WALLIS AJ [34] There is no internationally accepted definition of the term “free and fair elections”.25 Whether any election can be so characterised must always be assessed in context.26 Ultimately it involves a value judgement. The following elements can be distilled as being of fundamental importance to the conduct of free and fair elections. First, every person who is entitled to vote should, if possible, be registered to do so. Second, no one who is not entitled to vote should be permitted to do so. Third, insofar as elections have a territorial component, as is the case with municipal elections where candidates are in the first instance elected to represent particular wards, the registration of voters must be undertaken in such a way as to ensure that only voters in that particular area (ward) are registered and permitted to vote. Fourth, the 25 There is even a shift among international observers towards abandoning the “free and fair” standard and to ask instead whether the election is a legitimate expression of the will of the people or properly reflects the wishes of the people. In response to a question from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding this shift in the public discourse over elections, the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network said: “[A] shift has indeed taken place in the discourse of terms used to characterize the conduct of elections, and that consequently there are fewer references to elections as “free and fair”. This shift was seen as a trend which began in the 1990s, when elections that were described as “free and fair” at the same time could be seen by analysts to lack integrity, and it was also predicted to become a more widespread trend in the future. Moreover, one [Practitioners’ Network] member expected that the trend would go further as countries engage with new elections related technologies. Behind the shift in discourse lies a rising awareness among analysts that election observation should be less of a ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ judgement on an election-day event, and increasingly an effort to monitor and evaluate the process of an election, against international obligations voluntarily undertaken by countries.” Information available from the ACE website (15 February 2013), at http://aceproject.org/electoraladvice/archive/questions/replies/54818966. The ACE (Administration and Cost of Elections) Project was established by IDEA (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance), IFES (International Foundation for Electoral Systems) and UNDESA (United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs). In 2006 the name was changed to the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network (with the letters ACE no longer standing for Administration and Cost of Elections). ACE is a collaborative effort between nine organisations: IDEA, EISA (Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy), Elections Canada, INE (the National Electoral Institute of Mexico), IFES, The Carter Center, UNDESA, UNDP and the UNEAD (United Nations Electoral Assistance Division). 26 Bjornlund Beyond Free and Fair (Woodrow Wilson Centre Press, Washington DC 2004) at 94-128. The most comprehensive statement of the requirements for free and fair elections appears to be the Declaration on Criteria for Free and Fair Elections (Unanimously adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Council at its 154th session (Paris, 26 March 1994)). The Inter-Parliamentary Council is the international organisation of Parliaments established in 1899 to foster parliamentary dialogue, work for global peace and co-operation and promote representative democracy. Bjornlund at 100-117 provides a synoptic analysis of various attempts to state the requirements that must be satisfied for an election to be regarded as free and fair. Many of these requirements are inconsistent and contested. 20