Preface

International IDEA seeks to promote sustainable democracy around the world and has consequently laid much emphasis on supporting efficient and sustainable electoral processes. IDEA has in this context worked on clarifying, defining and promoting internationally-recognized standards in the election field. The Institute has published three Codes of Conduct covering election administration, election observation and political parties campaigning in
democratic elections, and Guidelines for external involvement in election observation.
This book sets out internationally-recognized standards applicable across a range of areas of electoral legislation. This, we hope, will be useful to those engaged in reviewing existing legal frameworks for elections, or formulating
new electoral legislation.