Multiparty (partisan) EMB

Advantages

• May promote election participation by opposing political forces
• May encourage voter participation
• Enhances electoral transparency
• Ensures political party input to EMB’s policy development
• Ensures links with critical electoral stakeholders
• Brings political experience to the management of electoral processes

Disadvantages

• Members' actions may be motivated by political interest
• May not have appropriate professional experience or qualifications
• May be unwieldy if all parties are represented
• May lack credibility if some parties are excluded or if political parties are not respected
• May find consensus decision making difficult
• EMB unity may suffer due to public disputes between parties
• EMB stability can be undermined by political parties replacing their representatives frequently

Expert (non-partisan) EMB

Advantages

• Impartial and neutral membership promotes credibility of EMB
• Likely to reject political pressure
• Professionalism of members
• Makes a range of expert knowledge available on the EMB
• Eminent public figure members raise profile of EMB
• May have a broad range of professional networks on which EMB can draw

Disadvantages

• May not be politically sensitive
• Actions may not be transparent to political actors
• May not have good links with critical electoral stakeholders
• Members may be regarded as traitors to ideals by civil society
• The best ‘experts’ may not be willing to serve
• May be difficult to find ‘non-partisan’ members in transitional environments

Combined EMBs

Advantages

• May achieve balance between political and technical considerations
• May encourage participation and expert members
• Expert members may counterbalance any attempt at partisan actions
• EMB transparent to political participants and has some professional credibility
• Both expert knowledge and political input available to EMB
• Links with both critical electoral stakeholders and public figures
• Has both political experience and professional networking capacities

Disadvantages

• Political and expert elements may have different agendas
• EMB may experience competitive leaking of information between its components
• May be unwieldy if all political and expert elements are represented
• May lack credibility if some parties are excluded
• May find consensus decision making difficult
• High calibre experts may not be willing to work with political elements