The story of democratic transition in Southasia is incomplete. Although all members of SAARC possess autonomous electoral-management institutions or election commissions, there have been notably few investigations into strategies used to enhance their independence. Such a lack of priority placed on the institution of the election commission has been detrimental for democracy in all the countries of Southasia. Historically, election commissions (ECs) have been viewed as representing the interests of the ruling political faction, and have been known to rubberstamp flawed elections. This has been a view confirmed by the 2002 general elections in Pakistan (where an executive order reconstituted the EC just prior to the election) and in the 2003 presidential elections in the Maldives (where President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was re-elected to a sixth five-year term with 90 percent of the vote).
The story of democratic transition in Southasia is incomplete. Although all members of SAARC possess autonomous electoral-management institutions or election commissions, there have been notably few investigations into strategies used to enhance their independence. Such a lack of priority placed on the institution of the election commission has been detrimental for democracy in all the countries of Southasia. Historically, election commissions (ECs) have been viewed as representing the interests of the ruling political faction, and have been known to rubberstamp flawed elections. This has been a view confirmed by the 2002 general elections in Pakistan (where an executive order reconstituted the EC just prior to the election) and in the 2003 presidential elections in the Maldives (where President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was re-elected to a sixth five-year term with 90 percent of the vote).
The neglect of electoral institutions may now be changing, and not a moment too soon. Recent developments in the region's north, east and west have drawn new attention to the crucial functions performed by election commissions as guarantors of representational democracy. The reconciliation process in Nepal, for instance, has shown that the establishment of a meaningful form of representation is the foundation for a viable peace. The Election Commission of Nepal has been entrusted with the responsibility of conducting the upcoming Constituent Assembly polls (originally slated for June, but now all but officially postponed), an exercise that will involve the complete overhaul of current procedures and regulations. Similarly, the governments of both Pakistan and Bhutan have pledged to hold free and fair elections in 2007 and 2008 respectively – Thimphu's election commission was established as late as 2006, while Islamabad's commission has to shake off the perception that it has been a political pawn, an accusation that once again surfaced during the recent Sindh by-elections.
The terms free and fair, when applied to elections, belie their market origins. There is a general tendency in the literature on electoral systems to regard elections as an 'open market', where politicians compete with each other to maximise their votes. Elections are 'free' when there is a perception that the elections did not take place under coercion; and they are 'fair' when the competitors adhere to the rules of competition. However, no election can be either free or fair without effective control on the behaviour of political parties and candidates, in the same way that regulations are needed to ensure that commercial firms behave ethically.