Sergueï Kouznetsov practised as a lawyer in Russia before joining the Council of Europe in 1995. He joined the Venice Commission in 1998 as a legal officer in the elections and referendums division. Mr Kouznetsov has acquired extensive experience in South-Eastern Europe and in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States through his involvement in the preparation of Venice Commission opinions on constitutional and electoral issues and on legislation on political parties in Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia and Ukraine. He has participated in teams of legal advisors in several election observation missions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, most notably in Azerbaijan (2006, 2008), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2006), Palestine (2005), Russia (1993), Serbia (2007 and 2008) and Ukraine (2004, 2006, 2007). Ralf Lindner is a Senior Researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research in Karlsruhe, Germany. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Augsburg, Germany. His research interests include electoral behaviour and party systems in Europe and North America, the theory and practice of policy advice, and innovation, science and technology studies. Lindner’s publications include contributions to Elections in the Americas (ed. D. Nohlen, Oxford, 2005), Elections in Europe (eds D. Nohlen and P. Stöver, Baden-Baden, 2010) and a book analysing the impact of the Internet on political parties and interest groups (Politischer Wandel durch digitale Netzwerkkommunikation?, Wiesbaden, 2007). Augustin Loada is a Professor from Burkina Faso. He graduated in France and has been Professor of Public Law and Political Science at the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, since 1995. He was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in 2000 at Boston University, United States. He was also Dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Ouagadougou. He is currently Director of the Center for Democratic Governance (CGD), a Burkina Faso-based research centre that conducts studies in the fields of governance and democratization and contributes to strengthening the capacities of political actors (civil society, political parties, local authorities etc.) in democratic governance. Jesús Orozco-Henríquez is currently a Professor at the Legal Research Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and has been elected by the General Assembly of the Organization of American 215 Annex C. About the authors issues of institutional framework design. Other major assignments include acting as Chief Technical Adviser to the Palestinian Election Commission in 1996, and designing and planning the European Commission’s electoral assistance programme in Cambodia for the 1998 elections. He is a former Vice-chair and Secretary General of the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom and a former Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats in the UK.