f f a truly democratic na-/\ tion is a nation of

xX laws, and a good electoral process is a process of rules, regulations, and laws,'' all backed up by a free press and an Independent judiciary, a prominent US election specialist told an African television audience.'

Appearing on a Worldnet television broadcast. William Kimberllng. deputy director of the Federal Election Commission's Office of Election Administration. said a good democratic government operates like a soccer game. "You have to follow the rules in order for there to be a game, and the best way to make sure that everybody will follow the rules is for them to sit down and work out those rules together."

"The teams, the referees, the players, all of the interested parties must sit down and work out a set of rules — and then stay with it, he told programme participants in Kaduna. Lagos, and Abuja.

He added that it is the "will to make it work" that is most Important to a well-functioning democracy. "If the will to make it work is not there, the best system in the world will fail. Once you have a set of rules — "If the will is there — any system in the world can be made to work."

For a democracy to function. each group participating in the process must ensure that the people within its group observe and play by the rules, he stressed. "That is the nature of leadership" he told his audience, "and the leader-, ship of a country must come together in order to lead any nation out of its current problems.'

Asked about the undue influence of money on politicians and election campaigns. Kim berling said, "Let me assure you that Africa has no monopoly on the problem of money surpassing merit tn the field of politics ’

Out 'Of concern for th/t problem, the United States Congress, he noted, created the Federal Election Commis Sion in 1975 to enforce a series of laws enacted to limit the amount of money that can be contributed to candidates running for office

Tt would be ideal to have a level playing-field (fair and equal process) so that only merit would be rewarded in the field of politics — but what's true is that money is an advantage in ant business and anything that you do — and politics is no exception." kimberllng said

For that reason, he added, public scrutiny is an important part of the effort to keep the process as fair as possible

Asked why US election campaigns are so expensive. Kimberllng said that massive amounts of money are used to buy access time in the media, to put a candidate s message out to the electorate

We have a nation of 260 million people spread across a continent 3000 miles across We don't have rallies anymore

People have jobs. They work. They have a routine. We don't gather much together In political gatherings anymore and. as a result, politicians — in order to reach people — try to reach people through, the electronic media — radio and television. primarily — and these are.very, very expensive." kimberllng estimated that 80% of the money in American politics is spent buying media time. American media companies are privately owned and operated in the United States, he reminded his audience, and thus candidates must compete against commercial buyers for advertising time if their commercial advertisements or campaign messages are to air.

Asked if American candidates use money to buy votes. Kimberllng said that that is illegal and seldom the case. "We have an entire battery of laws that prevent the use of money for buying votes. In fact, it is a federal crime and you can end up in jail... for using money to buy people’s votes, to pay them to register to vote, or to pay them to vote one way or another."

Asked bow US commercial broadcast stations treat candidates on their news and public affairs programmes. Kimber-ling said. The role of the media in politics is. in many ways, misunderstood in the United States'

Well-known politicians are already well known, and thus, he said, "there is not much in the world the media is going to do” to change the public image of a candidate.

The role of the media is really more important for politicians who are not yet well known, because many people begin to formulate their ideas about politicians by what they see on television, when they are just shaping their opinions.'

Kimberllng stressed that the US media has its own form of discipline that helps ensure fair treatment of all candidates. Being a commercial industry, he explained, media stations must be 'very careful about their viewers who have political opinions.

"Viewers are always very sensitive on whether this channel or that channel is tilting the news in favour of one party or one candidate or another... The public eye" is on all of them. Not only can they lose viewers if they tilt too much one way or another, if they lose viewers, they lose (ratingsl points. If they lose points they lose money, because sponsors do not want to sponsor a programme that is not being widely watched. So there is a kind of odd commercial discipline that takes place

Asked about corruption. Kimberllng reminded everyone that the idea of government is public service not private enrichment You las a candidate) compete for government to do a good job for everybody It is not a competition to see who can s^ck the treasury most ef fectively and hand it out to their friends. — tSM