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The OAS-CARICOM Joint Electoral Observation Mission (JEOM) calls on the National Bureau for Electoral Complaints and Challenges (BCEN) to carry out their responsibilities with integrity and impartiality

The efforts to improve the second round of the presidential and legislative elections affect not only the organization of Election Day and the tabulation of votes but also the complaints and challenge phase of the electoral process. Accordingly, two documents containing recommendations to improve the procedural aspects of the complaints and challenge phase have been considered by the Provisional Electoral Commission (CEP). The first document is entitled “Application of the innovative procedure for the complaints and challenges related to the results of the second round of the elections of 20 March 2011”, and the second, “Applicable procedure for the electoral complaints and challenges bureaux”. These two documents were posted on the CEP web site on 2 April 2011 and were the basis for the training on 28 March 2011 of the Presidents of the Department Electoral Bureaux (BEDs) and later the CEP Commissioners.

The essential objective of this innovative procedure is to establish the formal conditions that should be observed in receiving the submissions addressed to the complaints and challenges bureaux, to describe briefly the handling of the dispute during the public sessions, and to explain how the validity of the challenge submitted by the complainant is determined. The intent of these procedural rules is to guarantee a minimum of procedural impartiality and, as a consequence, to confer greater legitimacy to those elected and to the overall electoral process.

Notwithstanding the above, taking into account the number of decisions taken to refer matters to the National Bureau for Electoral Complaints and Challenges (BCEN), it would appear that a large proportion of the Departmental Bureaux for Electoral Complaints and Challenges (BCEDs) acted as registration offices for the requests submitted instead of seeking to establish the veracity of the allegations made by the complainant and taking a decision which could be overturned by the higher instance.

The Mission calls on the members of the National Bureau for Electoral Complaints and Challenges (BCEN) to carry out the disputes process with integrity and transparency in order to guarantee procedural fairness. To attain these objectives it would be useful to implement a lottery draw to determine the selection of judges for the two electoral tribunals. In like manner, the verification of the results-sheets questioned by the complainant would help increase the credibility and legitimacy of the process while at the same time guaranteeing the neutrality and fairness of those involved. The quality of the decisions taken by the BCEN would in this way validate the efforts undertaken to improve the organization of the second round of the presidential and legislative elections and the tabulation of the votes.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-626/11