Implementation of the Recommendations of International Electoral Observation Missions: Problems of Enforcement | South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences
Implementation of the Recommendations of International Electoral Observation Missions: Problems of Enforcement
Vol. 22 (2021) No. 2, Political Institutions and Processes
Vol. 22 (2021) No. 2
Political Institutions and Processes

Implementation of the Recommendations of International Electoral Observation Missions: Problems of Enforcement

Morozova O.S.
Ryazan State University named after S. A. Yesenin
ORCID ID 0000-0003-3587-0471
PDF (Russian)
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-22-2-74-86
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-22-2-74-86

How to Cite Array

Morozova O.S. (2021) Implementation of the Recommendations of International Electoral Observation Missions: Problems of Enforcement. South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences, 22 (2), pp. 74-86. DOI: 10.31429/26190567-22-2-74-86 (In Russian)
Submission Date 2021-06-10
Accepted Date 2021-06-24
Published Date 2021-12-09

Copyright (c) 2021 Оксана Сергеевна Морозова

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

International election observation is one of the most visible forms of democracy promotion. Observer missions are organized by international governmental and non-governmental organizations and have grown significantly over the past two decades. The question arises, however, as to the extent to which the recommendations proposed by the electoral observer missions are being implemented. The purpose of the article is to study the problems and prospects of transposition of recommendations of international observers into the practice of elections. The study found out that, despite the large number of international election observers, not all of them have paid detailed attention to the immediate post-election period in their declarations and guidelines. Monitoring and assessing the success of the recommendations of election observation missions continues to be the subject of analysis by research centers and individual authors. However, despite the extensive empirical evidence, the implementation of the recommendations of the observers in the post-election period has been the subject of research by a rather narrow circle of specialists. Most of them are concerned about only one region, such as the Americas or Africa. An assessment of the time frame for the implementation of the recommendations of international missions into the electoral process showed that they were far from being implemented immediately. The most rapid and successful implementation of the recommendations related to voter registration. The implementation rates of recommendations relating to the funding of election campaigns or the political integration of women and other minorities are significantly lower. International election observers do not have sufficient capacity to encourage or support the types of campaigns needed to implement more complex recommendations. This suggests the need for a closer link between international election observation and the broader democracy assistance community, which would provide more space for such work over a longer period of time.

Keywords

international level of administration of the electoral process, observers, international election observation, recommendations of missions

Acknowledgements

The research was done within the framework of the RFFR Grant 19-011-00484 “International Management Level in the Field of Electoral Process”.

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