Features of free and fair election
What are the features of free and fair election in the country you live in? Each election process has the administrative organs which manage the process of election. How does it look like to have a fair election without fraud? What are the primary characteristics of a free and fair election? Read to find the answers!
How many times did you participate in the election to local government or went to give your vote for a candidate that was going to become the state president? How many times did you hear about “fair and free elections” and faced a totally opposite process?
How can we define the meaning of free and fair elections at present times if the fraud seems to be a norm? In this article, you will find out the characteristics of free and fair elections.
Election
Photo: noi-polls.com
The right to give a vote to support a particular candidate during elections is guaranteed to people by the primary law of a country called the Constitution. However, it often occurs that some individuals wish to cheat and use all the possible means to influence free and fair elections.
What does “election” mean? What are the features, that define its fairness? Merriam-webster.com defines “election” as the right, power, or privilege of making a choice. It is one of the significant features of democracy, which represents the will of electors, residents of a country.
For elections to express the will of voters for real, they have to be free and fair.
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What is free and fair election?
The word “free” means that every person who has a right to vote due to the law and has reached the necessary age, can go and express his or her will voluntary, without being influenced by money, threats, and intimidation. It is up to him or her to decide whether to give his or her voice or not to any candidate. Furthermore, it is his/her right to keep the favored candidate’s name in secret.
Regarding the term “fair”, one has to say that all the candidates or political parties on the list have equal rights during the election process: they can hold meetings, and campaigns, which are their way to convey their ideas to the voters. Thus, get their support in the form of votes.
In this way, the election is a complete reflection of the will showed by the residents of a country.
But what makes elections free and fair? What are features of free and fair election?
Characteristics of free and fair election
In 1998, the Inter-Parliamentary Union published “Codes of Conduct for Elections”. It was used by many countries as a model to conduct fair and free elections.
Among the primary characteristics that define free and fair elections are:
- a supportive legal and regulatory framework
- universal suffrage
- equality of the vote
- Electoral Regulations (Codes of Conduct for Elections) accepted by all the sides of electoral interaction
- guarantees to political freedom
- voter information
- the absence of political violence
- free and safe atmosphere provided by professional police
- fair campaign practices
- an adequate description of candidates and the activity of political parties by state media
- secret ballot
- all the opposing sides accept the results of the election
- periodicity
Free and fair election plays a crucial role for residents of a country and its future. It is the way to achieve peace and stability in a country.
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Source: Legit.ng
