Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) are the institutions and/or bodies responsible for managing elections. IDEA’s relationship and work with EMBs around the world is at the heart of its work on electoral processes.
Building trust and professionalism in the management of electoral processes remains a major challenge for EMBs. In many instances electoral institutions face a ‘credibility gap’ with diminished public confidence in their integrity and diligence.
Many EMBs face basic design questions as they seek to work better: how should EMBs be structured to ensure that they can act independently? How do EMBs relate to the media, political parties, and donors? How can EMBs evaluate their performance and use experience to build sustainable elections?
In November 2006, International IDEA launched its Handbook on Electoral Management Design, which seeks to answer such questions and reduce the credibility gap. It targets electoral administrators, electoral administration designers and other practitioners involved in building professional, sustainable and cost-effective electoral administrations which can deliver legitimate and credible free and fair elections. It is a comparative study that shares best practices and know-how from around the world on financing, structuring and evaluation of Electoral Management Bodies.
For more information contact Sara Staino - s.staino@idea.int
