Many United Nations (UN) member countries incorporate into their domestic law (using a variety of constitutional means) key UN decisions and treaties, such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1952 Convention on the Political Rights of Women. In such cases,, domestic electoral laws, and the EMB’s policies and actions, need to consider the treaties’ provisions relating to issues such as

• universal and non-discriminatory suffrage,
• secret and free voting,
• the rights of women to be elected and hold public office,
• and the rights of minority language groups.

Bilateral agreements between countries and regional bodies on supranational bodies (such as for the European Union) may also contain electoral requirements. While complementary laws are usually required to give effect to such treaties, EMB actions in contradiction to rights stipulated in ratified treaties may still be legally challengeable.

It is also common in the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Organisation of American States (OAS), Southern African Development Community (SADC), and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regions for member countries to implement treaties and decisions adopted by such regional bodies, either through legislative or executive ratifications. One example of such regional and enforceable treaties that affect the legal frameworks for EMBs is the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance of 2001, which provides for member countries to commit themselves to independent or impartial election administration and timely election dispute resolution.

In addition to the ratified, binding treaties and decisions, there are non-binding decisions by international and regional bodies. In October 2005, the Global Declaration of Principles and Code of Conduct for International Electoral Observation was adopted by the United Nations and by a wide range of global and regional organisations. In the SADC region, for example, the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) and the Electoral Commissions’ Forum of SADC countries (ECF) have developed and adopted jointly the “Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation” (PEMMO), while the SADC Parliamentary Forum has established its own election norms and standards. These sets of principles, guidelines, and standards serve as benchmarks against which observer missions in the region assess whether an election is free and fair.