Beaulieu and Hyde 1
Introduction
Domestic factors are thought to be the primary determinants of the decision by a political
party to orchestrate a nationwide election boycott. This decision can be determined by the party’s
chances at gaining seats, the possibility of forgone public financing of their party, the wealth and
size of the country, the level of political violence and intimidation of party candidates, and the
level of competition in the electoral system. Receiving less attention is the possibility that the
decision by a party to boycott is also influenced by the presence of international attention to the
election. While all elections receive some international attention, international election observers
(IEOs) have become a direct conduit to increased international attention from the press as well as
intergovernmental organizations and major foreign-aid donor states. International observer
groups focus international and domestic media attention on the quality of the electoral process
during and immediately following an election. During the 1990s in particular, international
pressure influenced many leaders in developing democracies as they struggled to conform to the
standards of “good governance” set forth by international financial institutions,
intergovernmental organizations, and other developed democratic governments.
This paper will explore whether the presence of international election observers decreases
the probability of a party election boycott by increasing confidence that the election will be free
and fair (as the traditional wisdom suggests), or increases the probability of an election boycott
by providing boycotting parties with an increased ability to discredit incumbents through a direct
connection to international audiences and thus foreign aid donors, who may be more effective in
pressuring incumbents for reform.
The proportions of boycotted elections and internationally observed elections have
increased steadily throughout the 1990s, yet to date, these trends have only been studied in
Convention