Electoral reforms have a major impact on politics, shaping the balance of power and the “rules of the game” for elections. They also provide a chance to align a country’s legal framework with international standards, ensure stability while allowing flexibility for future needs, and strengthen the credibility of elections. However, the success of these reforms often depends as much on the process as on the changes themselves. When the process lacks trust among electoral citizens and political actors, reforms can fail to achieve their goals for different reasons, such as:
- Lacking political will or resources, thereby reducing reforms to mere formalities.
- Happening too late in the electoral cycle, leading to rushed implementation that disadvantages candidates and confuses voters.
- Being conducted in an opaque manner, involving only a few actors and fostering distrust.
- Excluding key societal groups like women, youth, marginalised groups, or civil society, missing valuable perspectives.
- Being manipulated to benefit those in power.
- Being based on misinformation or misunderstandings of the actual issues.
The Global Network for Securing Electoral Integrity (GNSEI) convenes more than 30 organisations and networks around a shared vision: protecting electoral integrity and democracy. It fosters collaboration, promotes best practices, and shapes new principles where needed. It developed this document to provide stakeholders with guideposts to mitigate against, address, and/or expose electoral reform challenges.
This document is the product of more than 50 consultations with a broad set of stakeholders around the world. The primary drafters of the Principles were Tanja Hollstein of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Michael McNulty of the United States Agency for International Development, and Therese Pearce-Laanela of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). Additional contributors included: the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), Democracy Reporting International (DRI), International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the Kofi Annan Foundation, Red de Observación e Integridad Electoral-Acuerdo de Lima (RedOIE), and The Carter Center.