Humayun Kabir, a secretary at the Bangladesh Election Commission Secretariat, shares his experience in the 2008 Bangladeshi election. He talks about many aspects of the electoral process and how the newly constituted Election Commission dealt with them between February 2007 and December 2008. He details the voter-registration and boundary-delimitation processes and the multiple challenges the commission faced in accomplishing these tasks. He also highlights successful innovations such as the photographic voter registry and the use of transparent ballot boxes, which he credits with limiting post-election violence in 2008.
At the time of this interview, Humayun Kabir was a secretary of the Bangladesh Election Commission Secretariat. He joined the commission in 2007, shortly after it had undergone a significant restructuring exercise in response to the postponement of the 2007 Bangladeshi election. Prior to joining the Election Commission he was the managing director of the national insurance corporation, Sadharan Bima Corp. He also worked as joint secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, as deputy secretary of the Cabinet and in various capacities at other Bangladeshi ministries.
In this interview, Vincent Crabbe discusses his experience confronting the many challenges of ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections. One of the chief obstacles to transparent elections is the compilation of a reliable voter registry. For instance, in the absence of birth certificates and other forms of identification, he notes the difficulty of ascertaining whether a voter is of legal voting age. Other obstacles to compiling the lists include the fact that multiple individuals have the same name. Crabbe explains key reforms to Ghana’s elections process that he believes are transferrable to other countries, including see-through ballot boxes and counting ballots at polling stations to reduce the likelihood of tampering with while en route to counting centers. Finally, Crabbe sheds light on what he believes are the key attributes required for an electoral commissioner.
At the time of this interview, Vincent Crabbe was the co-chairman of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers, which monitored all aspects of public elections in Ghana. Decades earlier, Crabbe established the country’s Electoral Commission. In 1968, he was appointed interim electoral commissioner. In this role, he oversaw the 1969 democratic elections that brought an end to military rule. Crabbe's status as interim electoral commissioner was equivalent to that of a judge on the Court of Appeals. He also served as the chairman of the Constituent Assembly for the drafting of Ghana's 1979 Constitution, as parliamentary counsel and constitutional adviser to the Ugandan government, and as director of the Commonwealth Secretariat Scheme for Legislative Draftsmen for the West, East, Southern and Central Africa Regions and the Caribbean Region. He also drafted the Guiding Principles for UNESCO in the field of Education, Scientific and Cultural Exchanges. He taught at the International Law Development Centre in Rome, Italy, and was a professor of legislative drafting at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados.
Magnus Öhman discusses Sierra Leone’s 2007 elections. He explains the considerations necessary during election sequencing, the current legal and constitutional framework for elections in Sierra Leone, and the various successes and challenges of Sierra Leone’s recent elections. He describes the responsibilities of the National Electoral Commission, the legal framework that governs it, and its successes and challenges. He also explains the training of poll workers, the boundary delimitation process, voter registration, and the various safeguards against fraud during both registration and voting. Öhman also touches on the development of political parties in Sierra Leone, problems with the involvement of donor countries and international organizations, and the role of the media in elections.
At the time of this interview, Magnus Öhman was the country director of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in Sierra Leone, a position he had held since 2007. Öhman began working with IFES in 2005, after receiving a doctorate in political science from the University of Uppsala in Sweden. He worked on political-party and campaign-finance issues from the 1990s, with a focus on disclosure processes, public funding systems and sustainable solutions. He worked with political finance initiatives in a series of countries including Afghanistan, Armenia, Georgia, Indonesia, Liberia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe. He was the lead author of the political-finance module in the BRIDGE curriculum, considered the industry standard on training in elections, democracy and governance.
Albert Kofi Arhin discusses the biggest challenges of conducting elections in Ghana. He details the process of drawing up a timetable for the elections. He explains the issues surrounding elections funding and the steps Ghana is taking to make them more affordable. Arhin also discusses staff recruiting and training, elections monitoring, boundary delimitation, and voter registration. He then focuses on fraud prevention, both in the registration process and during the elections themselves, and security issues. Arhin also touches on the Electoral Commission’s relationship with the media, discusses voter education, and offers advice for other countries conducting difficult elections.
At the time of this interview, Albert Kofi Arhin was the director of operations for the Electoral Commission of Ghana, a position he had held since 1998.
Frances Johnson-Morris describes her involvement in the 2005 Liberian general elections as the chairwoman of the National Election Commission (NEC). She provides insight into the decision to overhaul and restructure the old Elections Commission and shares the challenges faced by the NEC in ensuring the credibility of the elections. Johnson-Morris details the problem of working in an election environment involving multiple international stakeholders. Describing the process of scheduling the elections, she also stresses the importance of establishing and adhering to a strict timeline. She further outlines how the credibility of the NEC was bolstered by its independence from the government and the transparency of the entire election process. Johnson-Morris goes on to describe the particular successes of the election, citing the overwhelming turnout of voters as an example. She also discusses the recruitment of the election staff and comments on training, monitoring and payment strategies. She further identifies the provision of adequate resources as crucial to the success of any election. She concludes by emphasizing the importance of election planning and the need for those involved in electoral decision making to ensure that both their character and actions remain above reproach.
At the time of this interview, Frances Johnson-Morris was Liberia's minister of commerce and industry, having taken office in 2007. She served as the chairwoman of the National Elections Commission in Monrovia during the 2005 elections. A lawyer by profession, Johnson-Morris was appointed as minister of justice in 2006, simultaneously holding the office of attorney general. In 1997, she was also the chief justice of the Supreme Court. She was the national director of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Liberia from 2004 to 2005. She was also a resident circuit judge from 1989-1997. Johnson-Morris holds a degree in law from the Louis Arthur Grimmes School of Law, Monrovia, as well as a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Liberia, Monrovia.
