The Electoral Integrity Project organised a workshop in collaboration with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy in March 2025 examining how electoral reform is undertaken.
Election quality varies enormously around the world. Given concerns about global democratic backsliding, the issue of how to improve and protect election quality is a pressing policy problem. Passing reforms to improve the quality of elections, however, has often proved difficult to achieve. Incumbent governments may be reluctant to reform the rules which brought them to power. Should they have a majority in the legislature, they may seek to pass reforms which make it easier for them to win in the future, potentially further causing election quality to decline. Electoral reform may also struggle to appear on the policy agenda ahead of issues such as the economy, law and order or education. Governments may also be unfairly criticised for ‘rigging’ the electoral process by sceptical publics – when their proposals might be beneficial for electoral integrity.
The workshop considered following themes and questions:
What principles should underpin the electoral reform process?
What are the barriers to ensuring that the electoral reform process is democratic, inclusive, transparent and consensus oriented?
How can public trust be maintained?
What interventions can be adopted to help to ensure ‘good’ electoral reform?
Case studies of electoral reforms where the electoral process was strengthened / undermined.
The workshop aimed to come conclusions about the barriers and policies which can be enacted to bring about democratic electoral reform which meets the principles.
Select papers from the workshop will be published in a book with Oxford University Press.
Read the draft introduction to the book here: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58533f31bebafbe99c85dc9b/t/67d813627dc7085df1109f1d/1742213986631/Panel%2B1%2BJAMES%2BIntroduction.pdf&wmode=opaque
Watch opening session, below