The more sophisticated election-robbers will prepare the playing field prior to an election while refraining from crude stunts like arresting candidates, beating up opposition voters or burning ballots:

“My old boss once said, ‘Only amateurs steal an election on election day,’” says Hennemeyer. Controlling the process itself is generally far more effective and difficult to prevent than blatantly stealing an election at the polling-station level.

According to Foreign Policy, the top way to steal an election is to stack the electoral commission.

It’s much easier to steal an election when there are fewer checks on executive power and no legal framework for resolving disputes. When the laws are vague, election commissions are often powerless to confront a powerful central leader. “When you have a partial constitution that doesn’t lay out the details of election law properly, that’s a problem,” says Chris Hennemeyer, director of African programs at the election-monitoring group IFES, adding, “It’s a tried-and-true technique to stack the electoral commission with your cronies.”

Vague electoral law, a powerful central leader, a partial constitution and powerless electoral commissions. Anything sound familiar there?..

Second on the list is media manipulation.

In countries with little or no independent media outlets, opportunities are rife for leaders to use state-controlled media to broadcast propaganda or discredit the opposition. Crackdowns on independent media are also common in the run-up to elections…

The proliferation of Internet news sources and text messaging can make it harder to control the flow of information, a fact exploited by Ukrainian bloggers during that country’s “Orange Revolution.” However, as bloggers critical of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak learned this year, they are not immune to government crackdowns or jail time. There are low-tech solutions as well. Since World War II, the U.S. government’s Voice of America service has provided relatively unbiased information to citizens without access to free media.

Again, in New Zealand we see state-controlled media and the shutdown of dissenting websites. Closer to the time we’ll see whether the government attempts any of the other items on FP’s list. However, all the warning signs are there – Labour is attempting to manipulate the electoral playing field to disadvantage the opposition. It’s theft, it’s corruption and it should not be allowed in a free country.

Posted by Phil on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 2:51 pm.