Regular consultation with civil society organisations can assist in maintaining good EMB relationships with a wide range of specific interest groups with a stake in the EMB’s activities. These may be organisations focusing on democratic development and electoral reform, governance, combating corruption, women’s empowerment, religious or ethnic tolerance, reforming legal systems, rights for people with disabilities, civic education, public sector reform, or human rights. Regular consultation with these stakeholders, as is practiced in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and South Africa, will allow their specific needs to be channelled directly to the EMB and the EMB’s programs in their support to be discussed and publicised. EMBs may also build positive relationships with civil society organisations by using them as partners to implement electoral activities, for example in training temporary electoral staff, or in implementing voter education programs.

It is helpful to the EMB to involve these interest groups in its policy formulation discussions. This could be done through mechanisms such as including representatives of a range of civil society organisations on working groups reviewing the electoral legal framework, or through inviting representatives to address or provide submissions to EMB policy committees.