5. Attacks on traditional guardrails

5.1 Elections

In 2024, 40 countries will hold elections, and the people take to the polls to elect their representatives.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 21), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 25), and other international covenants provide that elections are key features of any genuine democracy and are the will of the people. There can be no legitimate democracy without elections, even if democracy requires more than just elections. Citizens have a fundamental right to determine the course of public affairs through their representatives. Elections allow citizens to ensure the accountability of their leaders, and the citizenry can vote an incumbent out of office, for instance. Elections are the primary means of peaceful transfer of political power and an important way for voters to express their will and ensure that their interests and those of the national government align to achieve specific goals. Genuine, peaceful, fair, and free elections foster sustainable development and are foundational to good and responsive governance. Elections are a democratic process, not just an occurrence on a given day; therefore, public confidence is fundamental for the validity and legitimacy of the process. When this element is lacking, populist candidates may discredit election results.

A country has genuine elections when they are characterized by:

Transparency. Each part of the electoral process is open to scrutiny. Relevant stakeholders can independently verify the integrity of the process. The principle of transparency is key for the preservation of the right of citizens to seek, receive, and share information.
Competitiveness. Citizens have equitable opportunities to run and be elected to office. Political competition is a central component of elections, reflecting people's will.
Inclusiveness. All eligible citizens have equal opportunities to participate in the electoral process to select their representatives.
Accountability. Citizens have the right to scrutinize the conduct of electoral stakeholders, including that of the government, election management bodies, political parties, candidates, and security forces.¹

Because elections are essential for the health of liberal democracies, all relevant stakeholders must tackle threats to them, ranging from fraud on Election Day to manipulation by the media and regulatory impediments during political campaigns.

Case studies

Zimbabwe

In August 2023, according to the Electoral Commission in Zimbabwe, Mr. Mnangagwa was reelected for a second and final five-year term with 52.6% of the vote. The main opposition leader and international observers have denounced irregularities, including a climate of intimidation against supporters of the main opposition candidate. Such intimidation was also carried out by police officers, who resorted to physical violence or the threat of it. Courts were also used to harass and intimidate opposition officials and their supporters.²

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission refused to accredit the Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (Southern Defenders), planning to deploy an electoral observation mission with individuals from the region. Authorities deported four people from Good Governance Africa, including its chief executive officer, after the team arrived in Zimbabwe to investigate pre-electoral conditions. International journalists from well-known media outlets were barred from covering the elections.

In the 21st century, genuine elections may suffer from digital attacks. “Digital platforms are the new battleground for democracy. Shaping the flow of information on the internet is now an essential strategy of those seeking to disrupt the democratic transfer of power through elections. Incumbent political actors around the globe use both blunt and nuanced methods to deter opposition movements while preserving a veneer of popular legitimacy. Such internet freedom restrictions tend to escalate before and during crucial votes. Major authoritarian powers like Russia and China have been implicated in cyberattacks and information warfare linked to elections in democratic states.”³

Australia

Ahead of its general elections in May 2019, the National Parliament and Australia’s three largest political parties - the ruling Liberal Party, its coalition partner, the rural-based Nationals, and the opposition Labor Party – all suffered cyber-attacks. The Australian Signals Directorate concluded that China’s Ministry of State Security was responsible for the attack. “The timing of the attack, three months ahead of Australia’s election, and coming after the cyber-attack on the U.S. Democratic Party ahead of the 2016 U.S. election, had raised concerns of election interference.”⁴

Brazil

In Brazil’s 2018 election, voters were flooded with fake news through WhatsApp, an end-to-end encryption messaging service of Facebook Inc. In one of the country's most contentious and polarizing elections, WhatsApp became a political battleground, raising concerns that it is a contributing factor of distortion. The 7 October first round illustrated the preponderant role of social media in the country’s politics.

“Bolsonaro, a seven-term congressman from a tiny party, had little access to public campaign funding or TV advertising but his grassroots campaign and outsized presence on social media helped him win 46 percent of votes, nearly foregoing a run-off.

Polling firm Datafolha found that two-thirds of Brazilian voters use WhatsApp. Bolsonaro supporters were more likely to follow political news on the platform, with 61 percent saying they did so, compared to 38 percent of Haddad voters. […]

WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption allows groups of hundreds of users to exchange texts, photos, and videos beyond the purview of electoral authorities, independent fact-checkers, or even the platform itself.

False rumors, manipulated photos, decontextualized videos, and audio hoaxes have become campaign ammunition, going viral on the platform with no way to monitor their origin or full reach.”⁵

In the Digital Election Interference Report, Freedom House determined that domestic actors abused information technology the most to subvert electoral processes. This is the conclusion of an analysis of 30 countries that held elections or referenda during the period covered and found three primary forms of digital election interference:

Informational measures, in which online discussions are surreptitiously manipulated in favor of the government or particular parties;
Technical measures used to restrict access to news sources, communication tools, and in some cases, the entire internet; and
Legal measures through which authorities punish regime opponents and curtail political expression.

