The quality of non-partisanship and the ability to create a ‘level playing field’ for political participants are pillars on which an EMB can build good practice electoral management. A lack of electoral equity – for example, an electoral environment which is tilted in favour of the governing party - can undermine free and fair elections and the credibility of the EMB. While some of the factors and practices which contribute to electoral equity may lie outside the strict ambit of the EMB’s powers and functions, EMBs can work to ensure that the legal framework is fully utilised to promote equality and equity.
Some emerging democracies find the concept of ‘a level playing field’ unfamiliar. Countries influenced by Westminster models of government, or where the public service and state media have been required to have strict political loyalty to the ruling party, have traditions of electoral advantages lying with the government. Such advantages could be in the power to determine an election date without consultation, in the use of public resources for campaign activities, and in favourable access for the ruling party to the media.
In some countries, electoral law for transitional elections has attempted to even out the playing field by strictly controlling and limiting media advertising by the political contestants, requiring all campaign activities to be allocated equally by the EMB to each contestant, and forbidding the use of public resources for election campaigns.
The use of public resources for election campaigns is a challenge to EMBs in all countries. This is an area that is rarely covered in electoral legislation itself, although there are a few exceptions. Some EMBs, such as those of Bangladesh and India, have issued a code of conduct to govern the electoral use of public resources by ministers of government.
