An EMB’s activities generally require both the determination of policy and the implementation of major administrative and logistics operations. Where the Governmental Model of electoral management is used, both of these functions are undertaken by civil servants, who are employed by one or more bodies of the executive. While members of the executive branch of government, such as ministers, may also take an active role in EMB policy-making under the Governmental Model, it is more common for the head of its secretariat, who may be termed director of elections or have a similar title, to be responsible for policy. It is not usual for governmental EMBs to have members; rather, they are composed entirely of secretariat (public service) staff. An exception is the Czech Republic, where EMB members are appointed from the executive branch.
In EMBs under the Independent Model, the policy function is undertaken by individual(s) (i.e. the EMB’s ‘members’) from outside the executive branch who are specially appointed for this task. Their role is similar to that of the board of a corporation—to guide the direction of the EMB—although in many cases EMB members have a full-time and more ‘hands on’ role than would be usual for a corporate board. Similarly, under the Mixed Model, the component independent EMB is guided by a ‘board’ of members.
The use of the terms ‘independent model’ or ‘independent members’ should not be confused with the independence of the EMB, which depends on its actions (see Chapter 1). People appointed by political parties can act independently, and people appointed for their expertise can act partially.
