Democratic Governance Team

The Democratic Governance programme is led and managed by the Programme Director, Patrick Rafolisy, who works closely with programme advisors, Dr Petter Langseth, a good governance expert with proven international experience in judicial integrity and Jeremy Pope, Integrity Action Co-Founder and initial instigator of the Bangalore process of Judicial Integrity. 

Judicial Integrity Group:

Senior judicial figures and experienced election commissioners have for some years been working separately to enhance human rights observance and democratic practices around the world.

An invited group of election commissioners meet annually at Trinity College, Cambridge, UK as the Cambridge Electoral Advice Group under the auspices of the Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre. A group of senior judges developed the Bangalore Principles for the Domestic Application of Human Rights Norms, which include democratic rights, and the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct which is now endorsed by the United Nations as a global standard.

In each instance the initiative began with a small group of judges that was later broadened to involve participation around the world. In the discussions it became apparent that there is no generally agreed and authoritative statement of principles to guide developments in the area of Electoral Justice, and that there was a need for these to be developed.

Recognising that each in the groups have, or have had, particular and very special responsibilities in the area, the two combined jointly to explore the feasibility of developing global standards for Electoral Justice which would be embraced internationally. The members of the Electoral Integrity Group are listed at the end of this document. Meetings to date have been held in Cambridge, United Kingdom (July 2010), Bali, Indonesia (January 2011) and Gaborone, Botswana (March 2011). We hope that the resulting statement of Principles of Electoral Justice will be internationally recognised as useful tool to assist in the achievement of any needed reforms.