The stakes of politics and electoral administration: a comparative study of Southeast Asian democracies

Kawanaka Takeshi

No 536, IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO)

Abstract: Elections play a crucial role in political stability in post-democratization, and electoral administrations are the key to the electoral process. However, not all newly democratized countries have established reliable electoral administration. New democracies in Southeast Asia, such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, have independent election commissions which have different characteristics, especially in terms of neutrality. Based on three cases, this paper claims that the stakes of politics are the major determinant of the variations in neutrality. The high stakes of politics in Thailand brought about the partisan election commission, while the low stakes in Indonesia made the electoral system relatively neutral. Like Thailand, the high stakes of politics in the Philippines also cause political intervention in the electoral administration.

Keywords: Southeast Asia; Philippines; Thailand; Indonesia; Democracy; Elections; Electoral administration; The stakes of politics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-pol and nep-sea
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Published in IDE Discussion Paper = IDE Discussion Paper, No. 536. 2015-10-01

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