Another important observation of the report is that in many countries, extremist political parties seem better equipped than other moderate parties to take advantage of social media. Far-right groups are more successful at exploiting social media because false, shocking, negative, exaggerated, and emotionally charged content spreads faster than other content. The absence of mechanisms dedicated to identifying such threats and efficiently addressing them allows illiberal regimes, autocratic leaders, and extreme political groups to spread hate speech, misinform, entrench polarization, and ultimately negatively influence the integrity of the electoral process, contributing to democratic backsliding.

“Even in countries where democratic institutions are fairly robust, citizens increasingly rely on digital technologies to participate in political affairs and engage in urgent policy debates. Social media in democracies are used to mobilize public support on a host of issues, such as minority rights, environmental protection, safer gun laws, and improved health care. The onus is on policymakers, the private sector, and civil society to make sure that these positive uses of the internet are protected - at home and abroad - from the forms of malicious interference described above. This will mean years of work to establish clear rules, build tools, and develop programs that meaningfully respond to the grave and growing threat such manipulation poses to the democratic process.”⁶

Attacks on the integrity of elections have dire consequences on the democratic system, including:

Reduced voter turnout when voters believe that the election is rigged and that their vote does not matter, which in turn makes individuals less likely to vote in other elections and allows undemocratic forces more space to gain power.
Increased polarization when voters believe that the opposition is cheating or corrupt. One of the main consequences is that they are less likely to compromise with a side that they believe is corrupt. This situation increases the likelihood of political gridlock.
Eroded trust in government when voters believe that their government is corrupt which can lead to cynicism and apathy.

Parliamentarians have a responsibility to ensure the transparency of the electoral normative framework and can:⁷

Make campaigning financing legislation more robust;
Define in law what is considered to be a political advertisement;
Compel social media platforms to make public all information involved in the purchase of an advertisement, including the real identity of the advertiser, the amount spent, targeting criteria, etc.;
Specify by law the minimum audience segment size for an advertisement;
Legislate a “cooling-off period” for digital political advertisements at least 48 hours before an election;
Compel major Internet platforms to provide independent parties with meaningful data about the impact social media has on democracy;
Promote laws and policies that increase digital and media literacy programs in schools and public interest programming for the general population;
Approve legislation that equips the electoral authorities with sufficient oversight mechanisms for identifying and thwarting digital electoral interference; and
Conduct parliamentary hearings with representatives of civil society organizations such as the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, academia, and the private sector dealing with social media platforms.

5.2 Corruption

According to Transparency International, corruption is the “abuse of entrusted power for private gain.”⁸ Corruption erodes trust in democratic institutions, hinders economic development, and exacerbates societal inequalities, including environmental ones. To tackle corruption systems, all relevant stakeholders, including the citizenry, must understand them, after which the corrupt must be held accountable.

Corruption may take many forms (bribery, nepotism, and other forms of abuse of power for personal gain):

Public officials asking or taking money for favors in exchange for services.
Politicians misusing public funds or granting public jobs or contracts to their sponsors, friends, and families.
Officials being bribed by corporations to get lucrative deals.

In turn, this also weakens the public trust in government institutions: People who believe their government is corrupt are less likely to trust it. This can lead to cynicism and apathy, making it more difficult for the government to function effectively.

Corruption challenges threaten the world’s largest economies and, consequently, the global economy. In 2011, G20 leaders recognized corruption as a major issue and decided to create an Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG). There were some significant early results, but the political momentum has decreased in recent years.

At the 2021 Rome Summit, the ACWG adopted the new Anti-Corruption Action Plan 2022-2024 which has three overarching objectives:

Promote the implementation of existing anti-corruption commitments;
Develop targeted actions in areas where the G20 can best add value; and
Counter new corruption challenges identified by the international community.

Case studies

The Americas

When looking at The Americas, the region scored an average of 43 out of 100 in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for the fourth consecutive year.⁹ Governments have not taken sufficiently bold action to fight corruption and strengthen democratic institutions, which has allowed organized criminal activities to flourish, undermining democracy, violating human rights, and threatening the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Corruption in the hemisphere has sparked violence, environmental damage, and migration.

In the last 7 years, 27 out of 32 countries have had corruption levels that remained stagnant. In the region, Uruguay and Canada lead with a score of 74. The United States follows them with a score of 69. Venezuela (14), Haiti (17), and Nicaragua (19) have the lowest scores in the region, and it is challenging to dissociate institutions and criminal activities. Unaccountable public institutions in Latin America have allowed for the proliferation of organized criminal networks, fueling violence and insecurity. People in Latin America count the issues of security, corruption, and economic sustainability among their highest priorities.

In many countries of the region, law enforcement and corrupt officials collaborate with criminal networks and accept bribes to cover illicit activities. In Honduras (score of 23), Guatemala (score of 24), and Peru (score of 36), evidence suggests that organized criminals have a strong influence over candidates and politicians, financing electoral campaigns or even running for public office themselves.

The most marginalized and vulnerable groups in society have been the most impacted by the collusion between criminal networks and political interests. A stark example is the destruction of the environment and natural resources. Women, girls, and migrants are victims of human trafficking and sextortion, more often than not involving public officials demanding sexual acts in exchange for services like providing passports or granting passage through border controls. In the Amazon, drug cartels have brought violence to the lands of indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples, critical areas of biodiversity.

