The following steps should be taken to improve voting procedures.
(i) Different ballot papers should be on different coloured paper.
(ii) Posters carrying the names and symbols of all candidates and national lists should be displayed in all polling stations and polling centres.
(iii) All ballot papers that clearly show the intention of the voter should be considered valid.
(iv) The prohibition against family or group voting should be enforced by polling station committees.
(v) All polling centres and, wherever possible, all polling stations should be made accessible to the disabled.

The CEC should allow broader opportunities for election observers, including extending the date for accreditation. It is also important for future elections that domestic observer groups offer better training to their observers and that the different groups coordination better with each other

For future elections, the CEC should continue to monitor the media coverage of the election campaign to ensure compliance with legal provisions. In this context, the CEC should adopt a clear framework that specifies the means by which complaints against media coverage can be made and the possible sanctions that can be applied. Reports of the CEC’s media monitoring should be published.

Paid political advertising on private media should be required by law to be offered onm conditions of equal opportunity for all contestants. The rates for advertising during a campaign period should be published in advance. Paid advertising should always be clearly marked as such. The rates should be notified in advance through publication and should be the same for all contestants.

Reform of the legal framework for media regulation should be considered, especially in relation to updating the 1995 Press Law. The role of the PA in media regulation through the issuing of licences to electronic media should be transferred to an independent licensing body. The requirement for licensing print media should be removed. The right of the PA to interfere in or control media content should be stopped. Criminal prosecution for defamation should be abolished.

The CEC should enforce the requirement for public officials and bodies to show impartiality during the election campaign. Where allegations are made against public officials for showing partiality, the complaint should be treated within clear and established guidelines.

The Election Law should be amended, or new legislation be introduced, to provide a legal basis for the registration and regulation of political entities. The legislation should require te submitters of national lists to have a legal status.

The CEC should publish the final voter register ahead of election day. The voter register for early voting by members of the security forces should be made available, with appropriate security safeguards, to election stakeholders. The legal requirement to allow for inspection and challenge of preliminary voter registers should be complied with on all occasions.

Without prejudice to the final settlement of the Jerusalem issue, the following recommendations are made in relation to voting by Palestinian voters resident in East Jerusalem:
(i) Eligible Palestinian voters resident in East Jerusalem should be allowed to exercise their established right to vote in Palestinian elections in conditions that meet international standards for democratic elections and which are proper, reasonable and equal to those enjoyed by other Palestinians. In particular, the Israeli and Palestinian authorities should agree to facilitate voting and campaigning in East Jerusalem. The Government of Israel should not have the discretion to block all voting from taking place in East Jerusalem.
(v) The CEC should be permitted to administer Palestinian elections in East Jerusalem. If voting is to continue to take place in post offices and administered by Israeli postal officers, the CEC should be permitted to supervise all stages of the voting process.
(ii) Irrespective of the long-term settlement of the Jerusalem issue, the Government of Israel should permit and facilitate the registration of voters resident in East Jerusalem as well as provide opportunities for voter education to take place.
(iii) All eligible voters should be able to cast their votes in East Jerusalem. If however, the number of voters able to do so is to be restricted or agreed to be limited, the Israeli authorities should: ensure the freedom of movement of voters between East Jerusalem and the West Bank; increase the number of polling locations in East Jerusalem; and ensure the locations chosen in East Jerusalem are suitable in size and layout for polling.
(iv) Procedures must be introduced to ensure the secrecy of the ballot for voters casting their votes in polling locations in East Jerusalem.
(vi) The Israeli authorities should provide a guarantee of assurance that Palestinians resident in East Jerusalem and who vote will not face adverse consequences for doing so.
(vii)The Israeli authorities should facilitate adequate conditions for campaigning in East Jerusalem for Palestinian elections, including ensuring the freedoms of movement and association. Arbitrary restrictions on campaigning, including issuing fines for the use of posters, should not be applied , and if they are to be applied should be proportionate to the offence.

