Election Administration: Designing Dimensions of Legal Reform

The legal design is the key instrument in creating the substratum of good election administration. It is the legal design of the electoral framework that facilitates the application of best electoral practices and empowers electoral management bodies to create, maintain, and apply best electoral practices. It is the legal design that sets the tone for transparency, creates the tools for good management practices, and ensures the maintenance of oversight of a level playing field during election campaigns. The reform of election administration is often triggered by post-general elections’ performance audits to identify and remedy weaknesses observed at the last general election and enables the election environment to be resilient and experience continuous renewal through the legal reform process.