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The current state of the office of the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana can be couched as a bleeding pillar in Ghana's electoral democracy pending crisis. In spite of the numerous reform measures undertaken by the EC to improve the quality delivery of its constitutional mandate, communication deficit and the increasing monetization of parliamentary and presidential contestation poses a serious threat to broader participation and competition in Ghana's future electoral fortune. Thus, the objective of the paper was to interrogate the issues of communication inefficiencies and monetization of political contestations by the Electoral Commission of Ghana and proffer pragmatic solutions that can be taken into consideration in years ahead due to the past and recent experiences of neighbouring countries within the sub-region. The study employed the qualitative research methodology to elicit responses from 12 experts in the field of elections. Apart from the primary data generated from the field, secondary sources were consulted to situate the discussion in the existing debate in the literature. The findings of the study revealed that monetization of the political contest has negative implications for a competitive political contest--disqualification of citizens with capable minds from contesting in a multi-party democracy) whilst communication deficit was found to be deepening public distrust in the Electoral Commission of Ghana. The study, therefore, recommended among others the creation of a three-man office solely responsible for managing the commission's website and other electronic outlets, and the immediate activation and implementation of the provision in the 2020 Strategic Plan of the Electoral Commission which has remained dormant after 2016 elections.

Over the past two decades, Southern African countries have entrenched the use of elections as the only means and medium for electing governments and representative institutions in governance. Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) are central to the delivery and quality of elections. These institutions are mandated to manage most or all aspects of the electoral process. Informed by diverse factors – the design, mandate, extent of powers and even the number of institutions responsible for electoral matters vary in each country. This study is a collaborative effort between the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), the Open Society Foundation's Africa Regional Office (AfRO) and the Electoral Commissions Forum of the Southern African Development Community (ECF-SADC). For each of the 12 countries, the research covered: Comparative analysis of the legal frameworks the EMBs operate under and of the historical and political contexts they function within; Comparative study of the institutional nature of the EMBs; Assessment of the powers vested in the EMBs in the conduct and management of electoral processes and their role in the drafting of electoral laws, managing electoral operations, certifying and proclaiming electoral results, ensuring that electoral results are credible, and in resolving electoral conflicts; and Comparative assessment of the independence of the EMBs with particular reference to funding and their relationships with the executive, political parties, parliament and the judiciary (electoral justice mechanisms). Findings and recommendations from this pan-African initiative are expected to increase information and knowledge on the strengths, weaknesses and workings of EMBs in sub-Saharan Africa to facilitate peer learning among African election managers, as well as informing policy-makers, legislators, governments and civil society on a progressive reform agenda to strengthen inclusive electoral processes and democratic practice.

Institutional strengthening of Electoral Commission is a model to increase voter participation in 2020 Medan Mayoral Elections. Purpose of activities in improving voter participation through; First, describe trend of voter participation in Medan. Second, explain the Readiness of the Medan Municipal Election Commission in 2020 Regional Head Elections. Third, explaining institutional strengthening of Electoral Commission in increasing voter participation in Medan. Method of implementation of activities through a panel discussion with Blended learning based on webinars, and face-to-face with Selection Committee of Medan District. Results of devotion show; First, trend voter participation in regional head elections tends to be low, so a social and cultural approach is needed in increasing participation in Medan. Second, readiness of Medan Municipal Election Commission in the 2020 regional elections is readiness of human resources, socialization, participation and adaptation of new normal life. Third, institutional strengthening of Electoral Commission in increasing voter participation should be done to Ad Hoc institutions such as District Election Committee, Voting Committee, Voter Data Update Officer and Voting Organizing Group to better understand duties, functions and protocols of health. In addition, new innovations in political socialization and political education through information technology media provide public awareness and increase voter participation

The structure of election administration is a crucial component of the democratic project of any state. In Nigeria, it is widely acknowledged that the structural character of the country's election management body –the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has over the years become the focal points at which elections are compromised. With insights from interviews and focused group discussion; conducted amongst INEC commissioners, staff and representatives of political parties within the period: 2009-2011, this paper is a graphic analysis of how the structure of INEC complicates the election administration process and democratic sustainability in Nigeria.

