Election Obligations & Standards Database

Obligations

• Genuine Elections That Reflect the Free Expression of the Will of the People
• Periodic Elections
• Freedom from Discrimination and Equality Before the Law
• Right to an Effective Remedy
• State Must Take Necessary Steps to Give Effect to Rights
• Rule of Law
• Equal Suffrage
• Right and Opportunity to Participate in Public Affairs
• Universal Suffrage
• Secret Ballot

Election Parts

• Legal Framework
• Electoral System and Boundary Delimitation
• Election Management
• Voter Education
• Candidacy and Campaigning
• Voter Registration
• Voting Operations
• Vote Counting and Tabulation
• The Media
• Electoral Dispute Resolution

Issues

• Criteria for Boundary Appointment
• The Election Calendar and Enjoyment of Rights
• Safeguards to Prevent Falsification of Ballots
• The Content of Voter Education Campaigns
• Accuracy of the List
• Deterrence of Fraud
• Proxy Voting
• Equal Treatment of Candidates and Parties
• Female Candidates
• Special Measures

Criteria

• Each vote was of equal weight
• The apportionment criteria were publicly available and included details such as the number of residents, number of registered voters, number of actual voters, or a combination thereof
• Where variances occurred between the number of voters in various constituencies, they were small
• The election calendar provided sufficient time for a review of the boundaries to take place as necessary
• Equal suffrage was respected throughout the electoral process, including vote counting, consistent with the concept of one person, one vote
• Safeguards were put in place to ensure that there existed no opportunity to falsify or substitute ballots, including during the vote counting and tabulation process
• Voter education campaigns included information about the voting and registration process
• Voter education campaigns included information on restrictions that may be applied to participatory rights
• Voter education efforts included information about all electoral rights, including equal suffrage, the right to vote and be elected, the right to an effective remedy, and the secret ballot
• The state took steps to facilitate registration
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Summaries

• The expression of the will of the people in establishing government is fundamental in every election.
• Any measures to undermine the will of the people will render an election unfair.
• Whether the will of the people has been fulfilled also depends on the extent to which other obligations associated with the electoral process have been achieved.
• Genuine elections are required to express the will of the people.
• Voters must be offered a real choice
• Measures derogating from provisions of the covenant must be of a temporary and exceptional nature and strictly required by the exigencies of the situation.
• Elections are to be held at periodic intervals.
• The interval between elections must not be unduly long, such that the authority of the government is no longer representative of the will of the electors.
• In most instances, electoral processes will be held between two and five years apart.
• The scheduling of voting processes must allow adequate time to successfully implement other necessary components of the electoral process.
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Quotes

• "To vote and be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the voter."
• "During authentic elections there are guarantees for revealing the freely expressed will of the people and for its direct execution."
• "Everyone shall have the right and opportunity and in the state of which he is a citizen (b) to vote and to be elected at elections held on the basis of universal and equal suffrage by secret ballot, that guarantees the free expression of the will of the voters."
• "The High Contracting Parties undertake to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature."
• "The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures."
• "State Parties shall implement this Charter in accordance with the following principles:(3) Promotion of a system of government that is representative."
• "Free elections that will be held at reasonable intervals by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedure, under conditions which ensure in practice the free expression of the opinion of the electors in the choice of their representatives."
• "The participating States declare that the will of the people, freely and fairly expressed through periodic and genuine elections, is the basis of the authority and legitimacy of all government."
• "The requirement that elections be fair is also an easily identifiable international norm. Any measures which could have the effect of circumscribing or frustrating the will of the people would, of course, violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and render the elections unfair."
• "The travaux preparatoires of the [International] Covenant [on Civil and Political Rights] indicate that the framers of the instrument saw this requirement as comprising of two broad elements. The first was procedural, and included the guarantees of periodicity, equality and universality of suffrage, and secrecy of the ballot. The second was outcome-oriented and defined genuine elections as those which reflected the free expression of the will of the electors."
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