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A free and fair election is defined by political scientist
Robert Dahl Robert Alan Dahl (; December 17, 1915 – February 5, 2014) was an American political theorist and Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He established the pluralist theory of democracy—in which political outcomes are ...
as an
election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
in which "
coercion Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
is comparatively uncommon". A free and fair election involves political freedoms and fair processes leading up to the
vote Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...
, a fair count of eligible voters who cast a ballot (including such aspects as
electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...
or
voter suppression Voter suppression is a strategy used to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing specific groups of people from voting. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting ...
), and acceptance of election results by all parties. An election may partially meet international standards for free and fair elections, or may meet some standards but not others. A study published in 2016 of elections in 169 countries over the period 1975 to 2011 estimated that only about half of elections were free and fair. The study evaluated ten dimensions of the conduct of elections: # ''legal framework ''(whether there was a constitutional right of citizens to vote and seek office, whether elections were held at regular intervals, and whether election-related laws were not changed immediately before an election) # ''electoral management'' (whether
gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...
occurred and whether election management bodies, if they existed, were independent,
impartial Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over another ...
, and
accountable Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the pub ...
); # ''electoral rights'' (whether citizens were generally able to vote on the basis of
equal suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
and access); # ''voter registers'' (whether they were accurate, current, and open to voters for easy and effective
voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The ru ...
); # ''
ballot access Elections in the United States refers to the rules and procedures regulating the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots. As the nation's election process is decentralized b ...
'' (whether candidates had in practice a right to compete in the election, with rejections of candidate applications being based on "internationally recognizable and acceptable norms" and with no candidate receiving more than 75% of the votes (an signal of malpractice or
election boycott An election boycott is the boycotting of an election by a group of voters, each of whom abstains from voting. Boycotting may be used as a form of political protest where voters feel that electoral fraud is likely, or that the electoral system i ...
s); # ''campaign process'' (whether elections were carried out without violence,
intimidation Intimidation is to "make timid or make fearful"; or to induce fear. This includes intentional behaviors of forcing another person to experience general discomfort such as humiliation, embarrassment, inferiority, limited freedom, etc and the victi ...
, bribery (
vote buying Vote buying (also referred to as electoral clientelism and patronage politics) occurs when a political party or candidate distributes money or resources to a voter in an upcoming election with the expectation that the voter votes for the actor hand ...
), use of government resources to advantage the incumbent, or a "massive financial advantages" for the incumbent; # ''media access'' (whether
freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogn ...
was protected and whether the ruling party was disproportionately benefited by government-owned media; # ''voting process'' (whether elections were conducted by secret ballot on a
one person, one vote "One man, one vote", or "one person, one vote", expresses the principle that individuals should have equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of political equality to refer to such electoral reforms as universal suffrage, ...
basis, with adequate security to protect voters and protection against
ballot box stuffing Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...
, multiple voting, destruction of valid ballots, and other forms of manipulation; # ''role of officials'' (whether the election was administered with adequately trained personnel, free from campaigning or intimidation at polling places, and with the ability of international election observers and party representatives to observe polling places; and # ''counting of votes'' (whether votes were tabulated transparently and free of fraud or tampering) The 2016 study found that election quality decreased over time, primarily due to unfair election processes prior to election day. This was attributable to more
non-democratic Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choose gove ...
regimes holding elections over time; these elections sought to
legitimize Legitimation or legitimisation is the act of providing legitimacy. Legitimation in the social sciences refers to the process whereby an act, process, or ideology becomes legitimate by its attachment to norms and values within a given society. I ...
the regime's rule without incurring the risk of the regime actually losing power. Increased election observation over the period may have also led to more flawed elections being tallied. The presence of election monitors and constraints on
executive power The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems ba ...
increases the probability of a free and fair election by 31 percentage points. The presence of election monitors, however, may be an
endogenous variable In an economic model, an exogenous variable is one whose measure is determined outside the model and is imposed on the model, and an exogenous change is a change in an exogenous variable.Mankiw, N. Gregory. ''Macroeconomics'', third edition, 1997 ...
because democracies are more likely to invite election observers than non-democratic regimes.


See also

*
Electoral integrity 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 t ...
*
Unfair election An unfair election is a concept used by national and international election monitoring groups to identify when the vote of the people for a government is not free and fair. Unfairness in elections encompasses all varieties of electoral fraud, voter ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * *{{cite book , last1=Bjornlund , first1=Eric , title=Beyond Free and Fair: Monitoring Elections and Building Democracy , date=2004 , publisher=Woodrow Wilson Center Press , isbn=978-0-8018-8048-3 , language=en


External links


Explainer: Free and Fair Elections
Elections by type