Bending deformation of an ionic polymer actuator(IPA) on applied low electric field across its thickness is dominated by electroosmosis of hydrated ions and self-diffusion of free water molecules. In the study by Popovic et al., two processes are assumed to occur sequentially in the way that fast electroosmosis is followed by self-diffusion and finite element formulation for the basic field equations are proposed. However the motions of hydrated ions and water molecules occur at the same time. In this study, those two processes are considered simultaneously and finite element formulation is conducted for the basic field equations governing electrochemical response of an IPA. Some numerical studies for IPA are carried out in order to show the validity of the present formulation.