Electoral Systems and Processes in Asia and the Pacific

Comparative Study on Electoral Violence and Dispute Resolutions in Asia

Although, in the Asia region, the universal significance of elections gets reinforced by the fact that over 20 countries are or have held multi-party elections in recent time, the event of the election itself does not always mean more participation and better representation. One common negative feature of recent elections in the region is the incidence of electoral violence which has many causes as well as adverse consequences. One reason is because the electoral process is a very sensitive ‘rule of the game’. It produces ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ which the stakes can be high. At each stage in the electoral process, attempts are made to undermine it and render its results illegitimate. The commonest form of such undermining takes is to resort to violence in an attempt to either vitiate the process or influence the outcome. Electoral violence can be spontaneous or carefully orchestrated, yet, in whichever form, it serves to disenfranchise the electorate, usually also, women and minorities, and render the fairness of the electoral process moot and results, dubious and questionable.

The use of violence in elections takes many forms. It may be random or organized, continuous or occasional, spectacular or subtle. The victims of electoral violence can be people, places, or things. Such violence could be local, regional or national, sporadic or continuing, superficial or deep-rooted. Targets of violence could be individuals or communities that have particular demographic features. All aspects of such violence weaken the positive payoffs that an election produces for a democracy and damage the electoral process sometimes irreparably.

The UNDP Regional Study on Electoral Violence and Electoral Dispute Mechanisms began in March 2006 and focuses  on a multi-sectoral approach in assessing the roles of Elections Commissions, Judiciaries, Police, Media and Political Parties in contributing to and / or preventing the occurrence of violence. A particular feature of the research project focuses on the consequences of violence on the participation or lack of participation of women in the political processes including as both representatives as well as voters.

In addition to desk research and analysis, focus groups discussions will take place in the 8 countries participating in the regional study. These countries are Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Research institutes, universities and academic think tanks in these countries will be undertaking the research at the national level. The intention through this process is also to form a network among these like-minded institutes, with the aim of widening this network in the ensuring years.  

The research institutes are:

• Bangladesh: Brotee
• India: Lokniti-Institute for Comparative Democracy Programme of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS)
• Indonesia: Centre for Electoral Reform (CETRO)
• Nepal: Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS)
• Pakistan: Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT)
• Philippines: Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms (IPER)
• Sri Lanka: Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)
• Thailand: Institute of Future Studies for Development (IFD)