The cost of South Africa's 1999 National Elections : too high a price for democracy?

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This thesis addresses the financial cost implications incurred during elections, withspecial focus on South Africa. The discussion is conducted by way of comparingSouth Africa to countries like India, Australia, Israel and Mexico.Democracy entails more than merely conducting periodic elections that are free andfair, but it cannot be less. To a large extent free and fair elections are indicative of thegoverning authority's commitment to democracy. This commitment however, doeshave financial implications. A question that is very rarely addressed relates to thefinancial cost implications that accompany this commitment. For a country such asSouth Africa with a range of other pressing socio-economic issues, the cost factorwith regard to the voting process is of vital importance.The South African electoral experience, in comparison to that of other developingcountries, is presently a very costly undertaking at a conservative average cost ofmore than US $13.00 per vote. Depending on how the expenses are calculated, thisfigure takes on hefty proportions.To an extent the tardiness on the part of the South African Government in appointingthe Electoral Commission to conduct the 1999 elections and the subsequent conflictsregarding the budgetary allocations to the Electoral Commission (EC) combined withpoor electoral planning, resulted in the EC having to resort to very expensivetechnology in order to ensure that a free and fair election would be conducted on thedate set by the President.Apart from addressing the above mentioned issues, relating to the cost expenditureduring elections, the assignment also addresses possible ways to reduce these costsincurred.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University