Many UN member countries incorporate into their domestic law (using a variety of constitutional means) key UN decisions and treaties, such as the 1966 ICCPR and the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). In such cases, domestic electoral laws, and EMB policies and actions, need to consider the treaties’ provisions as treaty obligations that their country has voluntarily adhered to, especially in relation 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 treaties on supranational bodies (e.g. the European Union) may also contain electoral requirements. While complementary laws are usually required to give effect to such treaties, EMB actions that contradict rights contained in ratified treaties may still be legally challengeable.
Member states of regional bodies, such as the OSCE, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the African Union (AU), are increasingly committing themselves through either legislative or executive ratification to implement treaties and decisions adopted by the regional bodies. In 1990, the OSCE adopted the Copenhagen Commitments, through which its participating states "solemnly declare that among those elements of justice which are essential to the full expression of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all human beings are…free elections that will be held at reasonable intervals by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedure, under conditions which ensure in practice the free expression of the opinion of the electors in the choice of their representatives". The AU Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance provides that "State Parties shall:
- Establish and strengthen independent and impartial national electoral bodies responsible for the management of elections.
- Establish and strengthen national mechanisms that redress election- related disputes in a timely manner.
- Ensure fair and equitable access by contesting parties and candidates to state controlled media during elections.
- Ensure that there is a binding code of conduct governing legally recognized political stakeholders, government and other political actors prior to, during and after elections. The code shall include a commitment by political stakeholders to accept the results of the election or challenge them through exclusively legal channels".
The AU has backed up the charter in practice by establishing an electoral support unit within its secretariat.
Similar frameworks have been developed by sub-regional bodies, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). One example of such a regional and enforceable treaty that affects the legal frameworks for EMBs is the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance of 2001, under which member countries commit themselves to independent or impartial electoral administration and timely electoral dispute resolution.
In addition to 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 organizations; many more organizations have adopted it subsequently. In the SADC region, the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) and the Electoral Commissions’ Forum of SADC countries (ECF) have jointly developed and adopted the Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation (PEMMO), while the SADC Parliamentary Forum has established its own electoral norms and practices. These sets of principles and guidelines serve as benchmarks against which observer missions in the region assess whether an election is free, fair and credible.
