page_title: Electoral integrity
section_title: Electoral malpractices
hierarchical_section_title: Electoral integrity / Electoral malpractices
context_page_description: Electoral integrity refers to international standards and global norms governing the appropriate conduct of elections.
  These standards have been endorsed in a series of authoritative conventions, treaties, protocols, and guidelines by agencies of the international community, notably by the decisions of the UN General Assembly, by regional bodies such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Organization of American States, and the African Union, and by member states in the United Nations. Following endorsement, these standards apply universally to all countries throughout the electoral cycle, including during the pre-electoral period, the campaign, on polling day, and in its aftermath.
context_section_description: The contrary notion of 'electoral malpractice' refers to contests violating international standards and global norms. Problems can arise at every stage of the process, from electoral and ballot access laws favoring incumbents to lack of a level playing field in money and media during campaigns to inaccurate voter registers, flawed counts and partial electoral management bodies.
  There is nothing novel about problems of flawed or failed elections which suffer from fraud, corruption, or vote-rigging. Indeed, during the 18th and 19th Centuries, such practices were common in countries holding popular contests, including in rotten and pocket boroughs in Britain and machine politics in the United States. Concern about malpractices has grown in recent decades, however, along with the spread of elections to almost every state worldwide.
  Contemporary campaigns attracting considerable international concern include allegations of irregularities occurring during the 2012 Russian presidential electionand 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. Problems of violence during and after the 2007 Kenyan general election, and controversies in the 2013 Cambodian general election.
caption: William Hogarth The Polling 1774-1775
exif: {}