To be open or not to be open – that is the question…

… in Uganda. Among others, it is currently discussed, whether members of parliament should vote secretly or openly at the constitutional assembly.

You may say, that it is only their conscience which members of parliament are accountable for and for accountability against her/his voters and general transparency reasons, it is advisable to vote openly. This is all true, indeed.

However, what if the institutional setting is not conducive to an open ballot system in parliament or in a constitutional assembly? If there is a unbearable trade-off between freedom of opinion and speech and political or maybe even other pressure? If I would be a governance or political advisor, I would always and everywhere suggest to go for secret voting, just in case… Thus, the member of parliament is not exposed to group pressure and nobody can point any finger on a member of parliament, if she/he votes against someone’s intention. It requires strong institutional settings in a mature democracy to let members of parliament enjoy their freedom for the good of her/his voters.

For me, that would be reason enough to adopt secret voting or as an alternative one could adopt a rule that unless nobody asks for secret ballots, it is an open voting system.


Ah, and finally The Monitor has a new website.