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Background Readings and LinksGlobal Practice Meeting General Reports or Briefs on Elections UNDP/BDP Practice Notes and Technical Notes: In addition to the Practice Note on Electoral Systems and Processes, other UNDP/BDP Practice Notes are available at www.undp.org/policy/practicenotes.htm. Of particular interest may be the Note on Parliamentary Development (2002) and the Note on Civic Education (2004). There are also a number of Technical Notes on related subjects available, such as "The Impact of Electoral Design on the Legislature" and "Political Parties in the Legislature", which can be found at www.undp.org/governanceparldev.htm. Electoral Assistance Division guidelines: The Electoral Assistance Division (EAD) of the UN Department of Political Affairs has produced a range of reference resources for UN electoral assistance. The web document Main Types of Assistance Activities sets out the main kinds of electoral assistance activities that the United Nations engages in. United Nations Electoral Assistance: A System-Wide Endeavor sets out the system-wide nature of UN electoral assistance, tapping the complementary expertise and capacities of several organs of the United Nations family. EAD also offers limited training to UN staff in elections, for which UNDP staff are normally eligible. Electoral Management Bodies as Institutions of Governance: Probably the most substantive UNDP publication to date on the topic of electoral assistance is Electoral Management Bodies as Institutions of Governance , a UNDP-IFES collaboration drafted by Professor Rafael Lopez-Pintor, which was published in February 2000. This book sets our the importance of independent and permanent electoral management bodies through assistance for legal reform; institutional restructuring; professional development; greater public information and outreach capacity; and resource management. Other related notes and presentation materials on this subject are at www.undp.org/governance/publications_full.htm#electoral. International IDEA Publications: The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) has produced a number of useful handbooks and manuals on elements of the electoral process. Probably the most useful of these is the International IDEA Handbook of Electoral System Design. This is a thorough and well-produced document setting out the different kinds of electoral systems used throughout the world, the effects of different electoral system choices, and the criteria by which different institutional criteria should be chosen. It includes numerous case studies of electoral system reform and a list of all the electoral systems used throughout the world ( ) Joint Projects: In addition to UNDP's cooperative work with the various organizations listed above, there are also several web-based information projects that are being jointly developed by the UN, IDEA and IFES. Two of the most prominent of these are the ACE project and the EPIC project: • The Administration and Cost of Elections Project (ACE): The ACE Project is a joint endeavour by International IDEA, IFES and UN-DESA to provide a globally accessible information resource on election administration.
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