Publication | Report/Paper

Report of a Pre-election Commodity Needs Assessment

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In response to a request from USAID/Panama for assistance in evaluating the material needs of Panama's Electoral Tribunal, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) sent a Pre-Election Technical Assessment Team (the "Team") to conduct an on-site, technical and materials assessment of Panama's electoral system from April 22 to April 30 and from May 7 to May 9, 1992.

It was clearly evident to the Team that a basic infrastructure exists to build upon and that if proper, modern technical equipment and support could be made available to the Tribunal, the staff has the capability and desire to perform much more efficiently and effectively to ensure satisfactory service to the citizens of Panama and to deliver free and fair elections. Specifically:

1. The Team recommends the creation of a task force to reconstruct the Civil Registry and that this project be given URGENT priority. Any other actions taken as interim measures would only continue to compound the basic and underlying problem.

2. The Team also recommends as an URGENT priority microfilming all data for the civil Registry and duplicating the older microfilm records which have begun to deteriorate and are no longer useable.

3. The Team recommends a number of improvements to communications between local electoral offices and Panama City.

4. The Team recommends that information for 1D card production be stored as electronic, magnetic, or digital data, that physical production of the cards be centralized, and that security markings and tamper-resistant lamination or a solid plastic ID card be used.

5. The Team feels that a complete personnel and management review should be performed with a joint team of outside experts and internal management and personnel staff from the Tribunal.

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