Experimenting in Democracy Promotion: International Observers and the 2004 Presidential Elections in Indonesia

Each team’s list of villages and neighborhoods was generated from a complete list of villages and neighborhoods within each pre-selected geographic area using systematic random sampling (also known as patterned sampling)… The long-term election observers and the Jakarta-based staff of the Carter Center selected areas of Indonesia (primarily kabupaten and kota, or districts and cities) where the Carter Center would send election observers. This selection of districts was intended to place Carter Center observers throughout the country, but was constrained by logistical and safety issues. In order for an area to be selected, it had to be accessible by car or aircraft within one day’s travel time, and had to have basic accommodations for the observer team that were judged as sufficiently safe. There was also some effort made to avoid extensive overlap with the European Union election observation mission (the largest observer mission in the country), as well as consideration for whether access was granted to areas of Indonesia where foreigners are frequently prohibited from traveling such as Banda Aceh, Ambon, and parts of Papua.