Legal provisions on prevention and sanction of the misuse of administrative resources can be divided into six categories. Certain sub-sections refer to similar laws but emphasise distinct provisions:

• The first category does not distinguish between material and human resources. Albania, Georgia, Turkey and Ukraine for instance prohibit the misuse of administrative resources while the Russian Federation imposes several restrictions in order to avoid the use of public means in favour of any political party that contends for elections.


• The second category emphasises particular types of resources. The countries concerned are inter alia Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Montenegro. In the case of Moldova and Montenegro, the legal provisions on the prohibition of the misuse of administrative resources target candidates instead of public servants. In Kazakhstan, the relevant regulations deal with the misuse of public real estate properties for instance. Regarding the misuse of human resources, most regulations focus on public servants taking advantage of their positions and develop very detailed hypothesis of possible misconduct. Some European countries fit in a general restrictive clause, inter alia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Moldova.}


• A third category focuses on provisions forbidding any kind of intervention by public servants in favour of a candidate. This is notably the case in Greece, Ireland, the Kyrgyz Republic, Portugal and Spain. Four analysed legislations refer to temporary circumstances where public servants cannot campaign while in office or only during their workdays, i.e. Albania, Armenia, Kyrgyz Republic and Ukraine.


• A fourth category of provisions contains rules focusing on the preservation of free suffrage against possible influence of public servants through gifts, donations or promises. Such prohibition is explicitly stipulated in the electoral laws of Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Monaco.


• A fifth category includes media coverage as a possible misuse of public funds (see the electoral codes of Armenia and Georgia).


• A sixth and last category mentions the states that have no explicit provisions on the misuse of administrative resources during electoral processes but implicit rules, which may be intended at dealing with this issue.