Regardless of the model or type of EMB, it needs to deal with the executive branch of government and the legislature on issues such as electoral law and budgets. It is a good practice for a multiparty committee of the legislature, such as the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters in Australia, to deal with EMB matters, and for a cabinet member to handle all EMB issues in cabinet and speak on its behalf in cabinet and the legislature. For a governmental EMB, the relevant minister would usually be from the department in which the EMB is located.
Unless an independent EMB within an Independent or Mixed Model also has someone to speak on its behalf—a task that may be allocated to a specified minister—it is difficult for EMB matters to attract sufficient attention from either the legislature or the cabinet. For example, the arrangement in Namibia— under which the speaker of parliament handles all EMB matters, including electoral law and the EMB budget—has in the past presented some problems for the EMB because the speaker is not represented in cabinet, and cabinet rules in Namibia state that proposals for legislation must first be presented to the cabinet by one of its members. A crisis over delays in electoral law reform in 2003 led to the appointment of a temporary ‘guardian’ minister to the EMB and the Ministry of Regional and Local Government being given the legislative task. However, the general interests of the ministry led to a perception that it might not be fully neutral in undertaking this task, and debate on an effective channel between the EMB and the legislature continued.
