This brief report outlines the consensus-building process that led to the endorsement of the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation and the Code of Conduct for International Election Observers and discusses some of the continuing challenges facing the election observation community as a whole.

This book is a practical resource covering standards, rules, and other criteria that apply to elections around the world. The book is designed to help attorneys (and others observing or otherwise participating in the electoral process) understand the general standards and theoretical complexities of the field. Each author presents core principles to explain electoral processes and examines democratic elections in a broader political context. This comprehensive resource will help unite theory and practice.

Secrecy of the ballot

2.2.1 Role of the media

In recent decades, governments and NGOs--in an effort to promote democracy, freedom, fairness, and stability throughout the world--have organized teams of observers to monitor elections in a variety of countries. But when more organizations join the practice without uniform standards, are assessments reliable? When politicians nonetheless cheat and monitors must return to countries even after two decades of engagement, what is accomplished? Monitoring Democracy argues that the practice of international election monitoring is broken, but still worth fixing. By analyzing the evolving interaction between domestic and international politics, Judith Kelley refutes prevailing arguments that international efforts cannot curb government behavior and that democratization is entirely a domestic process. Yet, she also shows that democracy promotion efforts are deficient and that outside actors often have no power and sometimes even do harm. Analyzing original data on over 600 monitoring missions and 1,300 elections, Kelley grounds her investigation in solid historical context as well as studies of long-term developments over several elections in fifteen countries. She pinpoints the weaknesses of international election monitoring and looks at how practitioners and policymakers might help to improve them.

This Code of Conduct is designed to assist election administrators by providing general guidelines for their work. Election administrators face so many different circumstances and situations in their work that it would be impractical to attempt to make a firm rule for every possible situation. Rather, each person or organization using this Code of Conduct should apply it flexibly, together with good common sense, to meet the requirements of each particular situation. Part One The Functions of an Election Administration This Part includes a brief summary of the purpose, functions, objectives and fundamental ethical principles of election administration. Part Two Guidelines for Election Administration This Part includes an expanded statement of each of the fundamental ethical principles which form the basis of election administration, with an explanation and detailed guidelines to give effect to that principle. --Publisher's description p. 5.

The first of its kind, this book examines the mandates of and initiatives on electoral processes including election observation, electoral technical assistance, and gender mainstreaming of six regional organizations: the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, the League of Arab States, the Organization of American States, and the Pacific Islands Forum. This publication captures the experiences of each organization, including the regional context, achievements, limitations, challenges, and prospects. This is a policy-oriented collection, and each chapter provides thought-provoking recommendations for both policymakers and practitioners."