Magister Commercii - MCom / This thesis provides an in-depth explorative case study of the relationship between electoral management and civil rights, using the 2013 Tlokwe By-Elections in South Africa as a case study. The central question in this thesis was: what are the implications of the Tlokwe Ruling on South Africa’s electoral democracy? This topic is extremely important to the field of democracy and elections, as electoral processes become ever more essential in allowing citizens to access free and fair elections. Without the ability to access free and fair elections, the power of citizens to hold leaders accountable is diminished. The study used the framework provided by Diamond and Morlino on the quality of democracy because it contains useful normative values of a democracy and assisted in providing a lens by which to view and analyse elections in a democratic regime.

"Election management bodies (EMBs) have thus been established throughout the world with the responsibility of administering elctions. However, merely creating a body to administer elections does not create public conficence and integrity in the electoral process. The establishment and operation of such a body must meet the key requirements of credible election administration. One such requirement is the need for the EMB to be independent of any party. The independence of the EMB is said, by and large, to attract the confidence of all the stakeholders in the electoral process and create integrity in the process. ... However, as one scholar has observed, the lack of autonomy of EMBs from the government in some African countries is one of the major challenges to the credibility of the electoral process on the continent. It is important to note at this point that the independence of EMBs, though not in itself a guarantee of free and fair elections, determines to a large extent the overall legitimacy and acceptability of an elected government by the electorate. Flowing from this discourse is the need for the independence of EMBs in Africa, both in theory and practice, in order to enhance democracy on the continent. ... Kenya and South Africa have established EMBs to manage elections in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Organisation for African Unity/African Union (OAU/AU) Declaration of 2002. The Kenyan EMB has been in existence since 1991. Recently, the issue of its indpendence has become a central focus in a raging national debate on minimum constitutional reforms in Kenya. Similarly, the independence of the South African EMB, though believed to be sufficiently safeguarded, has also come to be questioned. These institutions play a crucial role in the democratisation processes in both countries, and one of the ways of achieving this goal, is by ensuring their independence from the political process. This study proposes to examine the independenct of the two EMBs and proposes ways of strengthening them with a view to enhancing the work of democracy in both countries. ... Chapter one introduces the study and the problem statement that has prompted the study. Chapter two analyses the concept of independence of EMBs. It also discusses the justification for their independence. A comparative analysis of the independence of EMBs of Kenya and South Africa is the subject of chapter three. Chapter four proposes to discuss the ways of further strengthening the indpendence of EMBs of Kenya and South Africa. The fifth and final chapter proffers conclusions and recommendations." -- Introduction. / Prepared under the supervision of Mr. Kingsley Kofi Kuntunkrunku Ampofo at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The basic problem in this study is to determine whether the electoral management body (EMB) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is sufficiently independent and whether it complies with most of the criteria of an ideal independent EMB in order to conduct free and fair elections in the promotion of democracy in the DRC. However, an ideal type of an independent EMB is not easily realizable but Ghana’s electoral commission (EC) is widely regarded as a model of an independent EMB in Africa. Therefore, this study uses the EC as a workable ideal type of independent EMB that informs this study in assessing the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI)’s level of independence. The study discovered that while the formal legal framework guarantee the independence of the CENI, it lacks practical independence due to certain factors which include the mode of appointment and composition of the body, the unstable security of tenure of its members, the negative influence of the judiciary, executive and the parliament over the functioning of the CENI, and the lack of adequate funding. The study argues that the composition of the CENI has to be depoliticized; its members should enjoy a strong security of tenure and the issue of political parties funding should be effective and handled by the CENI in order to enhance political competitiveness in the electoral process. An adequate funding should be timely realized so that the CENI carries out its work with autonomy. The judiciary, the parliament and the executive should support the growth of democracy in the DRC by allowing the CENI to work without the interference of any quarter. / African Centre for Arts, Culture and Heritage Studies / M.A. (African Politics)