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Changes and continuities in the 2014 Solomon Islands elections

Changes and continuities in the 2014 Solomon Islands elections. terence.wood@anu.edu.au. Setting the stage. 2014 will be 9 th general election since independence Parliamentary Democracy SMDP electoral system; 50 constituencies; approx 300,000 voters Low winner vote shares & high turnover

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Changes and continuities in the 2014 Solomon Islands elections

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  1. Changes and continuities in the 2014 Solomon Islands elections terence.wood@anu.edu.au

  2. Setting the stage 2014 will be 9th general election since independence Parliamentary Democracy SMDP electoral system; 50 constituencies; approx 300,000 voters Low winner vote shares & high turnover Parties weak – candidate races Bottom quartile of all states on quality of governance

  3. <- formal process of elections has worked quite well Elections & Politics: what works & what doesn’t <- electioneering on the ground is more problematic <- the country’s political economy deeply dysfunctional

  4. Formal electoral process 2014 Usual challenges + Biometric roll (so far so good) + Roll scrutinizing + Political parties integrity bill Recent elections Good by standards of developing countries Issues such as roll but logistics ok & Little or no fraud in counting process Thanks to good balance of local & TA

  5. Electioneering Recent elections Although electoral process is good; electioneering fails to meet ideal Some coercion Lots of vote buying But: little violence 2014 More money than ever + Attempts to take advantage of biometric system (card buying) + New technology (cameras & facebook)

  6. Problems of political economy Recent decades A strongly clientelist polity Voter choices make sense but don’t aggregate + Logging money = Very poor governance 2014 My guess is election outcomes very similar to past New social movements!

  7. The 2014 election won’t see a change Solomons’ politics (even if your favourite candidate becomes PM) Long slow – domestic – march to better political governance in Solomons (no quick fixes) But we can hold help hold the fort (electoral commission!) And we need to learn more about things like vote buying, and new social movements. What does this mean for us?

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