The case for an electoral commission

A recent report by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht sets out its support for the establishment of an electoral commission.

In January 2015, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government published a consultation paper on the establishment of an electoral commission in Ireland. In January 2016, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht produced a report highlighting the key issues, policies and actions recommended throughout the consultation process.

Policy rationale

The vast majority of submissions to the consultation process recommended that an electoral commission, accountable to the Houses of the Oireachtas be established.

The consultation submissions highlighted a relatively high level of trust in electoral administration and management in Ireland. However almost all submissions noted that areas such as the reform of the electoral process, the absence of centralised election results and data and the lack of transparency in the accounts of political parties need urgent attention.

Reform is seen as an urgent priority for many. However, with no one actor responsible for devising and pioneering a reform agenda in the area of electoral policy a perception that any government’s objectives are party political can present further obstacles to the advancement of electoral reform.

Taking these factors into consideration the report states the key policy rationales for the establishment of an electoral commission are to drive forward reforms that will address the various electoral administration and policy issues. It will also bring a cohesion and co-ordination to the approach to policy and operational matters in an attempt to improve the administration of elections and the electorate.

Functions

The report details the functions that the committee would like to see transferred to an electoral commission. High on the list is the function of registrar of political parties, which is currently performed by the Clerk of the Dáil.

Similarly, the policy and operational role of the Franchise section of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government should be moved to the electoral commission. This would allow for a broadening and strengthening of the gaps identified in electoral policy planning and development. The committee does however acknowledge the necessity of ensuring that the department maintains a role in the development of legislation and the provision of advice to the Minister.

At present the regulation of political funding and expenditure is carried out by the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) at national level and local authorities at local level. However, proposed legislation to establish a new Office of the Public Sector Standards Commissioner will see the SIPO’s supervisory function transferred to this new office. With this change, the report recommends that the electoral commission be given sufficient powers and resources to carry out supervision of political finance at national and local levels.

It also states that the functions of the referendum commission should be transferred to the electoral commission. It does however advise the Government to ensure that the referendum commission is a separate section within the electoral commission and that a designated person acts as its spokesperson for referendum campaigns. Also amongst the recommendations is the plan to transfer the functions of the constituency commission and local boundary committees to the electoral commission. However, when considering the electoral register the committee was hesitant to assign responsibility until the process of the register’s compilation is defined.

With regards to the organisation of elections and referendums, the report recommends that operational responsibility for organising General and European elections remain with the Returning Officers. Despite this it suggests that the electoral commission be given a statutory remit to oversee and monitor the performance of Returning Officers and local authorities.

Independence

To ensure that the electoral commission can effectively drive political reform, free from partisan motivations the committee wants to ensure that legislation is enacted that will allow it to perform its statutory duties independent from Government and establish a process of appointment that maximises the independence of its members.

Two broad models of appointment have been devised, they are:

•   Model A: that ex-officio members are appointed by virtue of their current post;

•   Model B: that members are appointed on the basis of expertise and experience, with these criteria clearly set out in the legislation, and with at least one member appointed primarily for his/her impartiality (e.g. a Judge).

With such independence comes the need to ensure the accountability of the electoral commission. The report includes a list of recommendations to ensure its accountability, including the provisions that the head of the electoral commission is required to come before an Oireachtas Committee on request to discuss its performance of its statutory duties. It also recommends that the commission’s Accounting Officer is made accountable to Comptroller and Auditor General and the Dáil Public Accounts Committee.

With the funding for the electoral commission likely to come from both non-voted and voted expenditure, the report advises that there are different accountability mechanism available to the Oireachtas Committee. For non-voted expenditure, the Department of Finance (DoF) and the Department for Public Expenditure and Reform suggest that the Head of the Electoral Commission should be considered the accounting officer and provide the DoF with the information for the publication of the Central Fund accounts.

For voted expenditure, the committee deem it desirable that performance indicators and targets cover the range of the work and tasks of the commission. It also states that the commission should set key performance targets including targets in the process of the electoral register, targets associated with customer satisfaction and targets focused on the cost effectiveness of tasks overseen by the commission but undertaken by others.

Establishment and cost

To maintain the political momentum for reform of the electoral administration, a phased approach to its establishment that avoids a duplication of roles and functions is recommended. Similarly, the avoidance of a ‘Big Bang’ approach that could put at risk trust in the integrity of the electoral process.

There are a few ways in which the establishment of an electoral commission could take place but the committee recommends that regardless of approach, a timetable for the full transition be agreed and set out in legislation.

Concerning the cost of the electoral commission the report references international evidence that suggests electoral commissions can be a cost-effective way to manage and administer elections, but notes that cost saving, especially in the short term cannot be assumed. The committee advises that in order to facilitate the scrutiny of the proposed Bill to establish an electoral commission, it would be useful if the Government simultaneously published an estimate of the effect of the Bill on the cost of electoral administration.

The report concludes by calling on the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to finalise proposals for an electoral commission which can be debated in the near future.