Regional organizations are in a delicate position when it comes to encouraging electoral integrity.

On the one hand, encouraging a free and fair electoral process necessarily means supporting a viable, competitive opposition. On the other hand, support for the opposition can easily be construed as bias and interference in the domestic political process.

This Discussion Paper offers recommendations based on the realities facing interregional organizations. The general recommendations are that interregional organizations’ efforts to improve the integrity of elections focus on increasing available information during the pre-election period, and offering diplomatic engagement and mediation services in periods of post-election conflict.