Regulation of Foreign Involvement in Elections

Introduction:

Prashant Bhushan, Supreme Court Advocate and former Aam Aadmi Party member, once said that for the sake of transparency in elections, the political parties must disclose all their donations, down to the last penny.

General Election is a periodic democratic festival that is celebrated once in a period of few years wherein the members of the legislature (in India, Parliament) are chosen by the citizens. The political party or alliance which gets majority forms the government in the country for the prescribed number of years. In India, the mark of the majority is securing of 282 seats out of 543 seats in the Parliament.

But several times, there is certain involvement of foreign powers in the general elections of a particular nation. These foreign powers may include the government of other nations, foreign companies, agencies, etc. Such involvements occur for the benefit of the country or company which is interfering.

Foreign Interferences

Several instances can be seen where foreign bodies had interfered in the elections of the other country. Some of them are

1. United States of America interfered in Russian Elections in 1994
2. Russia interfered in Ukrainian elections in 2004
3. Russia interfered in Ukrainian elections in 2014
4. Turkey interfered in German elections in 2017
5. China interfered in Taiwanese elections in 2018

As of now, the United States has made the record of the highest number of intrusions in the elections of other nations which calculate to 81.  The USA is followed by Russia whose interferences amount to 36.

According to an article published in the Voice of America, it was asserted that hackers based in China were aiming Joe Bidens (USA Presidential candidate) election campaign. During the 2008 presidential elections, a group of hackers who were endorsed by the Chinese government was charged with hacking into the campaign of Barack Obama.

These involvements generally lead to outrage in public. The Orange Revolution of Ukraine is the best example of this outrage. The Orange Revolution was the consequence of the intrusion of Russia in the Ukrainian Presidential elections of 2004. Before these elections, President Vladimir Putin visited Ukraine and hinted Ukrainians about the possible Russian connection in the electoral process.

After the revolution in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Constitution underwent an amendment and the powers were shifted from Presidency to the Parliament. It was also declared that the KGB (successor agency of the Soviet Union) provided great support to the opposition invoking power in the opposition in fighting against the odds.

The most recent involvement is by China in the Taiwanese elections of 2018. Al-Jazeera in an article mentioned about the tampering of election process of Taiwan:

“China is spreading “fake news” via social media to swing Taiwanese voters away from President Tsai Ing-wens party and behind candidates more sympathetic to Beijing ahead of elections, Taiwanese officials said. Beijing is test-driving its techniques in Taiwan, where it has a big stake in the politics and understands the language and culture, but deployed its cyber-capacities in the United States, Australia, and other democracies, the officials said:
However, before the elections, Taiwanese police had arrested few suspects who were spreading fake news in the country.”

The foreign involvement in the presidential elections of the USA in 2016 was the greatest controversy with regard to foreign involvement. The government of Russia was accused of involvement in the elections. The two candidates were Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. Russia tried to improve the candidature of Donald trump or worsen the candidature of Hilary Clinton. According to the American Intelligence Agency, these intrusions were done under the supervision of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The consequences of such intrusions were the fresh economic sanctions on Russia by then-President Barack Obama.

When Donald Trump was declared President, he straight away denied any foreign involvement and declared such blames to be the pranks. But at the same time, he also fired the director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey. He was a part of the investigation team involved in the investigation of involvements in the elections.

In reality and according to the election history of both the USA and Russia, it has been found that both of these nations are involved in the ways to manipulate the election results of each other.

Indian interference in Sri Lanka Election

India also interfered in the 2015 elections of Sri Lanka. The reason for such interference was to defeat the candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa. It was because of the Chinese involvement in the military and economic matters of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka and India have deep racial and cultural links and both the nations have a common maritime border as well.

This problem began when President Mahinda Rajapaksa allowed two Chinese submarines to the harbor in 2014, without giving any information to India. This act of Sri Lanka hinted the Indian government that the Sri Lankan government had started favoring the Chinese government more than that of the Indian government.

Wickremasinghe was elected as the Prime Minister. Later he was accused of meeting man two or three times who was identified as an agent. However, Wickremasinghe denied this fact.

Laws related to electoral interference in India

1. Section 29 (B) of the People Representation Act, 1951

According to it, a political party may accept any amount of contribution made voluntarily by any person or company other than Public Sector Company. However, the political parties are prohibited to accept any contribution from any foreign source.

2. Section 1(H) of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010

According to this section, “ Foreign contribution means the donation, delivery or transfer made by any foreign source- of any article, not being an article given to a person as a gift for his personal use, if the market value, in India, of such article, on the date of such gift is not more than such sum as may be specified from time to time by the Central Government by the rules made by it in this behalf, of any currency, whether Indian or foreign, of any security such as shares, scrips, stocks, bonds, debentures, debenture stock or other marketable securities of a like nature in or of any incorporated company or other body corporate.”

3. Section 3(1)(A) of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010

This section stops an election candidate to accept any contribution from any foreign source as per the definition of foreign source mentioned in Section 2(1) (J).

Conclusion

Transparency is the prime feature of Democracy. Democracy makes sure that the work done is done as per the rules and regulations.

In India, there has been a history of ill-practices during elections. These practices include foreign interference, funding to political parties, defection, etc. But this is unethical on the part of maintaining the spirit of democracy. Elections are not held on a frequent basis and therefore transparency must be ensured.

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References:

1. Orange revolution. (2004, November 25). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Revolution#Re-run_election
2. Fake news rattles Taiwan ahead of elections. (2018, November 23). Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/news-rattles-taiwan-elections-181123005140173.html
3. Indian spys role alleged in Sri Lankan presidents election defeat. (2015, January 18). Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-election-india-insight/indian-spys-role-alleged-in-sri-lankan-presidents-election-defeat-idUSKBN0KR03020150118
4. [Burning issue] presidential elections in Sri Lanka and India- Sri Lanka relations in recent times. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.civilsdaily.com/burning-issue-presidential-elections-in-sri-lanka-and-india-sri-lanka-relations-in-recent-times/