In most of developing countries such as Ghana electioneering process normally results in election fraud such as double registration and other forms of election drawbacks during registration of voters and casting of votes by eligible voters. In the just ended Ghanaian election, electronic biometric registration and verification system was introduced during the registration and verification of voters. It was observed on the elections day that some of the genuine registered voters were not recognised by the biometric machine. However, the CI 75 which is the document that gives the rules and regulations pertaining to the Ghana elections indicated that no verification by biometric machine of a voter no vote from the voter. This means that before a voter could be allowed to cast his / her vote the biometric machine was supposed to recognize him/her first. Surprisingly, some of the eligible voters were disfranchised from voting which is against the constitutional rights of every Ghanaian who had reached the age of eighteen at the time of the registration of voters. Furthermore, some citizens that are physically challenged with no fingers were also denied the opportunities of exercising their franchise because the system used for the registration made use of fingerprint only. A Multi-scan biometric system is proposed to assist citizens that are physically challenged to cast their votes as well as to eradicate the problem of eligible registered voters disfranchised by the current biometric system. This paper proposes a multi scan system that allows citizens to use different parts of their bodies to go through the registration and verification process instead of their fingerprints alone as in the case of Ghana electioneering process. The introduction of this proposed system for general elections is expected to create room for full participation of all eligible voters, eliminate multiple voting and also increase the confidence of the people in Ghana in the electioneering process.

The thrust of this paper is the transitional process from paper ballot to electronic voting in the management of Nigeria elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Managing election in Nigeria has been faced with a hurricane of interests from politicians, electoral commission and also the public. This paper has attempted to take a theoretical discourse on why the transition process in adopting full electronic voting in Nigeria has been node-diving. This paper addressed the problem of credibility by officials of the INEC in declaring election results and will also examine the level of acceptance of the technology or Model initiated by INEC in the conduct of elections. The paper utilized secondary sources of data collection. The Technology innovation theory was used to explain the concept of transition. We further recommend that Paper-trail backup must accompany Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in the conduct of elections; Government should ensure various institutions responsible for the success of EVM is properly funded; Governments and electoral management bodies in developing nations should improve computer literacy rate among citizens due to technophobia that exists within them. We further concluded that Nigeria as a country should ensure that movement through its transition process in the quest for credibility and transparency in the conduct of elections should be a creeping approach rather than a forceful one. Key Words: Independent Electoral Commission, manual voting, electronic voting machine, Technology innovation theory

ABSTRACT: The paper explores the implications of the alleged administrative infractions at Ghana's Electoral Commission. We combine qualitative and quantitative approaches to address the issue as follows. First, we employ machine learning techniques to express the sentiment of Ghanaians towards the Commission using Facebook comments from different public sources. Second, we use data from an online survey to examine the propensity of Ghanaians to vote in future elections. The sentiment analysis allowed for the comparison of favourable, unfavourable and neutral Facebook comments and showed that 40 percent of comments were unfavourable whereas the neutral and favourable accounted for 27 and 33 percent respectively. However, the quantitative analysis showed that those respondents who see the Commission as the reason for the previous peaceful elections have a significant and positive propensity to vote in 2020 elections. Similarly, those respondents who see magnanimity of the Ghanaian as the reason for the many peaceful polls are more likely to vote in 2020 elections. It is worth noting, however, that the redeeming of the image of the Commission is imperative as the impasse has dwindled public faith in the Commission significantly.

This report is an in-depth study of electoral commissions in six countries of West Africa – Benin, Cape Verde, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone – assessing their contribution in strengthening political participation in the region. As institutions that apply the rules governing elections, electoral management bodies (EMBs) have occupied, over the last two decades, the heart of discussion and practice on the critical question of effective citizen participation in the public affairs of their countries. The way in which they are established and the effectiveness of their operations have continued to preoccupy those who advocate for competitive elections, while reforms to the EMBs have taken centre stage in more general political reforms. Election Management Bodies in West Africa thus responds to the evident need for more knowledge about an institution that occupies a more and more important place in the political process in West Africa. Based on documentary research and detailed interviews in each country, the study provides a comparative analysis which highlights the similarities and differences in the structure and operations of each body, and attempts to establish the reasons for their comparative successes and failures.

The characteristic of a democratic country is implementation of election. In Indonesia it has include in national and local levels. Local elections held simultaneously in 2015, 2017 and 2018. One of the city conducting the election is Yogyakarta City. In the specifically this research explain about electoral governance in electoral integrity perspective. All stages of election which consists of pre-election, election period and post-election. This research use qualitative research method through interview and documentation. The results of this study indicated that electoral governance in Yogyakarta City has integrity in accordance with the principles of electoral integrity applied in the stages of election implementation include pre-election, election process and post-election. In this research are not use all of the indicators to analyse the stages of election. This is because adjusted with the findings of research with information obtained through several sources. The first, at the planning and program, the indicators analyse include the implementation of democratic principles, transparency and accountability. The second, socialization and voter information, indicators analyse include the implementation of democratic principles, transparency and professionalism. The third, campaigns, indicators analyse include transparency, accountability, code of ethics and supervision. The fourth, voting and vote counting, the indicators analyse include democratic principle, professionalism, institutional safeguards and supervision. The fifth, the resolution of election disputes, indicators analyse are ethical codes and accountability.

