A legal framework is always fundamental. Legal norms are mandatory and determine how the regulation of an electoral system works. Legal devices provide electoral actions with certainty and security.

Within democratic and constitutional regimes, electoral issues are legally regulated by diverse and coordinated legislation derived from a fundamental norm, or by a Constitution. Such instruments can be listed as follows:

• Constitution: It is a fundamental and mandatory rule from which derives the legal system of a country. The Constitution sets down basic rules on the way a nation and its government are organized, on the fundamental rights which will be enforced, on the basic principles guiding the electoral system, on the conditions that individuals have to satisfy to become citizens, on the existence of political parties, electoral authorities and electoral courts, and on procedural issues. Constitutional rules are the highest rules in a legal system; they cannot be modified easily and last longer than others.
• International treaties: International treaties promote fundamental rights, particularly those related to political participation and voting.
• Electoral laws: Electoral laws are normally enacted by the Congress. Democratic Congresses around the world represent the people’s will, through a representative mandate. The majority of electoral rules are contained in electoral laws. They are much more flexible than constitutional laws and are useful to regulate electoral topics in a more handy way. 
• Judicial precedents: These are rulings and resolutions issued by judges and courts in order to solve electoral disputes. Nowadays, they have reached a top standard quality due to the relevance of the judges and courts in general within a nation’s institutional life.
• Electoral Authorities’ Executive Orders: These are issued by administrative authorities in order to complement constitutional and legal rules.
• Codes of Conduct: These are rules agreed by political agents. The codes of conduct aim at enhancing respectful, ordered and civilized conduct during elections. Referees are usually in charge of enforcing these codes.

At the same time, it must be recognized that the terminology for elements of the legal framework differ between jurisdictions and also that jurisdictions need not necessarily have all the elements, as is the case for example in the United Kingdom where there is no written constitution. In other specific cases, additional unique instruments are relevant, for example, ”In post-conflict countries, the peace agreement may Stipulate the conditions for elections.”[i]