In most electoral systems,
political parties and candidates are required to register in order to participate
in an election. Public associations are
required to register as political parties in order to obtain the civil status
to conduct political or electoral activities in many countries.
The electoral laws also may provide for “groups of voters” or other
associations, which are not established political parties, to nominate
candidates.
Depending on the method of
election, a list of candidates may be put forward by political parties or other
nominating organizations (proportional system) or on their own behalf
(majoritarian system, or independent candidates in proportional systems). In some systems, a candidate cannot run for
office as an independent and must be nominated by a registered party. However, sometimes a number of candidates join
an independent list in order to satisfy registration requirements. Similarly, in situations in which
registration as a party is repeatedly refused (as with respect to parties
representing ethnic Albanians in FRY
Macedonia) the organization may simply publish a “list of independents”.
Registration helps make the
electoral process more transparent and helps to hold political entities
accountable by requiring them to provide information on their activities and
funding. Registration procedures and requirements may become integrity issues
if they are used to exclude particular parties or players from the election
process. The following subsections examine Political Party Registration and
Candidate Registration, and their relationship to electoral integrity.
