Administration électorale

Topic IndexThe Development of Professional Electoral Management

Professional EMB members and staff need appropriate skills and most importantly a commitment to the principles of electoral management, including fairness, impartiality, independence, transparency, accessibility, and professionalism.
EMBs’ use of pubic service staff in secretariats can provide benefits of public sector experience, but can create challenges for EMB professionalization, especially in Governmental Model EMBs, where electoral work may not be the staff’s vocation. EMBs that can hire their own staff and are not subject to public service rules may be able to offer incentives to attract higher quality staff. The existence of attractive career paths in EMBs will assist in the professionalization and retention of staff.
EMB staff requirements are cyclical, with very high peaks that cannot justify maintenance of all of those staff permanently. Each EMB needs to devise appropriate strategies to promote effective use of temporary staff, which may include timely recruitment processes, availability of incentives and training opportunities, and regular contact mechanisms.
Equitable recruitment and employment practices – including open merit selection processes, gender balance, and a fair and safe working environment - fulfil an EMB’s internal responsibility as an institution that promotes equity in public life.
Investment in EMB staff training and development is critical for improving overall EMB effectiveness. This could be through internal courses, professional associations, academic qualifications, mentoring and skills transfer by consultants and senior mangers, or through external electoral management courses such as the BRIDGE course.
Operational training, especially for temporary staff, has been found to be most effective if it concentrates on specific technical processes, and includes simulations, backed by good quality materials such as manuals and checklists, instructions, appropriate audio-visual aids, and rigorous training evaluation.
EMBs typically need to provide operational training quickly for large numbers of electoral event staff. Mobile team training requires a relatively long training timetable, and simultaneous training a relatively large number of trainers. Cascade training is commonly used, though it requires strict timing and quality controls to ensure that accurate and complete information reaches the lower levels of the cascade in a timely manner.
EMBs may have to overcome negative influences on their professionalization, such as conflict environments, flawed legal frameworks, a temporary EMB institution, and insufficient or late release of funds

Outils personnels

ELECTORAL FRAMEWORK

ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION

ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT

ELECTORAL INTEGRITY

ELECTORAL OPERATIONS

Administration électorale