Electoral integrity is increasingly being recognized as an important component of democracy, yet scholars still have limited understanding of the circumstances under which elections are most likely to be free, fair and genuine. This paper posits that effective oversight institutions play a key role in scrutinizing the electoral process and holding those with an interest in the electoral outcome to account. The main insight of this paper is that deficiencies in formal electoral management can be effectively compensated for via one or more other institutional checks: an active and independent judiciary, an active and independent media and/or an active and independent civil society. Flawed elections are most likely to take place when all four checks on electoral conduct fail in key ways. These hypotheses are tested and supported on a cross-national time-series dataset of 1,047 national-level elections held in 156 electoral regimes between 1990 and 2012.

During the local self-government elections that took place in 2018 in Poland, for the first time regional electoral commissions for conducting voting in the circuit and regional electoral commissions for determining the results of voting in the circuit appeared. Both electoral commissions are appointed by the appropriate electoral commissioner from among the voters. The tasks of the regional electoral commission for voting in the circuit include conducting voting in the circuit and ensuring that the election law is observed in the place and time of voting. However, the tasks of the regional electoral commission for determining the results of voting in the circuit include determining the results of voting in the circuit, making them public and sending the results of voting to the appropriate electoral commission. The introduction, by the legislator, of regional electoral commissions for conducting voting in the circuit and regional electoral commissions for determining the results of voting in the circuit should be assessed positively. However, the legal position of both committees certainly requires changes to be made by the legislator. ; W czasie wyborów samorządowych, które odbyły się w Polsce w 2018 r., po raz pierwszy zafunkcjonowały obwodowe komisje wyborcze ds. przeprowadzenia głosowania w obwodzie i obwodowe komisje wyborcze ds. ustalenia wyników głosowania w obwodzie. Obie komisje wyborcze powołuje spośród wyborców właściwy komisarz wyborczy. Do zadań obwodowej komisji wyborczej ds. przeprowadzenia głosowania w obwodzie należy przeprowadzenie głosowania w obwodzie oraz czuwanie w dniu wyborów nad przestrzeganiem prawa wyborczego w miejscu i czasie głosowania. Natomiast do zadań obwodowej komisji wyborczej ds. ustalenia wyników głosowania w obwodzie należy ustalenie wyników głosowania w obwodzie i podanie ich do publicznej wiadomości oraz przesłanie wyników głosowania do właściwej komisji wyborczej. Wprowadzenie przez ustawodawcę obwodowych komisji wyborczych ds. przeprowadzenia głosowania w obwodzie oraz obwodowych komisji wyborczych ds. ustalenia wyników głosowania w obwodzie należy ocenić pozytywnie. Z pewnością jednak pozycja prawna obu komisji wymaga wprowadzenia przez ustawodawcę zmian.

This report is an in-depth study of electoral commissions in six countries of West Africa - Benin, Cape Verde, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone - assessing their contribution in strengthening political participation in the region. As institutions that apply the rules governing elections, electoral management bodies (EMBs) have occupied, over the last two decades, the heart of discussion and practice on the critical question of effective citizen participation in the public affairs of their countries. The way in which they are established and the effectiveness of their operations have continued to preoccupy those who advocate for competitive elections, while reforms to the EMBs have taken centre stage in more general political reforms. Election Management Bodies in West Africa thus responds to the evident need for more knowledge about an institution that occupies a more and more important place in the political process in West Africa. Based on documentary research and detailed interviews in each country, the study provides a comparative analysis which highlights the similarities and differences in the structure and operations of each body, and attempts to establish the reasons for their comparative successes and failures.

The management of elections is increasingly generating impassioned debate in these East African nations - Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The bodies that manage and conduct elections are, therefore, coming under intense citizen and stakeholder scrutiny for the manner in which they are composed, how they organise and perform their mandates, and the outcomes they achieve. The effectiveness of electoral management bodies (EMBs) has largely been influenced by the impact of political violence on election management reforms in East Africa. Even in countries where EMBs are the products of reforms initiated in the aftermath of violent disputes over elections, they still face enormous challenges in dealing with electoral disputes and anticipating election-related crises. Although changes to constitutions and the laws in these countries have sought to make EMBs independent and, therefore, more inclined to deliver free, fair and credible elections, there are many issues that determine their impartiality and their ability to allow for the aggregation and free expression of the will of the people. These shortcomings negatively impact on democracy. This volume assembles case studies on the capacity of EMBs in these five East African countries to deliver democratic and transparent elections.

