International Foundation for Electoral Systems Regulations What is the purpose of a regulation? Regulations (sometimes called rules or by-laws) are issued under the authority of a statute by a division of the government or by a special body, such as an EMB. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as “delegated” legislation. They provide administrative and technical detail to carry out the purpose of the statute. In an electoral context, an election law normally authorizes the EMB to issues regulations that specify, for example, how voters may exercise their rights under the law regarding each stage of the election. The statute often gives power to a committee of the legislature, or courts, to examine the regulations issued and review their scope and effectiveness, as well as their conformity with the general policy behind the legislation. This keeps control over their direction and prevents regulations effectively changing policy. However, mandatory review or approval of the regulations of an independent body, such as an EMB, could create conflicts of interest and constitute political interference with the EMB’s independence. Who drafts regulations? Regulations are usually drafted by the legal staff of the authority issuing them, under the policy instructions of the authority. Regulations are often drafted in the same style as statute legislation, and should use wording consistent with the statute. Sometimes a state will establish special commissions or regulatory boards, and the legislation that establishes these will usually authorize them to issue regulations and orders on certain issues in order to carry out their function. This may include a power to set minor penalties such as fines for violations. “If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law.” —Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 1949 An EMB is usually empowered to issue regulations and procedures to administer the stages of the election such as voter registration, candidate registration, campaigns, polling and counting and to issue orders dealing with specific situations, such as setting closing dates. Some election laws are so detailed that few regulations are needed. A regulation may be quite short and should be easily comprehensible to a wide audience. A procedure (discussed below) is typically more detailed and may be longer. Procedures generally require thorough training for election staff. There is a tendency for EMBs to combine regulations and procedures. The effect of this can be to bury important rules that all voters or candidates must know in a document that is full of process detail, and as a result the rules become almost invisible. A table of examples that distinguish between what may be enshrined in a constitution, what should be set out in legislation, what should be covered by a regulation, and what should be contained in a procedure, is set out at the end of this document. 14