Unfair election

An unfair election is a concept used by national and international election monitoring groups to identify when the vote of the people for a government is not free and fair. Unfairness in elections encompasses all varieties of electoral fraud, voter suppression or intimidation, unbalanced campaign finance rules, and imbalanced access to the media. Unfair elections violate the right to vote or right to be a candidate or both. The right to vote is generally recognised as an essential element to a deliberative democracy and representative democracy.

History

Although some form of elections have been held since antiquity, in every society until 1893, large number of people were excluded based on their status, particularly slaves, poor, women, people with different skin colour, and people without formal education. The first democratic election in the modern sense was the 1893 general election in New Zealand, when women won the vote at the age of 21 like men, property qualifications were scrapped, and restrictions on Maori people voting were discarded. In the United Kingdom, some form of representation in government had been guaranteed since Magna Carta, but only for a tiny elite, and potentially vetoed by the Monarch. The Monarch's power was eliminated following the Glorious Revolution 1688,^[1] and then elections became progressively more democratic. As property qualifications were slowly phased out from 1832 to in 1918, women's suffrage became non-discriminatory in 1928,^[2] and the last vestiges of double voting were abolished in 1948.^[3] In the United States, elections for the Federal government were administered in each of the states. Around half of all successful constitutional amendments since the Revolution of 1776 concerned elections and the franchise. Slavery was abolished in 1865, universal suffrage for men in the United States House of Representatives was achieved over 1868 and 1870, direct elections to the Senate secured in 1913, women won the vote in 1920, and poll taxes levied by the states were banned in 1964. Around continental Europe, there were different speeds of progress. France had granted universal suffrage for men after the Revolutions of 1848, but did not extend the vote to women until 1944. In the German Empire, representatives at the national level were elected by universal, equal and secret manhood suffrage as of 1871,^[4] although some individual states, most notably Prussia, had more restrictive franchises for their local representative bodies.^[5] After the First World War, the new Weimar Republic's constitution of 1919 guaranteed true universal suffrage, giving women the right to vote for the first time.^[6] German democracy was abolished in 1933 by the Nazi regime and not restored until after the victory of the Allies in World War II (in the west), or German Reunification (in the east).

Article 21

1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, article 21

In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights exhorted that "everyone has the right to take part in the government", that "the will of the people is the basis of the authority of government" and that "this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections." In the post war process of decolonialisation, more and more countries became independent from the crumbling European Empires, and many introduced elections of some form, though many countries' transition slid abruptly back into authoritarian regimes. The Soviet Union and countries behind the Iron Curtain had no free elections, until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. After that a majority of countries around the world have moved toward democratic electoral systems, at least on paper.

Aside from simply denying the vote by outright discrimination, or by curtailing the power of the democratically elected body, interest groups or governments seeking to usurp or hold onto power employed a variety of methods. An early case of electoral fraud was in an election to the county of Northamptonshire in England in 1768, when three earls spent more than £100,000 each to buy votes from voters to win their seats.^[7] Voter intimidation was widespread in the March 1933 German federal election, immediately before the Nazi party abolished Parliament's powers. Hitler had become Chancellor at the start of 1933 in a coalition agreement, and with control over the police, opposition party members and campaigners were beaten up and imprisoned throughout the voting process. As electoral systems became more mature, the focus of unfairness turned toward campaign finance and media bias. Almost every country in the developed world introduced limits on the amount that could be spent by any particular candidate in an election. The large exception was the United States, because a majority of judges on the US Supreme Court who were appointed by the Republican Party continued to strike down campaign finance limits as unconstitutional from 1976.^[8] A majority of countries also have some form of media regulation, so that news coverage has to be impartial and accurate in its treatment of political issues. Regulation may also extend to who owns news and television organisations, so that the power to grant access information channels is not unduly limited.

Free and fair elections

A free and fair election has the following characteristics:

Equal voting rights, without unreasonable restrictions
Freedom of association for political groups
Parity of resources among political groups to persuade
An informed debate, with equal opportunity to express a view
The government's power is not unduly curtailed by the constitution or international agreements
The elected government can take legislative action to enact its promises
Electoral Commission that ensures a free and fair election
Voting system that comes close to ensuring all votes count equally

Unfair practices

Electoral fraud

Intimidation and suppression

Manipulation and ballot access

Unreasonably difficult nomination rules, where it is seen as too difficult for some or all parties to get on the ballot
When all votes don't count equally, such as in first-past-the-post voting systems with gerrymandering

Media access

Campaign finance rules that give one group significantly more speech than others
Significant media bias and a high concentration of media ownership
State media that has been captured by a group (unlike public media, which has editorial independence of the government)

Select examples

Below is a small fraction of the examples widely considered by observers to be unfair (excluding uncontested elections).

Afghanistan

2009: Hamid Karzai was the most popular candidate, despite winning just under half of the vote. However, there were widespread claims of electoral fraud.^[9]^[10]^[11]

Azerbaijan

Under Ilham Aliyev, elections in Azerbaijan are not free or fair according to most international observers.

2018: Aliyev won over 86% of the vote undemocratically.^[12]

Belarus

Under Alexander Lukashenko, The elections in Belarus have been deemed unfair. The only Belarusian election deemed free and fair was the 1994 Belarusian presidential election, the first election in the country since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. 8 2006: Lukashenko won over 80% of the vote undemocratically.

2001: Lukashenko won over 75% of the vote undemocratically.^[13]
2010: Lukashenko won over 80% of the vote undemocratically. He was congratulated for his re-election by China, Russia, Syria and Vietnam. The European Union and the United States issued a travel ban for Lukashenko.^{[citation needed]}
2015: Lukashenko won over 80% of the vote undemocratically.^[14]
2020: Lukashenko won over 80% of the vote. This election was considered unfair by most international observers. Lukashenko received congratulations from the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Burundi, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Oman, Russia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Vietnam, as well as the partially-recognised states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The election result was not accepted by the following countries: Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Iceland, Japan, Norway and Ukraine questioned the legitimacy of the elections, while Afghanistan, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Fiji, Ghana, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, New Zealand, Peru, San Marino, South Korea, Switzerland and Uruguay criticised the government's response to the election.^{[citation needed]}

China

1923: The Zhili clique, led by Cao Kun, won over 80% of the vote undemocratically.^{[citation needed]}

Equatorial Guinea

2022: The Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea, led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, won over 95% of the vote undemocratically.^{[citation needed]}

Georgia

2024: The Georgian Dream, led by Irakli Kobakhidze, won over 53% of the vote undemocratically. President Salome Zourabichvili refused to recognize the official results, describing them "illegitimate".^[15]^[16]

Hungary

1947: The Hungarian Communist Party, led by Mátyás Rákosi, won over 20% of the vote undemocratically.
2010-present: Orban's government, for example, used a voter suppression tactic for those living outside of the country by making citizens living in countries where he had less support travel many miles and wait in long lines to cast a ballot. The Government also uses state resources, including state media, to campaign year-round, while opposition parties are heavily limited in their campaigning.^[17]

India

Regional elections

1987 (Jammu and Kashmir): The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, led by Farooq Abdullah, won the election, however there were widespread claims of electoral fraud.^[18]^[19]^[20]

Iran

Most elections that have been held in Iran have been considered unfair.

2009: The Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, led by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, won over 60% of the vote undemocratically, resulting in global condemnation and protests.^{[citation needed]}

Kazakhstan

1991: Nursultan Nazarbayev won over 98% of the vote undemocratically.^[21]
2019: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won over 70% of the vote undemocratically.^[22]

Liberia

1927: Charles D. B. King won over 96% of the vote in an extreme example of a sham election.^[23]

Mexico

1929: The Institutional Revolutionary Party, led by Pascual Ortiz Rubio, won over 90% of the vote undemocratically.^[24]^[25]^[26]
All other elections from 1929 to 1982.^{[citation needed]}

Nazi Germany

1933: The Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler, used violent practices against leftists. Hitler eventually won the vote and rose to power, and all subsequent elections and referendums held under the Nazi regime were sham elections.^{[citation needed]}

