Globalization has brought rapid and dynamic changes to organisational management, including election administration, and such changes are influencing EMBs to move away from the hierarchical structures and routines of the past.

Electoral networks are important for supporting electoral managers around the world to cope with the rapidity of change in the environments in which elections take place.

The concept of entities or bodies connected to or interested in election machinery working together to improve electoral standards has been developing along three parallel lines: national, regional, and international. Today more than ever before, an increasing number of election managers work together through well-established networks to enhance their capacity to effectively manage elections in their respective countries. Gone are the days when election managers were operating in isolation from each other and without any external support to improve their knowledge and skills.

The next set of files will discuss issues of EMB networking by first defining what election networks are and why they matter, and then identifying various networks which exist around the world: national, regional, and global. The files will also distinguish between networks of election management bodies versus the networks of organisations which support democratic elections, which are known as election support networks and which comprise non-governmental organisations.