Elections

Election assistance can be divided into three different categories: preparing and conducting, assisting in, supervising, and observing elections.

Preparing and Conducting Elections

This type of election assistance consists of an international organization performing all functions generally exercised by national and local authorities. International personnel is responsible for the entire election preparation, the election itself as well as the counting of votes. Organizing elections is generally part of a more comprehensive mandate and measures are carried out by long-term international civilian personnel. Nevertheless, a larger number of additional personnel is often deployed for a limited period of time to support immediate preparations as well as the election itself. This may include the following activities:

• Drafting the electoral code
• Establishing the election commission
• Delineating voting districts
• Compiling voters’ lists and registering voters
• Advising on issues of electoral systems and vote counting systems
• Registering political parties
• Performing administrative and technical preparations
• Organizing and setting up polling stations
• Providing technical support (ballot boxes, computers)
• Administering the election process and the vote counting
• Engaging in voter education
• Training of election officials and local election monitors

Assisting in Elections

This type of support may include financial, technical and logistical assistance in all of above areas, however, the national authorities run the elections in their own name.

Supervision Elections

The responsibility for the preparation and implementation of elections rests with local authorities while international personnel serve in a supporting function. In particular, it is the role of election supervisors to guarantee that the election complies with international standards, namely, that it is free and fair. Election supervisors - in contrast to election observers - may intervene in the election process and offer practical assistance. They usually stay in the country for about a week.

Observing Elections

Electoral observers monitor the election process and collect information for an overall assessment of the elections. Their role is limited to observation; they are not allowed to intervene in the process.

Two types of observers are generally deployed in election observation missions: long-term observers (LTOs) remain in the country for a period between four to twelve weeks. They observe the voter registration process, election campaign, election day, vote counting, and the post-election period. Short-term observers (STOs) are deployed for between one and two weeks and primarily observe the actual voting process as well as the vote count.

updated September 2009