• Decentralisation

Decentralisation

The paper argues that as the scope of decentralisation in the developing world increases, and political and economic authority is devolved to local governments, there is a need to better understand the phenomenon of political participation in local government.  Accountability of local institutions requires broad groups of people to participate in local government, and voter turnout at local government elections is an important component of government accountability. This paper analyses the impact of electoral mechanisms, the credibility of elections, and voters’ socio-economic characteristics on voter turnout. It uses survey data from the 2005 local government elections in Pakistan. The paper bases its theoretical foundations on the rational-choice perspective of voter turnout, that is, a positive relationship should exist between the level of voter turnout and:

• the instrumental and consumption benefits of voting and
• the probability of affecting the outcomes of an election

The model also predicts a negative relationship between the level of voter turnout and the cost of voting.

The paper finds that:

• voter turnout is strongly associated with the personal and social gratifications people derive from voting
• the preference-matching ability of candidates for local government positions is marginal
• the introduction of direct elections of the district nazims - a key position in local government -might improve electoral participation and thus create a precondition for better local government accountability
• less educated people, farmers, and rural people are more likely to vote, a phenomenon associated with political clientelism
• women and better-educated people are less likely to vote when they view the local election as not credible.

The paper suggests that the relatively high voter turnout among uneducated, poor, and rural people entails a considerable potential for making decentralised public service provision more responsive to the needs of these groups. It notes that decentralisation cannot be successful in establishing responsive and accountable local governments if voters believe local elections are not fair and if candidates are not able to offer credible policy promises.

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