Enhancing election integrity : a comparative study of NGO election monitoring in the Philippines and Indonesia

Abstract

What causes variations in election integrity scores across democratic countries? A number of scholars argue that election integrity scores are influenced by regime type and economic development. Yet there are several countries that have the same regime and economic development but obtain different election integrity scores. By comparing the Philippines and Indonesia, this thesis will try to assess civil society involvement through the level of robustness of election monitoring activities by NGOs, which is considered a key factor in the variation in election integrity values in democratic countries. This is because formal election monitoring institutions are deemed incapable of maintaining free and fair elections. The robustness of an NGO is indicated by the results of its strategy implementation. The strategies used were divided into two types in this paper: new and old strategies. A new strategy is the implementation of a strategy that has never been done by an NGO before; this is characterized by collaborating with international organizations and becoming a pseudo-government partner. Meanwhile, the old strategy is a strategy usually used by NGOs to influence the quality of elections, for instance, becoming the government's antagonists or not collaborating with international organizations. By implementing the former and collaborating with international NGOs, various forms of support can be accessed as a reference and basis for the NGOs to run their election monitoring activities effectively. In addition, becoming a pseudo-government partner also makes it easier to convince the government about the importance of NGOs' presence in free and fair elections. Meanwhile, NGOs that adhere to the old strategy do not receive any support from international organizations and become enemies of the government, which causes the government to crack down on the scope of NGO involvement in election activities.