All participants in the electoral process must enjoy the fundamental freedoms related to elections. The occupation must not restrict candidates and other electoral stakeholders from enjoying freedom of movement to participate fully in all stages of future elections.

The CEC should undertake an urgent public review of its legal framework and administrative structures to ensure it is fully prepared to exercise its responsibility for administering municipal elections.

The Election Law should be amended to provide a clear legal basis for early voting or other forms of exceptional voting arrangements for Security Forces. The CEC should review the procedures used in the 2006 PLC elections to address concerns related to the prevention of forced voting or other pressures on voters, including prohibiting the unnecessary presence of senior officers. All procedures should be adopted well ahead of a future election day.

The composition of the EAC should not be changed during an election period. Wider steps should be taken to strengthen public confidence in the impartiality of the EAC.

The following amendments should be made to the Election Law to provide an effective mechanism to ensure compliance with the Election Law:
(i) The CEC or another appropriate independent complaints body should be given the power to issue administrative sanctions against proven violations of the Election Law.
(ii) The range of sanctions available to the CEC or the courts should be widened to allow appropriate measures for elections.
(iii) Sanctions should be proportionate to the offence. Criminal prosecution of election offences should be used only for serious offences or upon a referral to the public prosecutor by the CEC.
(iv) Complaints and sanctions should be able to be brought against legally-established bodies, including public bodies and political parties or coalitions, as well as individuals.
(vi) Complaints against alleged violations of the Election Law, especially on election day, should be capable of being submitted by all electoral stakeholders and not just candidates or their representatives.
(v) The list of electoral offences should be clarified as much as is possible. Broad ‘catch-all’ offences should be removed from legislation.

Persons responsible for attacks against the CEC, its offices and staff should be held accountable for their crimes. Prosecutions of such persons should be pursued.

A Media Law should be adopted to properly regulate and guarantee the multiple functions of the mass media, and to give them a clearer and more solid role in Nicaraguan society. An independent institution should be established to enforce media regulations.

Free airtime should be provided by the state-owned electronic media, as well as by other electronic media to provide all contesting political parties with a basic platform to communicate their political proposals to the population.

The CSE should begin to use its authority to require the media to abide by the provisions set out in Articles 87 and 90 of the Electoral Law regarding the use of the media by political parties and the diffusion of electoral propaganda during the electoral campaign. The reasons presented for not enforcing these sections to date should no longer be an excuse for further inaction or omission.

An independent mechanism should be established for the resolution of electoral challenges and appeals. This could mean that such competences are attributed to a specific section of the judiciary or at least to a separate branch of the election administration that deals only with the supervision of the process and the resolution of challenges and appeals.

The publication of the preliminary results should be regulated by detailed and transparent rules. The CSE should be obliged by law to publish the preliminary results in their entirety, including the complete polling station breakdown, thus removing the possibility of the CSE deciding arbitrarily how many and which part of the results to be made public. Crucial statistics on voter turnout, number of valid and invalid votes, and the number of polling stations challenged and annulled should also be made public in the publication of preliminary results.

In case of challenges to polling station results that are substantiated, the results of the polling station should not be annulled, but rather recounted at the CED/CER level. The possibility of a polling station recount should also be introduced at the municipal level

The filling in of polling station and results forms and the completion of accuracy checks in the filling in of the results forms should be more specifically addressed in the training. Polling station staff should always be provided with calculators.

In order to rationalise costs and procedures, consideration should be given to reducing the overall number of polling stations and to increasing the number of staff and voters per polling station.

Voter list verification (giving citizens the opportunity to update or modify their information) should be subject to more rigorous quality assurance checks and should be
given better publicity. It would be more appropriate for emigrants or non-residents to be marked as such in the voter register.

The application, production and distribution of ID cards should be simplified and removed from the control of the political parties’ territorial structures. The distribution of ID cards should take place permanently at the municipal level, ideally in the same office that deals with civil registration.