International team to monitor the vote
Six-person mission to file report on impact of new electoral laws
An international observer mission has set down in Ottawa to monitor and report on the federal election — including whether controversial changes to Canada’s election law help or hurt the democratic process.
The six-person mission, deployed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), is the first to monitor a Canadian election in nearly a decade. It was prompted by concern inside Canada over changes introduced by the Conservative government’s controversial Fair Elections Act.
“The legislative framework is a key part of any election process. It’s the rules of the game,” said mission leader Hannah Roberts, a British national who has monitored elections in 30 countries.
“As we know, there have been some changes here in Canada, and there are different views about those changes. So our job is, in part, to come and look at that legal framework and be looking at how it works in practice, to see what issues come up.”
Canada is one of 57 members of the OSCE, which is billed as the world’s largest security-oriented organization. As such, it has agreed to allow election observer missions into the country whenever the OSCE decides to send one. The last such mission was in 2006.
Besides Roberts, the other members of the team come from Mongolia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia and the United States. They are lawyers, academics, former United Nations officials and election administrators. One is an expert on gender issues, while another is focused on minority and aboriginal issues.
The team’s skill set is directly related to concerns that came up when the OSCE sent a fact-finding mission in May to determine whether to actually watch this election, Roberts said. Those included whether some voters would have trouble casting ballots because of new voter identification rules.
The OSCE also is conducting large-scale monitoring missions in Ukraine and Belarus, where hundreds of observers are watching how the actual voting goes on election day. The mission to Canada is much smaller and will focus instead on big-picture issues such as campaign financing and election administration.
Roberts said the fact-finding mission showed many Canadians wanted an independent, impartial assessment of the election, given widespread concerns about the Fair Elections Act. She said interest has been reflected in the welcome her team has received since arriving in the country last week.
“Clearly there are some political divisions around, and different views on, the appropriateness of the changes,” she said. “So we’ve been very much encouraged so far by how much people have welcomed having an independent view on this that has no stake in the process.”
Roberts said her team’s ultimate goal is to determine whether the election is being held in accordance with international norms and standards, with a view to ensuring voters have confidence in the process.
“An election is a political process, and part of that is about acceptance of an outcome,” she said. “Therefore having confidence in the process contributes to then being able to accept the outcome.”
The OSCE team was at election stations in Ottawa over the weekend to watch advance polling, and will be visiting Toronto and Winnipeg over the next few days to meet and interview local campaigns, civil society groups and voters. The team hopes to meet with senior officials from all the main parties.
There could be interest in the mission’s final report no matter which party wins on Oct. 19, as it could validate — or dismiss — criticisms about the Fair Elections Act. A final report isn’t expected until several weeks after the election.
“We are purely looking at the election process,” Roberts said.
“It’s really the mechanics and dynamics we’re looking at, as opposed to the content.”
Clearly there are some political divisions around, and different views on, the appropriateness of the changes.