The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network is the world’s largest online community and repository of electoral knowledge. It provides comprehensive information and specialised advice on any aspect of electoral processes. The foremost aim of ACE, is to foster the integrity of elections and to promote credible, sustainable, professional and inclusive electoral processes throughout the globe.

Launched at the United Nations in 1998 by International IDEA, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), ACE was initially created as the Administration and Cost of Elections project. It was the world’s first online resource of its kind in the field of elections.
Today, the project is known as the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, expanding its mandate in 2006 to become a more dynamic and comprehensive knowledge repository, covering far more than just an Encyclopaedia on the administration and cost of elections.

This includes, among other things:

• Provision of Expert Advice and real time knowledge services by the ACE Practitioners’ Network, an online network of over 1000 election professionals from around the world;
• One-stop-shop Topics Pages which provide in-depth encyclopaedia reading and related information for more than 20 topics covering key electoral issues and steps of the electoral cycle;
• Comparative Data, a systematic collection of election-related data for more than 200 countries and territories;
• Country Pages for more than 200 countries and territories;
• A virtual library of Electoral Materials from around the world, including sample ballot papers, civic information materials, legislations and regulations;
• A global Election Calendar; with upcoming national elections;
• An Election Observation Portal with more than 2,000 election observation reports; and
• An overview of the modular professional development program BRIDGE and its sixteen modules; and
• A list to additional Extended Learning opportunities for EMB’s and election administrators.