discusses issues of transparency, accountability and accuracy in electoral administration, as well as the ethical behaviour of key players able to contribute to maintaining integrity. The entry features an extensive section on integrity within election administration. It features numerous case studies which serve to illustrate scenarios of vote-buying, abuse of office and misuse of administrative resources, absence of effective legal remedies, and successes related to official oversight and supervision. This encyclopaedia entry serves a good starting point for understanding what electoral integrity is and how it should be monitored and enforced.  

Assessing Electoral Fraud in New Democracies: A New Strategic Approach. Darnolf, S., 2011. International Foundation for Electoral Systems. www.ifes.org/~/media/Files/Pub...  

The paper outlines a strategy for strengthening effective prevention of electoral fraud, focusing in particular on the capacities of electoral management bodies, but also discussing to a lesser degree the role of other key electoral stakeholders. In the first part, current and potential roles and responsibilities of the main national and international actors relevant for a strategy to combat electoral fraud are outlined. Based on these findings, the second part of the paper proposes an improved electoral fraud model applicable across countries.  

‘Grabbing’ an Election: Abuse of State Resources in the 2011 Elections in Uganda. Helle, S. and Rakner, L. in Søreide T. and A. Williams (Eds) Corruption, Grabbing and Development: Real World Challenges. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham and Northampton. www.cmi.no/publications/file/5...  

This article discusses the use of public (state) resources in election campaigns for the ruling party (grabbing), focusing on the 2011 elections in Uganda. The authors argue that grabbing not only affected electoral accountability through tilting the electoral playing field in favour of the ruling party, but also that it affected financial stability and contributed to rising inflation and subsequent unrest. Their analysis of the role of money in Ugandan electoral politics suggests that this form of grabbing is detrimental to development because it creates an uneven electoral playing field, distorts the true reflection of the people’s will, and undermines the purpose of holding elections.