PRESS BRIEFING ON ELECTORAL ASSISTANCE

Carina Perelli, Director of the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division, told correspondents today at a Headquarters press briefing, that demand for United Nations electoral assistance was growing exponentially, with the Division about to embark on a new mission to East Timor to assist in preparations for elections.

She said the Division, which was established in 1992 by the General Assembly and reports directly to the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, was involved in peace-making, peacekeeping, peace-building and development activities that included elections.  The specific responsibilities varied from the “architecture of the system” -– forward-looking planning of how to insert an electoral process in the larger context of a peacekeeping or peace-building operation -– to very focused actions, such as process assistance and technical assistance.  The Division also researched trends in electoral matters, such as integration of technology into electoral processes. 

The Division had intervened in, among others:  Haiti, Peru, Yemen, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Pakistan and Nigeria.  Last year alone, the Division had received 47 requests for assistance.  Such requests come from within the United Nations system through resident coordinators and special representatives of the Secretary-General, and from Member States.  Since

1992, it had received 222 official requests. 

Responding to questions about the United States presidential elections and the confusion in the State of Florida, Ms. Perelli said the Division had indeed looked at the technical problems that had occurred there, in order to extract a lesson.  Florida was important in the electoral field, because it had accelerated an existing trend in thinking –- which was that with the introduction of new technologies, certain problems would be solved.  In fact, many of the voting systems of the first world, where elections were not as hotly contested as they were in transition situations, were obsolete and required the incorporation of new technology. 

She warned, however, that incorporating technology also required looking at the electoral system as a whole, including updating legislation and mechanisms of control.  Florida proved that there was nothing “merely technical” in an election; that an election was highly political.  As the Division was not invited to observe the elections, she could not comment on processes, only on technical aspects.

Asked about lessons learned from the 1969 elections in Irian Jaya (Indonesia), she said that the existence of the Division was a result of “systematic learning” within the United Nations system.  One of the lessons was that the key element in United Nations involvement in an election was the “needs assessment mission”, during which experts talked to every “player” in a specific country.  After that, the mission makes recommendations to the Secretary-General on the feasibility of intervention.  “We are not in the business of rubber stamping”, she said.  Another lesson learned, from South American situations, was that elections were no longer a matter of “ballots, not bullets”, but needed to be integrated into a long-term process.

She added that the reasons for not accepting a request for assistance stemmed from limitations installed by the General Assembly.  An official request from a Member State was necessary.  A four-month lead time to an election date was necessary, because otherwise it was impossible to have a real impact on the process.  Another reason for not accepting a request might be the assessment that conditions would not be improved by the presence of the United Nations.  The Division had pulled out twice in Côte d’Ivoire, because the role of the United Nations was not clearly understood by the Government and the conditions on the ground did not justify a United Nations presence.  It was policy not to stay in a country if the process did not meet criteria set by a Member State itself.

On the situation in Haiti, she said the Division felt conditions had deteriorated there.  If there was no possibility of upholding free and fair elections, it would pull out, which sent a strong signal.  In answer to another question, she said that the Division had received a request from Chad and was assessing what was required.

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