Council of Europe - Venice Commission2019-09-252019-09-252015-08-072006-06-12http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/2247901. The main objective of the present study is to identify the recurrent challenges and weak points in the electoral legislation and the electoral administration in Europe against the background of international standards and good practices in electoral matters. The study refers to elections on both the national and the sub-national level. Problems of referendums have in principle not been considered.1 2. The focus of the study is on those states in which the Council of Europe has been engaged in making electoral recommendations or observing elections recently. These are the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, (Belarus), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro (including elections in Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo), the Russian Federation (including elections in the Chechen Republic), and Ukraine. Experiences from elections in other Council of Europe member states are, however, also taken into account in the analysis.engWith permission of the license/copyright holderelectoral lawelectoral administrationdemocratic electionschallengeselectionGlobal ethicsPolitical ethicsEthics of lawRights based legal ethicsPreprint