A 2016 study evaluated ten dimensions of the conduct of elections between 1975–2011: •
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 occurred and whether election management bodies, if they existed, were independent,
impartial, and
accountable); •
electoral rights (whether citizens were generally able to vote on the basis of
equal suffrage and access); •
voter registers (whether they were accurate, current, and open to voters for easy and effective
voter registration); •
nomination rules/ballot access (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, a signal of malpractice or
election boycotts); •
campaign process (whether elections were carried out without violence,
intimidation, bribery (
vote buying), use of government resources to advantage the incumbent, or a "massive financial advantages" for the incumbent); •
media access (whether
freedom of speech 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 basis, with adequate security to protect voters and protection against
ballot box stuffing, 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) == Estimates ==