There is little point in holding elections, which are expensive operations, if the outcome is questionable. The EMB should be certain that it can ensure the legitimacy of the processes for which it is responsible. This can be done if the election management is founded on basic, but fundamental, guiding principles; independence, impartiality, integrity, transparency, efficiency, and service orientation. These principles form the basis of electoral administration and are essential to ensure both the appearance and the actual integrity of the electoral process. The principles are not developed in a vacuum; instead they have emerged in the context of international electoral standards and norms and are guided by national legal frameworks and good practices based on country-specific and global innovations. The guiding principles should be considered the ethical framework for conducting elections and for the operations of EMBs. These principles are a guide for meeting the needs of the management of elections.

Independence

EMB independence is one of the most hotly debated issues in election administration, yet there is still no clear, accepted view on what EMB independence really means. Partially this is because the term ‘independent’ embraces two different concepts: that of structural independence from the government (the ‘Independent Model’ EMB) and that of the ‘fearless independence’ expected of all models of EMBs, in that they do not bend to governmental, political, or other partisan influences on their decisions. The two are separate issues, one being formal and the other normative; nonetheless, they are seen as being linked in that an independent EMB is regarded in many parts of the world as the model most likely to ensure the EMB’s independence of decision and action.

It is of crucial importance for a country’s electoral process that the EMB managing the elections be seen to be independent of any party and of the sitting government. If the EMB does not have this confidence of independence, the entire electoral process and the election results might be questioned. For natural reasons, an EMB cannot be independent in every aspect; in many cases, the financing of the EMB and the appointment of key personnel is dependent on the legislature, but it is essential that the EMB at the least be structured to protect it from political influences. In many cases, both a culture of independence and the commitment of EMB members to independent decision making are more important than the formal ‘structural’ independence.

Institutional or ‘structural’ independence can only be found in the constitution or law. The simplest way to promote independence of decision and action in an EMB is to create a legal framework that embeds EMB independence, as provided in the constitutions and principal EMB laws of many countries. This may or may not be feasible, depending on the EMB model, but to merely cherish and respect the independence of an EMB without further measures being taken to safeguard that independence is in critical times often insufficient.

A strong leadership is important for maintaining an EMB’s independence of action. For example, some EMBs may fill the position of chair by a senior member of the judiciary. Such a link to the judiciary may make undue interference by the government or opposition parties in EMB operations less likely. However, it would not be appropriate where the judiciary is not regarded as impartial or free of corruption, or is not of sufficient numbers to avoid conflicts of interest in election-related court cases. Alternatively, the appointment of a respected public figure, a person who is known for political non-alignment, may be another way to advance the independence of the EMB.

Impartiality

Every EMB is expected to manage elections impartially. Irrespective of the EMB’s model, source of accountability, management control, or funding, it should treat all election participants fairly, without giving advantage to any political tendency or interest group. It is not a demand that an EMB be entirely non-partisan. An EMB may comprise representatives of various political parties, but the functions carried out by its members and staff must be performed in a politically neutral and impartial manner. An EMB must be impartial but capable of operating in a political environment.

An EMB is responsible for conducting an impartial election administration, impartial treatment of parties and candidates, and impartial and valid poll. Impartiality is also required for the recruitment of personnel, for the allotment of public funds to political parties and candidates, for the election campaign and for voter education programme, if such programme exists.

The impartiality of an EMB is essential for the credibility of a country’s electoral management and thereby for the electoral process and the results of an election. If the participants in an election do not trust that the process has been carried out in an impartial manner, the credibility of the election will be questioned and confidence for the EMB will be lost. To establish integrity and credibility of electoral processes, and the widespread acceptance of election results, it is critical that an EMB not only conducts electoral events in a fearlessly independent manner, but that it is impartial in its actions. Without impartiality of electoral management and independence of action, the integrity of the election is likely to fail, and it can be difficult to instil widespread belief in the credibility of electoral processes, especially among the losers. It is also important that EMBs be seen to be impartial by the general public. The best way to achieve this is through transparent actions, backed by vigorous marketing and public relations efforts.

Integrity

The EMB is the primary guarantor of the integrity and purity of the electoral process and EMB members have the direct responsibility for ensuring this. Integrity may be easier to maintain if the EMB has both full independence of action, and full control of all essential electoral processes. Where other bodies have electoral functions, EMBs need to be empowered to closely monitor their activities to ensure that they meet the highest integrity standards.

Electoral law or EMB regulations benefit from having clear powers for the EMB to deal with electoral officials who threaten electoral integrity by acting to benefit political interests or who are corrupt. Ignoring such problems can create larger public issues of integrity and credibility than will the public use of disciplinary powers. To the extent possible, it is in the EMB’s interests to ensure that breaches of the electoral laws, rules and codes of conduct are followed by appropriate sanction.