Pakistan

1990: The Pakistan Muslim League, led by Nawaz Sharif, won over 35% of the vote, however allegations of electoral fraud were widespread. The Supreme Court of Pakistan later ruled that the elections were rigged.^[27]

Philippines

The 1986 Philippine presidential election was widely considered to be fraudulent on the part of Ferdinand Marcos: the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) claimed that Marcos won the election with 53.62% of the vote, but the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) claimed that Corazon Aquino received more votes than Marcos. The ensuing turmoil resulted in the People Power Revolution, the collapse of the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, and the accession of Aquino as president.^{[citation needed]}

Poland

1947: The communist Front of National Unity, led by Bolesław Bierut, used violence and other tactics to subvert the election to win over 80% of the vote by a landslide victory.^{[citation needed]}
2023: The ruling PiS party, for example, had captured Poland's public media, turning it into state media that only disseminated messages of the ruling party ahead of an election that saw hours-long lines at many voting centers where more votes for the opposition were being cast.^[28]^[29]^[30]^[31]

Portugal

1958: The National Union, led by Americo Thomaz, won over 75% of the vote. There were many reports of electoral fraud.^[32]

Romania

1946: The Ploughmen's Front, led by Petru Groza, won almost 70% of the vote undemocratically.^{[citation needed]}

Russia

2018: Vladimir Putin won over 75% of the vote, though leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny, for example, was barred from running by Putin's government.^[33] Also, due to the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, many Western countries did not recognise the results of the election in Crimea.^{[citation needed]}

Syria

Under Bashar Al-Assad, elections in Syria are not free or fair according to most international observers.

2014: Al-Assad won over 90% of the vote undemocratically.^[34]^[35]^[36]
2021: Al-Assad won over 95% of the vote undemocratically.^[37]

Turkey

June 2015: See electoral fraud and violence during the June 2015 Turkish general election.^{[citation needed]}

Ukraine

2004: Viktor Yushchenko won over half of the vote, however allegations of electoral fraud were widespread. The Supreme Court of Ukraine later ruled that the elections were rigged.^{[citation needed]}

Venezuela

1957: Dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez announced a referendum, without new elections, asking voters if they would approve that he remained in power.^[38]
2018: Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of the election, although this is widely disputed and considered undemocratic by many countries. Most of the Western world recognised the social democratic Guadió-led National Assembly over Maduro's authoritarian socialist regime.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

