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Elections and electoral systems - Elections and electoral integrity

3 important questions on Elections and electoral systems - Elections and electoral integrity

The increasing use of legislative and presidential elections around the world (in democracies as well as dictatorships) has been accompanied by growing concerns about electoral integrity, which refers to:

The extent to which the conduct of elections meets international standards and global norms concerning 'good' elections. These norms and standards are usually set out in treaties, conventions, and guidelines issued by international and regional organizations. Violations of electoral integrate are refereed to as electoral malpractice.

Five factors that influence the electoral integrity in a country are:

Domestic cultural constraints (level of economic development, dependence on natural resources, legacy of conflict, inhospitable geography)
International community: countries that are more integrated into the global system will be more likely to adopt international norms and practices that encourage electoral integrity.
Non-partisan international organizations that monitor elections
Institutional design
Electoral management bodies

Benford's law states that:

Individuals who fabricate numbers have a tendency to do so uniformly. The underlying idea is that human attempts to manipulate election results lead telltale signs that can be picked up by statistical tests.