Transparency

If transparency is not a prerequisite for accountability it is at least a principle that makes way for an accountable administration and one that promotes trust in the electoral process. Every electoral administration has a need for openness at all stages of the electoral process, and transparency in operational and financial management is a basic good practice for all EMB activities. Transparency helps ensure that electoral managers are held accountable for the decisions made during election administration and that electoral expenses are accounted for. Participants in the electoral process, whether political candidates or voters, must be able to judge if decisions taken by the administration are appropriate and must have the right to demand justification for the decisions made by electoral authorities.

An open and transparent process that lays out for public scrutiny the decisions and reasoning of the EMB, will promote the understanding of the electoral process and increases the public credibility for its management. Transparent procedures eliminate the appearance of impropriety, limit the possibility of electoral fraud, corruption and/or favouritism towards particular political tendencies, and promote public confidence in electoral authorities – which effectively will encourage participation and help build public support for the EMB.

A critical issue for electoral transparency is providing credible progressive information on essential electoral processes, such as the progress of the counting and aggregation of votes, or by effective access to relevant documents and information. Electoral transparency may be backed by electoral law. It may be a practice required by the EMB’s code of conduct, or may be adopted as an EMB policy.

Accountability

Confidence in the integrity of the electoral process requires accountable administration for each stage of the electoral process. An accountable electoral administration is one where both the EMB as an institution of government and the electoral managers, without whom the election would not take place, are responsible to their constituents. The electoral management body should be accountable both before the legislature and the citizenry. It is of little value to have standards of behaviour concerning the management of elections if there are no means of checking whether the appointed members or the electoral officials have adhered to them. Accountability is vital; for parties, and candidates, the ordinary voters and the press must all have reasonable assurance that the EMB and the electoral process have obeyed the rules. If authorities responsible for managing elections are able to explain and justify their procedures electoral fraud can be avoided.

Efficiency

Governments and the public expect that funds for elections are used wisely and services delivered efficiently. In the face of expanding and ever more expensive technological solutions, and demands for increased effort in high cost areas such as voter education and information, EMBs have to be wary that their programmes sustainably serve electoral efficiency, as well as integrity and modernity.

A successful EMB is one that has displayed integrity, competence and efficiency. These qualities help to generate public and political party confidence in election processes. The legal framework can assist by defining efficient standards for electoral and financial management. However, sometimes members of an EMB may be unfamiliar with electoral practices and procedures; at other times they may be unused to dealing with contracting for equipment and materials in a cut-throat corporate environment. The resulting inefficiency in election organisation may be confused with corrupt and fraudulent behaviour, leading to more serious challenges to the EMB’s credibility.

Service Orientation

Election management is essentially a service industry, and people have rising expectations of the ability of the industry to deliver a quality service. Elections are all about providing the public with democratic governance and to endow the voters with this service the EMB and the electoral administrators must work to achieve for every voter the highest quality service possible. The voters must have the right to adequately understand the election process as well as they must be able to exercise their rights with the least possible inconvenience, regardless of given circumstances and of legal frameworks. Disabled citizens and people with special needs must be provided with necessary help to vote. The use of technology can in some cases be used as a means of assistance to facilitate and smoothen the electoral procedure for the voters.

Perceptions of EMB service performance are critical in influencing public judgments of the integrity and the effectiveness of the EMB. Post election evaluations are a good way to review stakeholder perceptions of EMB service delivery performance. These may be conducted by the EMB itself, or may be external, for example through a part of its accountability responsibilities, such as review by the legislature of EMB performance.

Professionalism

An EMB must recognise the importance of professionalism and the need to have a properly trained and motivated staff. All participants in the electoral process - the voter, the candidate, the party manager, the media and the observers - feel their own contributions are vitally important, but in reality the key people in the process are the electoral managers, without whom the election would not take place. Professionalism has to a great extent to do with election management as a vocation. It is essential that electoral officials act in a professional manner. They should be properly trained and disciplined as well as they should be committed to treating electoral materials with care and respect. Failure to deliver the service of free and fair elections as a result of non-professional behaviour or lack of competence may have the consequence of calling into question the key principles of independence and impartiality. Administrative inefficiencies may jeopardize the public trust for the EMB and for the whole electoral process. Not even a completely independent and impartial EMB can avoid being questioned if the management of elections is handled unprofessionally.

A professional EMB needs to ensure that all candidates, parties, and voters are treated equally and fairly and that electoral resources and facilities, like technical means are used as efficiently as possible. A professional EMB should also faithfully administer and review the electoral law and the ways in which it advises its staff, political parties and candidates, and voters about the electoral process. It should also consider how best to inform and educate the voters about the electoral process

Rule of law

The success of an election depends on the extent to which the participants in the political process accept it as a legitimate and binding procedure. If the participants question the outcome of an election, the public will question it to. In order to hold legitimate elections the election administration must comply and demonstrate respect for the laws of a country. If the election administration does not follow the law, and apply it equitably and clearly explain the legal rationale for its decision, the common understanding of the participants and the public may be affected, and support for the election process may be weakened.

An EMB needs to ensure that within the legal framework of the country, laws relating to elections are fully implemented in an impartial and equitable fashion. It is also crucial to ensure that every party, candidate, voter or other participant is treated equally, fair and just.

Next: Context of electoral management