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.