Political party and candidate campaign codes of conduct may be included in the legal framework, as in Angola, Lesotho, South Africa and Nepal, or be an EMB-brokered voluntary arrangement between parties, as in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi and Nigeria. These codes are more effective if they are voluntarily agreed upon by the parties, but benefit from the EMB or electoral dispute resolution bodies being legally empowered to impose sanctions for breaches.
Equal access to the media and balance in their reporting on the election are intrinsic to a free, fair and credible election. Several EMBs, such as those in Indonesia and Tonga, have a mandate in the electoral legal framework to regulate political parties’ campaign methods and conduct in general. In a few cases, the EMB prescribes campaign behaviour. For instance in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the distribution of campaign material that depicts women or men in stereo- typical, offensive or humiliating ways is forbidden. In Nepal, the media code of conduct prohibits reporting that could potentially harm principles of gender equality and social inclusion, and messages that are likely to provoke violence. In other countries, such prohibitions are part of laws on media regulation or behaviour in public places or equity and anti-violence legislation. Jurisdiction issues relevant to the media’s treatment of election ‘news’ are more commonly left either to self-regulation or to a media council. This is the case in Zambia. An agreed upon code of conduct for the media is used in Liberia and Nepal.
Some EMBs also seek to regulate the conduct of the party in power to ensure that it does not use public resources in the election campaign. The quality of non-partisanship and the ability to create a level playing field for all political participants are pillars on which an EMB can build good-practice electoral management. A lack of electoral equity—for example, an electoral environment that favours the governing party—can undermine transparency and the credibility of elections and EMBs. While some of the factors and practices that contribute to electoral equity may lie outside the strict ambit of an EMB’s powers and functions, EMBs can work to ensure that the legal framework is fully utilized to promote equality and equity.
Some emerging democracies are unfamiliar with the concept of a level playing field. In countries that are influenced by Westminster models of government, or where the public service and state media have been required to be strictly loyal to the ruling party, the government has electoral advantages. Such advantages could include the power to determine an election date without consultation, the use of public resources for campaign activities and favourable media access.
In some countries, the electoral law for transitional elections has attempted to level the playing field by strictly controlling and limiting media advertising by the political contestants, requiring the EMB to allocate all campaign activities equally among the contestants and forbidding the use of any public resources for election campaigns.
The use of public resources for election campaigns is a challenge to EMBs in all countries. This area is rarely covered in electoral legislation. The Indian EMB has issued a code of conduct to govern the electoral use of public resources by government ministers to ensure that no cause is given for any complaint that the ruling party has used its official position during the election campaign (see Box 2).
Elements of election campaigns that are not directly related to political party activities are also under the jurisdiction of some EMBs. For example, electoral law in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Russia regulates the publication of political opinion polling. In countries such as Albania, Peru and Singapore, the EMBs are empowered to enforce bans on the publication of opinion polls during specified periods before voting day. However, courts in Canada and India have overturned or restricted EMB powers in this regard.