^ See also Ashby v White (1703) 1 Sm LC (13th Edn) 253 right to vote cannot be interfered with by a public official.
^ It was even asserted (wrongly) by one judge that it was a principle of the English constitution that women would not vote Nairn v The University Court of the University of St Andrews (1907) 15 SLT 471, 473, per Lord McLaren, it is "a principle of the unwritten constitutional law of this country that men only were entitled to take part in the election of representatives to Parliament."
^ See also Second Reform Act 1867 and Representation of the People Act 1883.
^ "Elections in the Empire 1871–1918" (PDF). Deutscher Bundestag. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
^ Peter, Jelena (1 February 2000). "Das Preußische Dreiklassenwahlrecht" [The Prussian Three-Class Franchise]. Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 26 January 2024.
^ "The Weimar Republic (1918–1933)". Deutscher Bundestag. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
^ J Grego, A history of parliamentary elections and electioneering in the old days (1886) 226-28
^ Buckley v Valeo
^ McDonald, Charlotte (2009-09-10). "Afghan commission orders first ballots invalidated". Archived from the original on April 13, 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
^ Karzai Gets New Term as Afghan Runoff is Scrapped, The New York Times
^ Dixon, Robyn. "Obama calls Afghan election 'messy' but upholds its final outcome". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 5, 2009. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
^ "Azerbaijan's Aliyev Secures a Fourth Term in Rigged Elections". Human Rights Foundation. 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2024-10-02.
^ "Belarus vote 'neither free nor fair'". 2001-09-10. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
^ "Belarus election 'neither free nor fair,' says UN human rights expert". UN News. 2015-10-13. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
^ BREAKING: President Zurabishvili Rejects Election Results, Civil.ge: 27 October 2024
^ "Official Results of 2024 Vote: What They Show". Civil Georgia. 28 October 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
^ Mudde, Cas (2022-04-04). "Orbán's unfair election victory makes a travesty of EU values". New Statesman. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
^ Arshad, Sameer (22 November 2014). "History of electoral fraud has lessons for BJP in J&K". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 26 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
^ Prakash, Smita (17 November 2014). "Elections in Kashmir". Mid-Day. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
^ Donthi, Praveen (23 March 2016). How Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Shaped The 1987 Elections In Kashmir. The Caravan.
^ Olcott, Martha Brill (September 2010). Kazakhstan: Unfulfilled Promise. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-87003-243-1.
^ "Hundreds more arrested as Kazakhs protest 'rigged vote'". Al Jazeera. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2024-10-02.
^ The 1927 Presidential Elections Archived 23 February 2004 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Las elecciones de 1929". Reconoce MX. Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
^ Gil Olmos, José. "Un siglo de fraudes". Proceso. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
^ Ramales Osorio, M.C. "MÉXICO: FRAUDES ELECTORALES, AUTORITARISMO Y REPRESIÓN Del Estado benefactor al Estado neoliberal". Retrieved 19 August 2018.
^ Dawn.com (2012-10-19). "1990 election was rigged, rules SC". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
^ Jaraczewski, Jakub; Chutnik, Sylwia; Orliński, Wojciech (2023-10-16). "Poland election: the opposition has claimed victory – what happens next?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
^ Applebaum, Anne (2023-10-16). "Poland Shows That Autocracy Is Not Inevitable". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
^ Kirby, Jen (2023-10-14). "Poland's democracy is on the brink. Can these elections save it?". Vox. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
^ "Poland begins to look beyond the vote, unwinding an 'Illiberal democracy'". New York Times. October 16, 2023.
^ "Portugal > History and Events > Date Table > Second Republic". www.portugal-info.net. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
^ "Alexei Navalny: Russia's jailed vociferous Putin critic". BBC News. 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
^ Cheeseman, Nicholas (2019). How to Rig an Election. Yale University Press. pp. 140–141. ISBN 978-0-300-24665-0. OCLC 1089560229.
^ Norris, Pippa; Martinez i Coma, Ferran; Grömping, Max (2015). "The Year in Elections, 2014". Election Integrity Project. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2020. The Syrian election ranked as worst among all the contests held during 2014.
^ Jones, Mark P (2018). Herron, Erik S; Pekkanen, Robert J; Shugart, Matthew S (eds.). "Presidential and Legislative Elections". The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190258658.001.0001. ISBN 9780190258658. Archived from the original on 22 January 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2020. unanimous agreement among serious scholars that... al-Assad's 2014 election... occurred within an authoritarian context.
^ "Analysis | Yes, Assad won reelection last week. But Syria's elections serve another purpose". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
^ Nohlen, p566

External links

Election Observation Handbook (6th edn 2010) by OSCE

[1] See also Ashby v White (1703) 1 Sm LC (13th Edn) 253 right to vote cannot be interfered with by a public official.

[2] It was even asserted (wrongly) by one judge that it was a principle of the English constitution that women would not vote Nairn v The University Court of the University of St Andrews (1907) 15 SLT 471, 473, per Lord McLaren, it is "a principle of the unwritten constitutional law of this country that men only were entitled to take part in the election of representatives to Parliament."

[3] See also Second Reform Act 1867 and Representation of the People Act 1883.

[4] "Elections in the Empire 1871–1918" (PDF). Deutscher Bundestag. Retrieved 26 January 2024.

[5] Peter, Jelena (1 February 2000). "Das Preußische Dreiklassenwahlrecht" [The Prussian Three-Class Franchise]. Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 26 January 2024.

[6] "The Weimar Republic (1918–1933)". Deutscher Bundestag. Retrieved 26 January 2024.

[7] J Grego, A history of parliamentary elections and electioneering in the old days (1886) 226-28

[8] Buckley v Valeo

[invalid-9] McDonald, Charlotte (2009-09-10). "Afghan commission orders first ballots invalidated". Archived from the original on April 13, 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-07.

