Vrije en eerlijke verkiezingen in de OVSE-regio? De ontwikkeling van een meetinstrument [Free and honest election in the
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Book Review Vrije en eerlijke verkiezingen in de OVSE-regio? De ontwikkeling van een meetinstrument [Free and honest election in the OSCE-region? The Development of a Measurement Tool] J.J.G. Schmeets Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, Heerlen, 2002, xiv þ 331pp. ISBN: 90 803525 1 9. Acta Politica (2005) 40, 119–121. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ap.5500073
Three weeks after the parliamentary elections of 2 November 2003 in Georgia, the re-elected president Sjevardnadze announced his resignation. An important role played the fact that international observers of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) accused his regime of large-scale election fraud. That such a charge is not made carelessly seems clear, but how one reaches such a concise condemnation in a very short period (within 24–48 h after the election) is less clear. Qualifying an election is a complicated matter. Nevertheless, the OSCE pretends to be able to judge the quality of an election immediately after Election Day. To be able to understand, at least to a certain extent, Schmeets’s book is a prerequisite. This study focuses on the observations and interpretations of the observers’ findings. By developing a standard methodology, it is aimed to improve the structure of the election observations and to objectify the resulting qualification. This objective results in the following definition of the problem: ‘In which way can a measurement tool for election observation missions in the OSCEregion be developed, that will increase the transparency and unambiguousness of the interpretation of the observers’ findings on election day(s)?’ This problem is approached through three research questions concerning (i) the operationalization of ‘free and fair elections’ based on the Copenhagen commitments; (ii) the development of a ‘free and fair’-index to assess the elections; and (iii) ways of comparing and to interpreting the findings in election observation missions. In the first chapters, Schmeets discusses the importance of observing elections as a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for a democracy. To this end, elections must meet certain democratic principles, the so-called Copenhagen commitments of 1990, which have been accepted by the Member States of the OSCE as ‘universal standards’. In 1996, the OSCE summarized these commitments in the form of seven key words: universal, equal, fair, secret, free, transparent, and accountable.
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In practice, on election day(s), observers are employed to examine to what extent the election can be considered ‘honest’. To enable fast and statistical processing of the observers’ findings, it was necessary to develop a uniform measurement instrument. That instrument — a questionnaire — turned out to be not completely identical for all elections. Nevertheless, Schmeets reaches the conclusion that, with regard to structure and contents, the various questionnaires that are used, are on many points identical. After many adaptations, the OSCE now considers it as a standard; meanwhile, the Counci
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