Special feature by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and dgGovernance

Author: Antonio Spinelli, Senior Programme Officer, International IDEA

Essential Functions of an Electoral Framework

Managing an election is a vast, complex and costly task, often to be implemented under great logistical and time pressure and always in strict compliance with established rules. A number of stakeholders - such as the electorate, the political parties, the civil society, electoral officials, candidates, the media, international and domestic observers - participate in this task, all of whom should be accountable to the law and fully aware of their respective rights, roles and responsibilities in the electoral process.

© Anoli Perera 2003

An electoral framework is therefore a prerequisite for credible, participatory, free and fair electoral processes since it:

• provides for the required levels of accountability and confidence of all stakeholders;
• ensures the enforcement of rules, regulations and sanctions through administrative or legal action;
• establishes the rules governing the organisation and holding of elections;
• defines how elections are to be conducted, by whom, when, who is eligible to participate and the rdefines how elections are to be conducted, by whom, when, who is eligible to participate and the resources available for conducting them;
• sets checks and balances on election administration and policies within the electoral management body (EMB);
• regulates the independent monitoring of the process by the civil society and the media and its oversight by an ad hoc committee or governmental body.

Hence, the term "electoral framework" refers to a complex combination of elements required for holding democratic elections that comprises, on the one hand, regulatory provisions and instruments governing the electoral process (such as constitutional rules, electoral laws, complementary regulations, implicit or explicit codes of conduct) and legislative, administrative and monitoring institutions, on the other.

The electoral framework covers and regulates essential elements of an electoral process, as the design of the electoral system, the enfranchisement of voters, the establishment of an Electoral Management Body (EMB) and its functioning, the creation of accurate and reliable voters' register, the regulation of parties, candidates, electoral campaigns, the resolution of electoral disputes and other vital aspects of the electoral process.

Guiding Principles for an Electoral Framework The fairness of an election, as well as its overall efficiency, is contingent to a large extent on the appropriateness and responsiveness of its electoral framework, which must meet a number of essential principles. These include:

• Flexibility. As one of the primary regulatory instruments of an electoral framework, the electoral law has essential functions to specify the elements of the electoral system and to provide procedural guarantees that assure the right to suffrage to those who are eligible. However, it is not appropriate for an electoral framework to be based entirely on the electoral law, which in most of the instances could prove difficult to reform. Practical experience in designing, implementing and reforming electoral processes (particularly in democracies in transition) has demonstrated the importance of leaving some reasonable margins of flexibility for the adaptation, interpretation and gradual improvement of an electoral framework, of its relevant legislative, administrative and supervisory regulations and of the decisions of the EMB.
• Impartiality. Another fundamental principle for an electoral framework is the level of impartiality it should confer to a democratic process, given the fact that - due to the partisan nature of politics and society - impartiality cannot be taken for granted. Adequate mechanisms to safeguard and enforce impartiality have to be entrenched in the electoral framework, in the administration of the electoral process and in the conditions for participation.
• Credibility. An electoral context may have diverse forms and be attained in different manners, but its robustness and overall credibility are generally confirmed by the levels of recognition, acceptance, respect and trust that all stakeholders in the electoral process demonstrate in the electoral framework.

Electoral Frameworks, Democratic Governance and Development

Several countries have engaged in processes to reform their electoral frameworks so to better meet some of the most fundamental goals of democratic governance, such as transparency, accountability, credibility, confidence, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, sustainability, responsiveness, and representation. As a fundamental component of democratic governance, elections empower citizens with their legitimate right to:

• actively participate in decisions that have a direct impact on their lives; and
• hold the representatives they have elected as fully accountable for their performance.

Therefore, a free and fair electoral process is not only an essential element for ensuring political stability and effective rule of law, but also for favouring conditions conducive to wider goals, as development, economic growth and investment. In fact, a credible and impartial electoral framework confers to an elected government the required political legitimacy and a clear mandate to address a number of challenges relating to the Millennium Development Goals, among which human development and poverty alleviation.

The crucial importance of democratic governance in the context of human development was emphasized by the world's leaders at the Millennium Summit, where they committed to: “spare no effort to promote democracy and strengthen the rule of law, as well as respect for all internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development”.

Electoral Frameworks: Challenges, Achievements and Priorities

Despite the various democratisation efforts undertaken in different regions of the world, yet, the impact of change and the full effectiveness of reforms remain a challenge. Very often, steps towards democracy disappoint, bring intangible benefits in terms of more equality or more effective and responsive governance and leave citizens highly disenchanted. Thus, the increasing lack of confidence in elected institutions, the resultant political apathy and declining voters’ turnout have moved from established democracies to more vulnerable ones still struggling to consolidate their democratic systems and institutions.

