Any country is free to select the most suitable electoral system. However, such a freedom is limited and has to be established in line to international regulations and principles. Among countries with a colonial history, there is a common trend according to which the revision of legal frameworks brings along an adoption of colonial electoral systems. That is the reason why the revision of any country’s legal framework has to be undertaken in a sensitive way that takes into account each country’s historical, social and cultural particularities.

It can be said, however, that a legal framework has to be structured in a way in which principles are included as follows:

• It has to be straightforward;
• It has to be intelligible;
• It has to be clear;
• It has to include all electoral components, which are necessary to ensure the undertaking of democratic elections.

Likewise, it is necessary that a legal framework includes effective mechanisms to ensure a full enforcement of the law and a full enforcement of civil rights. Otherwise, punishments must be upheld against any transgression.  

A legal framework has to contain effective remedies to protect civil rights. The right to vote is a fundamental human right, just as the right to mend or remedy any infringement of this right. Any legal framework has to be composed by as many sufficient and detailed rules as necessary to protect civil rights.

Legal frameworks have to endorse the rights of voters, political parties, and candidates to file up appeals before legitimate authorities or legitimate courts to challenge any violation against civil rights. Electoral laws have to oblige electoral authorities and courts to resolve electoral appeals related to violations to the right to vote in an agile way. In order to achieve definitive rulings on electoral issues, electoral laws have to authorize higher authorities to review the orders and resolutions issued by inferior ones. Rulings issued by the highest authorities and the highest courts, have to be enforced immediately. 

 Legal frameworks also have to establish reasonable deadlines within which electoral appeals can be filed up, analyzed and resolved. The rulings on electoral appeals have to be communicated to the contesting parties immediately. Some appeals can be solved with no delay, while the resolution of others can take days. Bearing this in mind, the introduction of some flexible deadlines can be useful as long as the rank of the deciding authority, the nature of the case and the electoral urgency are all taken into account. Many problems can be avoided when appeals are solved just in time. However, some appeals can only be filed up after the election has concluded.

The previous ideas outline basic rules that have to be included within the legal framework. Anyway, each country can adopt the most suitable mechanisms for the resolution of electoral disputes.

Besides, it can be claimed that free and fair elections must always fulfill basic principles aimed at ensuring universal, free, equal, direct, and confidential votes. Such principles can be listed as follows:

•  Voting has to be granted to everyone.
• Democratic rights and freedoms have to be used in a free way, especially those related to electing public officials.
• Elections have to be undertaken on a regular basis.
• Electoral authorities have to be neutral.
• Every single vote has to be issued freely and has to be counted in a transparent way.
• An independent system of control has to be installed in order to ensure the elections’ rightfulness.

Such principles are usually contained in international treaties and covenants. They are also contained in regional treaties and United Nations’ documents. Among the international instruments that include such principles, it is possible to list some as follows:

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948);
• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966);
• The European Covenant for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950);
• The Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE-1990);
• The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1984);
• The American Convention on Human Rights (1969); and
• The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981).

The execution of the aforementioned principles in every single country depends on the inclusion of those countries in the international documents. However, the normative guidance delivered by international rules is expected to encourage promotion and support of international rules.

When a nation’s legal framework is created or under revision, this nation is bound by the international treaties it has signed. Therefore, electoral rules derived from international treaties have to be upheld and will have even constitutional or statutory rank. Other United Nations’ documents unsigned by a country can, nonetheless, incorporate persuasive electoral standards within the electoral regime of such country.

The revision of legal frameworks can also take into account topics such as:

• Final reports from the different missions of electoral observation (both national and international), as long as such reports are available;
• Requirements from any international agreement signed by the country that may have an impact on electoral laws, and
• Codes of conduct related to electoral topics and developed by governmental or non-governmental international organizations. Appendix 3 of this work includes some examples about what a code of conduct might be.

It is important to evaluate the way in which electoral legal frameworks governing a country are in line with international standards. Such evaluation can offer a catalogue of constructive proposals in order to improve and correct legal frameworks as well as to introduce more effective practices aimed at improving the legislation. At the same time, it is important to remember that there are no general models for the execution of electoral rules. Therefore, systems and practices that are applied in one country are not necessarily ideal for another one.