[scrapped-10] Karzai Gets New Term as Afghan Runoff is Scrapped, The New York Times

[messy-11] Dixon, Robyn. "Obama calls Afghan election 'messy' but upholds its final outcome". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 5, 2009. Retrieved April 7, 2010.

[12] "Azerbaijan's Aliyev Secures a Fourth Term in Rigged Elections". Human Rights Foundation. 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2024-10-02.

[13] "Belarus vote 'neither free nor fair'". 2001-09-10. Retrieved 2023-01-12.

[14] "Belarus election 'neither free nor fair,' says UN human rights expert". UN News. 2015-10-13. Retrieved 2023-01-12.

[civil.ge-15] BREAKING: President Zurabishvili Rejects Election Results, Civil.ge: 27 October 2024

[16] "Official Results of 2024 Vote: What They Show". Civil Georgia. 28 October 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.

[17] Mudde, Cas (2022-04-04). "Orbán's unfair election victory makes a travesty of EU values". New Statesman. Retrieved 2023-10-16.

[j&khistory-18] Arshad, Sameer (22 November 2014). "History of electoral fraud has lessons for BJP in J&K". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 26 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.

[19] Prakash, Smita (17 November 2014). "Elections in Kashmir". Mid-Day. Retrieved 11 April 2017.

[shaped-20] Donthi, Praveen (23 March 2016). How Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Shaped The 1987 Elections In Kashmir. The Caravan.

[21] Olcott, Martha Brill (September 2010). Kazakhstan: Unfulfilled Promise. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-87003-243-1.

[22] "Hundreds more arrested as Kazakhs protest 'rigged vote'". Al Jazeera. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2024-10-02.

[23] The 1927 Presidential Elections Archived 23 February 2004 at the Wayback Machine

[24] "Las elecciones de 1929". Reconoce MX. Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2018.

[25] Gil Olmos, José. "Un siglo de fraudes". Proceso. Retrieved 19 August 2018.

[26] Ramales Osorio, M.C. "MÉXICO: FRAUDES ELECTORALES, AUTORITARISMO Y REPRESIÓN Del Estado benefactor al Estado neoliberal". Retrieved 19 August 2018.

[27] Dawn.com (2012-10-19). "1990 election was rigged, rules SC". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2023-01-12.

[28] Jaraczewski, Jakub; Chutnik, Sylwia; Orliński, Wojciech (2023-10-16). "Poland election: the opposition has claimed victory – what happens next?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-10-16.

[29] Applebaum, Anne (2023-10-16). "Poland Shows That Autocracy Is Not Inevitable". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-10-17.

[30] Kirby, Jen (2023-10-14). "Poland's democracy is on the brink. Can these elections save it?". Vox. Retrieved 2023-10-17.

[31] "Poland begins to look beyond the vote, unwinding an 'Illiberal democracy'". New York Times. October 16, 2023.

[32] "Portugal > History and Events > Date Table > Second Republic". www.portugal-info.net. Retrieved 2023-01-12.

[33] "Alexei Navalny: Russia's jailed vociferous Putin critic". BBC News. 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2023-10-16.

[34] Cheeseman, Nicholas (2019). How to Rig an Election. Yale University Press. pp. 140–141. ISBN 978-0-300-24665-0. OCLC 1089560229.

[35] Norris, Pippa; Martinez i Coma, Ferran; Grömping, Max (2015). "The Year in Elections, 2014". Election Integrity Project. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2020. The Syrian election ranked as worst among all the contests held during 2014.

[36] Jones, Mark P (2018). Herron, Erik S; Pekkanen, Robert J; Shugart, Matthew S (eds.). "Presidential and Legislative Elections". The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190258658.001.0001. ISBN 9780190258658. Archived from the original on 22 January 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2020. unanimous agreement among serious scholars that... al-Assad's 2014 election... occurred within an authoritarian context.

[37] "Analysis | Yes, Assad won reelection last week. But Syria's elections serve another purpose". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-01-12.

[DN-38] Nohlen, p566

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