Electoral management bodies, legislators, international organizations and the donor community, in an attempt to reverse these negative trends, have focussed their work to strengthen and enhance electoral frameworks. While the nature of these efforts and their intended impact varied extensively in each case and according to the specific environment in which they were implemented, in general, electoral reform initiatives have addressed the creation of more credible and efficient electoral frameworks by:

• supporting election officials, legislators and executive branch officials to revise the laws regulating the conduct of the electoral institutions and political parties;
• strengthening the overall regulatory provisions of an electoral process, broadly embracing areas such as the establishment of decentralized regional election commissions, the electoral districting, voter registration, candidates nomination and registration, the voting and counting process, voter information, vote tabulation, appeals and grievances, resolution of electoral disputes, etc;
• building the professional capacities of EMBs through the provision of specialised and sustainable operational/technical training programmes for electoral administrators and polling officers;
• conducting voter education and information campaigns targeting the general electorate and groups with special needs;
• supporting the election supervisory body on complaint adjudication and law enforcement; and,
• promoting the fundamental principles of transparency and accountability in electoral administration, facilitating the disclosure/dissemination of information/decisions and the tabulation/announcement of election results by the EMB.

While it must be recognized that some of these initiatives achieved remarkable results, yet there are emerging issues and challenges to further strengthen electoral frameworks that still require continuous attention and analysis:

• important experiences and lessons-learned acquired over two decades of reforms targeting the development of efficient electoral frameworks need to be synthesised into acceptable and workable models and standards and made available to others facing the same needs;
• the undergoing efforts in various parts of the world to promote regional technical cooperation and networking on electoral administration have to be streamlined and adequately supported;
• mechanisms of electoral dispute resolution need to be improved and require broader attention and support;
• there is an increasing, crucial need for locally-owned, needs-tailored, easily accessible comparative information, tools, resources and services on electoral law, systems and management as well as in areas relating to reform of constitutional and legal structures; and
• key structural elements of EMBs (e.g. their responsibilities, accountability, sustainability and financing) need to be analysed more in depth and resulting lessons carefully drawn.

International IDEA's Work on Electoral Frameworks Issues

With many actors now engaged in democracy promotion and in activities supporting the development of effective electoral frameworks, IDEA’s constant challenge is to identify important areas where it could provide particular added value. IDEA has situated itself at the interface of academia and the electoral practice, between the new and the old democracies, between the donor community, the non-governmental universe and pressure groups, both at international and local level. That is an important niche since those who are operational have rarely the opportunity to interact with those with the resources and often lack the time to reflect, analyse and compare.

IDEA has the key task of “filtering” the knowledge from the analysts and the practitioners in the field, collecting, comparing and digesting that knowledge, then transforming it into useful tools, primarily for practitioners and pressure groups, but also for the democracy assistance community that can disseminate and apply useful tools and practical knowledge. Thus, IDEA’s areas of expertise and concentration remain highly relevant to the needs and challenges faced by the newer democracies.

In this context, electoral frameworks remain at the forefront of IDEA’s activities and interests. Presently, IDEA is actively engaged in developing and further enhancing a package of resources and tools that will continue to provide crucial support to the development of effective election frameworks. Work in progress includes a handbook on the structure and functioning of electoral management bodies and a handbook on electoral dispute resolution. Some of the most reputable of these resources are:

• The Handbook Funding of Political Parties and Election Campaigns
• International Electoral Standards: Guidelines for Reviewing the Legal Framework of Elections
• The Administration and Cost of Elections (ACE) Project
• The Election Process Information Collection (EPIC) Project
• Building Resources in Democracy, Governance & Elections (BRIDGE)
• Code of Conduct for the Ethical and Professional Administration of Elections
• The Handbook of Electoral System Design

Other resources on Electoral Frameworks:

• ElectionGuide.Org provides an election calendar, information on electoral structures, parties and candidates, and previous elections through CNN/IFES ElectionWatch, country information through the Cambridge FactFinder, links to country election authorities, summaries of election results, data on voter turnout, and real-time results. Backed by the global network of IFES, ElectionGuide.Org data are collected, verified, and organized daily at the F. Clifton White Resource Centre, the world's largest election-related clearinghouse for elections.

• Legislationline supports legislative reforms in the OSCE region in areas of law involving the protection of human rights and the rule of law (human dimension). Legislationline serves as a reference and research tool for all those who may be influential in pushing or generating input for legal reform.
• Chan Robles Virtual Law Library : collection of various materials describing electoral laws all over the world.
• Constitution Finder This index offers constitutions, charters, amendments, and other related documents. Nations of the world are listed alphabetically, and each is linked to its constitutional text posted somewhere on the Internet.
• Adam Carr Elections Archive This is one of the largest, most comprehensive and most up to date existing archives of electoral information, with election statistics from about 170 countries. This archive was created by and is maintained by Dr. Adam Carr of Melbourne, Australia.
• Electoral Results Archive (ERA) a collection of electronic files containing data on election results from around the world. While the growth of democracy around the world has led to increased demand for information on electoral results, accurate election-related data are not easily or widely available. This online database provides researchers, policy-makers, scholars, and others interested in elections with information on over 900 elections from around the world.
• Election Resources on the Internet Election Resources on the Internet Web site provides links to Internet sites around the world which have complete and detailed national and local election statistics, as well as other election resources. In English and Spanish.