The article deals with voter bribery cases in terms of electoral law. A particular focus of research is drawn on the factual situation of this phenomenon of political corruption in Lithuania, the state of legal regulation and problems of its practical application, challenges being faced by institutions and society when seeking for transparent and democratic elections and appropriately legitimate formation of political representative institutions or an outcome of question solved by a referendum. The author is analysing whether currently invoked control, reaction and anticorruption measures are suffcient and contribute towards efective implementation of provisions of electoral (referendum) laws foreseeing prohibition to bribe voters and persons eligible to vote. The samples of voter bribery cases are presented in order to illustrate how differently content of prohibition to bribe voters and persons eligible to vote is perceived by subjects to whom it is addressed and main institution, i. e. the Central Electoral Commission, which conducts control of its observation. As well it is analysed why in Lithuania this illegal form of electoral agitation is still popular, despite sanctions being applied and certain preventive activity being carried out. Prohibition to bribe voters and persons eligible to vote to Lithuanian electoral laws was introduced in 2005, but such practice is still popular among participants of political campaigns and persons related to them, while "electoral agitation" of such kind itself takes on new and more sophisticated forms, which are "resistant" for relevant identification and qualification. There are several factors influencing this. Firstly, preventive mechanisms do not work properly or are applied too moderately. Secondly, legal regulation in this field is partly inconsistent or ambiguous, therefore some of violations are programmed automatically. In this respect the situation should change after adoption of Elections Code. Thirdly, the Central Electoral Commission does not possess enough control measures and its pratice not in all cases is consistent or reasonable. Fourthly, sanctions foreseen in electoral laws for violations of prohibition to bribe voters and persons eligible to vote not in all cases are applied properly. However, principled position of the Constitutional Court, increasing civil society involvement in democratic process and stricter attitude of the Central Electoral Commission during political campaigns presupposes that recently more and more investigations concerning potential bribery of voters and persons eligible to vote are being carried out. Although the number of violations detected is relatively constant, the situation is improving and more frequently violations are of a nature which does not require to apply ultima ratio sanction of elimination, which could be questioned in the light of legal-democratic efficiency

The article deals with voter bribery cases in terms of electoral law. A particular focus of research is drawn on the factual situation of this phenomenon of political corruption in Lithuania, the state of legal regulation and problems of its practical application, challenges being faced by institutions and society when seeking for transparent and democratic elections and appropriately legitimate formation of political representative institutions or an outcome of question solved by a referendum. The author is analysing whether currently invoked control, reaction and anticorruption measures are suffcient and contribute towards efective implementation of provisions of electoral (referendum) laws foreseeing prohibition to bribe voters and persons eligible to vote. The samples of voter bribery cases are presented in order to illustrate how differently content of prohibition to bribe voters and persons eligible to vote is perceived by subjects to whom it is addressed and main institution, i. e. the Central Electoral Commission, which conducts control of its observation. As well it is analysed why in Lithuania this illegal form of electoral agitation is still popular, despite sanctions being applied and certain preventive activity being carried out. Prohibition to bribe voters and persons eligible to vote to Lithuanian electoral laws was introduced in 2005, but such practice is still popular among participants of political campaigns and persons related to them, while "electoral agitation" of such kind itself takes on new and more sophisticated forms, which are "resistant" for relevant identification and qualification. There are several factors influencing this. Firstly, preventive mechanisms do not work properly or are applied too moderately. Secondly, legal regulation in this field is partly inconsistent or ambiguous, therefore some of violations are programmed automatically. In this respect the situation should change after adoption of Elections Code. Thirdly, the Central Electoral Commission does not possess enough control measures and its pratice not in all cases is consistent or reasonable. Fourthly, sanctions foreseen in electoral laws for violations of prohibition to bribe voters and persons eligible to vote not in all cases are applied properly. However, principled position of the Constitutional Court, increasing civil society involvement in democratic process and stricter attitude of the Central Electoral Commission during political campaigns presupposes that recently more and more investigations concerning potential bribery of voters and persons eligible to vote are being carried out. Although the number of violations detected is relatively constant, the situation is improving and more frequently violations are of a nature which does not require to apply ultima ratio sanction of elimination, which could be questioned in the light of legal-democratic efficiency