How to hold elections safely and democratically during the COVID-19 pandemic

Birch, Sarah; Buril, Fernanda; Cheeseman, Nic; Clark, Alistair; Darnolf, Steffan; Dodsworth, Susan; Garber, Larry; Gutiérrez-Romero, Roxanna; Hollstein, Tanja; James, Toby S.; Mohan, Vasu; Sawyer, Koffi

doi:10.5871/bac19stf/9780856726507.001

Cited by 25 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…For instance, ten of the elections held soon after the lockdowns have suffered from electoral violence, which could prolong the economic downturn even further in some countries (Birch et al, 2020). None of these important considerations is directly 22 The IMF and World Bank growth projections suggest remarkably similar poverty trends, thus we present the IMF growth projections only.…”

Section: Limitations and Policy Implications Of Our Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, poor households are likely to suffer the double burden of rising levels of inequality which requires urgent tailored policies to address it. Although most of low-income and lower-income countries have implemented urgent COVID-19 welfare assistance, in some countries, these funds might be used for political clientelism, risking benefiting only a fraction of those who need it (Birch et al, 2020).…”

Section: Limitations and Policy Implications Of Our Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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COVID-19 response needs to broaden financial inclusion to curb the rise in poverty

Gutiérrez-Romero

Ahamed

2021

World Development

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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic risks wiping out years of progress made in reducing global poverty. In this paper, we explore to what extent financial inclusion could help mitigate the increase in poverty using cross-country data across 79 low- and lower-middle-income countries. Unlike other recent cross-country studies, we show that financial inclusion, particularly financial outreach, is a key driver of poverty reduction in these countries. This effect is not direct, but indirect, by mitigating the detrimental effect that inequality has on poverty. Our findings are consistent across all the different measures of poverty used and robust to instrumental variables. Our forecasts suggest that by 2021 the world’s population living on less than $5.50 dollars a day would increase by 231 million people, of which nearly 107.8 million people would be pushed into extreme poverty living on less than $1.90 per day. However, urgent improvements in financial inclusion could substantially reduce the impact on poverty.

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Section: Limitations and Policy Implications Of Our Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitations and Policy Implications Of Our Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 response needs to broaden financial inclusion to curb the rise in poverty

Gutiérrez-Romero

Ahamed

2021

World Development

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“…В умовах глобальної пандемії надзвичайно ускладнилося легітимування виборів через міжнародне спостереження як невід'ємний складник зовнішньополітичної легітимації виборів. Фахівці зі спостереження та дослідники виокремили чотири основні стратегії поведінки міжнародних спостерігачів в умовах пандемії: а) відмова від спостереження (уникнення ризиків для здоров'я, але відсутність контролю на виборах); б) застосування традиційного спостереження (безперешкодний контроль, але максимальний ризик для здоров'я та відсутність інновацій); в) працювати за допомогою експатріантів, представників діаспори, які проживають у країні (обмеження виборчих порушень і ризиків для здоров'я, рентабельність, але втрата спостережного досвіду); г) працювати віртуально, використовуючи нові методи краудсорсингу даних, або дистанційно, через нові партнерські відносини з вітчизняними групами, які виконувати роль їхніх «очей і вух» (посилення ролі внутрішніх спостерігачів, обмеження ризиків для здоров'я, але менша операційна незалежність) 31 . На початку пандемії переважала саме перша стратегія, зокрема в діяльності ОБСЄ 32 , однак відсутність документального підтвердження легітимності виборчого процесу від міжнародних спостерігачів зводить нанівець протестні можливості міжнародної спільноти у разі наявності фальсифікації виборів та за відсутності ефективного національного спостереження.…”

Section: виклад основного матеріалуunclassified

The Impact of Global Pandemic Challenges on the Legitimacy of Election and Referendum Processes

Yuriychuk¹,

Komolov

2022

ІППСС

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The legitimation aspects of elections and referendums under conditions of a global pandemic are considered. Their compliance with the legitimacy criteria aimed to ensure the quality of legitimacy and democracy of the newly formed authorities and overall political agenda are analysed. Cases of abuse of the electoral process and violation of the rights and freedoms of voters have been studied, in particular due to violations of the right to health by ignoring medical and epidemiological recommendations. Significant legitimation problems were determined in respect of trust decrease for both the electoral or referendum processes: absence of a regulatory framework for postponing and delaying of elections due to pandemic conditions is a commonplace amongst countries, their conduction with significant restrictions on suffrage; urgent adoption or addition of the legal basis that took place without involving civil society to a proper discussion; government decision-making was on the verge of balancing constitutional rights: on elections and referendums and on health; respective supervision was possible only at the national level, but only in the dedicated areas, at the international – only in moderately safe areas; it was pointed out for the need on moving to new innovative forms of voters’ registration and accountancy, candidates check, voting, and observation; in countries with authoritarian regimes, the conflict tension has increased as a result of abusing by the government of the emergency state to strengthen its position, to pressure on the opposition and media, etc. It was concluded that the pandemic highlighted existing problems in legal ground, respectively resulting in reducing of community trust level to processes of holding elections and referenda, still on the other hand – has contributed to the improvement of existing legislation and set out the task of developing new rules on addressing new challenges and emergencies: infectious, economic, climate, radiation and others, and, therefore, to ensure proper administration, financing, observation and control of elections and referendums for their legitimacy and democracy.

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“…Another set of good quality recommendations came from a group of researchers working under the auspices of The British Academy (Birch et al 2020).…”

Section: Elections and Covid-19 Transmissionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future pandemics and elections: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Central African Republic, Thana, Kenya and Tanzania

Macdonald,

Molony

2022

JAE

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Pandemics and other health crises are predicted to become more common in the future. This is likely to pose a variety of threats to electoral integrity. This article argues that, by learning lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, the negative impacts on elections of viral outbreaks and other emergencies can be mitigated in the future. It will begin by reviewing academic and grey literature on COVID-19 and elections, before presenting research findings from case study elections in Tanzania, Ghana, the Central African Republic, and Kenya. The article will highlight specific challenges facing low- and middle-income countries and argue that the protocols that were introduced in these case study countries ultimately failed to adequately ensure the safety of voters and election administrators by not addressing issues of compliance and enforcement. It will then present: 1) recommendations designed to be implemented in advance of future health crises, and 2) measures that should be taken once such emergencies are underway.

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How to hold elections safely and democratically during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 25 publications

References 0 publications

COVID-19 response needs to broaden financial inclusion to curb the rise in poverty

COVID-19 response needs to broaden financial inclusion to curb the rise in poverty

The Impact of Global Pandemic Challenges on the Legitimacy of Election and Referendum Processes

Future pandemics and elections: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Central African Republic, Thana, Kenya and Tanzania

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