Committee of Ministers:

• The Committee of Ministers is the Council of Europe’s decision-making body.
• It is this body that decides new Council of Europe legislation in the form of conventions or recommendations.
• It supervises how countries are meeting their obligations to the European Convention on Human Rights and implementing judgments by the European Court of Human Rights. 

European Court of Human Rights:

• Individuals or states who believe that their civil or political rights as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights have been violated can bring a case. 
• The right to free and fair elections is set out in Protocol 1, Article 3. There are also factsheets on the right to vote, prisoners’ right to vote and a guide to case law

Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights:

• The department advises the Committee of Ministers in supervising how countries are enacting judgments of the Court and helps member states to achieve full, effective and prompt execution of judgments.

Parliamentary Assembly Election Observation and Interparliamentary Co-operation Division:

• The division works on issues identified in election observation reports.

Congress – Observation of Local and Regional Elections:

• The Congress follows up election observation reports approved by its monitoring committee and adopted at Congress plenary sessions, tracking recurring and transversal thematic issues and engaging in post-electoral dialogue

European Commission for Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission):

• The Venice Commission is the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters. It applies its expertise on constitutional law and standard setting through the code of good practice in electoral matters, legal opinions on (draft) legislation on elections, referendums and political parties, the Council for Democratic Elections, European conferences of electoral management bodies, and the electoral database ‘VOTA’.

The European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG):

• The Committee is a forum for member states to develop standards, discuss and follow up on issues of democratic governance.
• It has established a number of key standards, including: the Twelve Principles of Good Democratic Governance at local level (Principle 1), guidelines on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in electoral processes and recommendation on democratic accountability of elected representatives and elected bodies at local and regional level, on the participation of citizens in local public life and on the participation of young people in local and regional life.

Elections and Participatory Democracy Division:

• The division follows up recommendations by the Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress, the Venice Commission and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) .

Gender Equality Division:

• Gender equality – particularly balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making, including voting, and standing for election - is a core goal of the Council of Europe’ gender equality strategy. It is set out in a Committee of Minister’s recommendation on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision making