The Electoral Cycle has been designed by ACE Project - The Electoral Knowledge Network

The Council of Europe has a number of important reference standards on elections, starting with the binding obligation that all countries ensure the right to free elections set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. They include many others that guarantee regular, free, fair and transparent elections in member states and beyond.

The work done by the Council of Europe is essential and can be understood through the “electoral cycle” which provides a guide to each step in the electoral process. It is divided into three parts: the pre-election period (legal framework, planning and implementation, training and education, voter registration, electoral campaign); the election period (operations and election day, verification of results) and the post-election period.