In 2021, the region recorded the highest number of killings of human rights defenders. Colombia (score of 39) had the highest number of killings of human rights defenders, with 138, followed by 42 in Mexico (score of 31) and 27 in Brazil (score of 38). Killings of environmental and anti-corruption activists remain unsolved thanks to corruption networks and their infiltration at all governmental levels, including the judiciary.

Some governments have used the state of violence instigated by organized crime to concentrate power in the hands of the executive, which reduces transparency and threatens fundamental human rights and freedoms, including that of expression and assembly. In countries like El Salvador (score of 33), Ecuador (score of 36), and Honduras, the constitutional order was suspended, and extraordinary powers were granted to the executive branch. In the name of security, governments heavily restricted civic and political spaces, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guyana (score of 40), a country rich in oil, has significantly risen in the CPI over the last 10 years. It can continue strengthening its democratic institutions by increasing transparency and oversight of its extractive industry. In this vital economic sector, corruption means that the state would lose billions of dollars, which could have been used to improve public infrastructure and proper allocations to the development of public projects and policies.

For three years now, Mexico (score of 31) has not been able to improve. After four years of President Lopez Obrador’s government, no major public officials or private executives have been convicted in corruption cases. Additionally, the tension between Lopez Obrador and oversight institutions responsible for guaranteeing access to information (INAI - Federal Institute for Access to Public Information and Data Protection) and for guaranteeing free and fair elections (INE - National Electoral Institute) illustrates that the current government seeks to undermine mechanisms of checks and balances. In 2020, the Mexican government was caught selling contracts to medical equipment suppliers without a bidding process. This led to overpricing and shortages of essential medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Brazil (score of 38), the past four years have been dire for anti-corruption mechanisms. Former president Jair Bolsonaro claimed that his government was not corrupt while he, his cabinet ministers, allies, and family members were subjected to investigations. Bolsonaro’s government intimidated, defamed, and used fake news to attack civil society organizations, activists, journalists, and human rights defenders. His government also dismantled environmental protections and violated the rights of indigenous people, women, and the LGBTQI+ community.

On 8 January 2023, Bolsonaro’s supporters led an assault on Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court to challenge the October 2022 presidential election results, which President Lula da Silva won. The buildings of the three aforementioned institutions were vandalized.

President Lula’s ruling party, the PT, or Workers’ Party, has also been involved in major corruption scandals - including the one that led to the Operation Car Wash investigation that successfully brought a corruption case against him until the Supreme Court annulled his conviction. However, during Lula and his successor Dilma Rousseff’s administrations, Brazil made significant advances in anti-corruption.

In the Caribbean, cartels have exploited weak security institutions, corruption, and unguarded coastal lines. According to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer for 2019, for instance, in Jamaica (score of 44), 50% of people consider the police corrupt. In Trinidad and Tobago (score of 42), 61% consider police corrupt.

Parliamentarians can help tackle corruption in their countries by:

Approving legislation that helps strengthen institutions such as the independence of the judiciary, the media, and civil society organizations.
Approving sufficient budgetary allocations for institutions with strong public policies geared toward improving education, health, and respect of fundamental rights and freedoms.
Enhancing transparency by making information widely available on public expenditure and decision-making processes, including for procurements.
Increasing the participation of citizens in democratic processes to ensure that the government effectively responds to the peoples’ needs and aspirations.

Addressing corruption is a complex challenge that will take time and concerted effort in this interconnected, globalized world. It is important to “commend efforts and acknowledge progress made in the fight against corruption, through effective collaborations and joint engagements of several institutions, such as joint capacity building between the World Bank Group, UNODC, OECD and civil society organizations, including Transparency International and Accountability Lab.”¹⁰

It is also essential to recognize the importance of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and, in particular, SDG 16 on Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. Countries must implement the provisions of international instruments to which they are State Parties, including the United Nations Declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions; the United Nations Convention Against Corruption; and the 40 recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Footnotes:

1 Patrick Merloe, Promoting Legal Frameworks for Democratic Elections: An NDI Guide for Developing Election Laws and Law Commentaries.

2 By The Associated Press, Zimbabwe's opposition alleges fraud in vote that extends governing party's rule.

3 Adrian Shahbaz, Allie Funk, Digital Election Interference.

4 Colin Packham, Exclusive: Australia concluded China was behind hack on parliament, political parties – sources, published on 15 September 2019.

5 Anthony Boadle, Facebook's WhatsApp flooded with fake news in Brazil election, published on October 20, 2018.

6 Adrian Shahbaz, Allie Funk, Digital Election Interference.

7 Kofi Annan, PROTECTING ELECTORAL INTEGRITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE, The Report of the Kofi Annan Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age, published in January 2020.

8 Transparency International, WHAT IS CORRUPTION?.

9 Transparency International, CPI 2022 FOR THE AMERICAS: FERTILE GROUND FOR CRIMINAL NETWORKS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, published on 31 January 2023.

10 ICHA 2023: Abidjan’s Call for Collective Action in an Era of Crises, World Bank Group and International Corruption Hunters Alliance, published on 16 June 2023.