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The Rationale
Post-conflict elections provide an opportunity for warring parties to resolve their differences at the ballot box rather than on the battlefield. However, these elections are also complex and delicate affairs, requiring careful planning and highly transparent procedures to ensure that all parties perceive the process as genuine. Irregularities in the voting can heighten suspicions and lead to a resumption of hostilities.
Unfortunately, forced-migrants, including refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons (IDPs), are frequently disenfranchised during these processes. This denial of franchise violates fundamental human rights norms and weakens the reconciliation value of the elections.
If properly organized, forced-migrants enfranchisement can support the broader objectives of reconstruction and reconciliation. Their inclusion provides a political voice to those displaced by violence and human rights abuses. Electoral participation can also re-establish the link between the displaced and their home communities, preparing the way for their eventual return and reintegration. Finally, elections provide an opportunity to establish communications among displaced communities so that there is visibility, transparency, and confidence in the election outcome. Taken together, these outcomes contribute to the value of the elections as one component of a larger peace-building process.
At the same time, mechanisms to ensure forced-migrants participation can have unintended consequences that open avenues for electoral coercion and fraud. First, forced-migrants populations often rely on either governments or militias to protect their security, meet their survival needs, and maintain their legal status. As a result, forced-migrants voters should be considered “subject voters” in that their capacity to make free political choices is compromised by this dependence.
Second, the mechanics of forced-migrants registration and balloting can open windows for electoral fraud, including potential double voting and problems with observer access to registration and polling stations. If handled correctly, the registration process can mitigate many of these concerns, and can even represent a first link between the displaced and their home community. If not conducted properly, however, displaced participation can jeopardize the legitimacy of the election outcome.
IOM Involvement
IOM's expertise in forced-migrant voting stems from over ten years of direct experience in organizing external voting programs for refugees and IDPs. Since 1996, the organization has provided transparent voter registration and balloting services to over two million refugees and displaced persons in elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996, 1997, 1998), East Timor (1999), Kosovo (2000, 2001), Afghanistan (2004), and Iraq (2005). IOM now maintains an extensive roster of absentee voting operations staff, proprietary information technology platforms, and the ability to organize voting services on a global scale on very short notice.
IOM's interest in forced-migrant voting is broader than just project implementation. Through the Participatory Elections Project (PEP, completed July 2004), IOM identified the obligations, standards, and best practices concerning the political rights of forced migrants in post-conflict elections. Under a follow up grant from USAID, PRESS is further developing international, regional, and national capacity to enfranchise migrants and assist Election Management Bodies, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations in the election process.
IOM considers the establishment of transparent and inclusive electoral processes to be an essential component of peace building and vital to the creation of sustainable democratic structures. In those cases where populations are displaced beyond territorial limits and without opportunities to register and vote, a mechanism for their enfranchisement is warranted. To the extent that these groups are left outside of the electoral processes, the legitimacy of these processes is compromised.
Project Team
JEFF FISCHER (Director) fischerjeff@comcast.net
Jeff Fischer currently manages a consulting practice specializing in assistance to post-conflict political processes. Formerly, he served as the Founder and Director for the Center for Transitional and Post-Conflict Governance at IFES. Mr. Fischer also served as Senior Advisor for Elections and Governance at IFES; and from 1993 to 1999 Mr. Fischer served as the organization’s first Executive Vice President where he directed the daily operations of all IFES departments and programs.
Mr. Fischer has held four internationally appointed posts in post-conflict transitions. In 1996, he was appointed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to serve as Director General of Elections for the first post-conflict elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1999, Mr. Fischer was appointed by the United Nations (UN) as Chief Electoral Officer for the Popular Consultation for East Timor. And, in 2000, Mr. Fischer received a joint appointment from the UN and OSCE to head the Joint Registration Taskforce in Kosovo and served as the OSCE’s Director of Election Operations in Kosovo. In 2001 and 2002, Mr. Fischer continued to support to Kosovo political process by serving as a Senior Advisor to the OSCE Mission to Kosovo. More recently, Mr. Fischer served as a Senior Advisor to the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq during the 2005 election cycle.
Mr. Fischer has also directed IFES technical assistance projects in Haiti (1990-91) and Guyana (1991-92). Mr. Fischer has also worked on election assistance, observation, or conference projects in over 50 countries. In the United States, Mr. Fischer represented the MicroVote Corporation (1989-1992) and in this capacity consulted with local and state administrators on electronic voting. In 1985, Mr. Fischer was also appointed to a four-year term as Commissioner on the Kansas City Election Board and from 1990 to 1993 he served as a Commissioner for the Missouri Campaign Finance Review Board.
JEREMY GRACE (Senior Advisor) jeremygrace@yahoo.com
Jeremy Grace is the Senior Advisor and Research Coordinator for PRESS. Mr. Grace is currently a lecturer of international politics, law, and political economy at the State University of New York at Geneseo. In 1998, Mr. Grace directed the IOM out of country voting program for Bosnian refugees residing in Croatia and was, in 1999, the IOM Deputy Director for the registration and polling of East Timorese displaced persons in Indonesia. In 2000, he helped design and organized the refugee and IDP voting program for the first post-conflict Kosovo elections. In 2004, Mr. Grace assisted in the design of the Afghan refugee voting program for Pakistan and Iran on behalf of IFES, IOM and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. From 1996 to 2000, Mr. Grace had multiple assignments with the OSCE in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has also provided technical assistance to election management bodies and civil society organizations in Liberia, Kosovo, Uganda, and elsewhere.
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