For this reason, many countries have resorted to the creation of electoral commissions as independent bodies responsible for the management and control of the electoral process. The composition of these bodies may include persons appointed by the political parties equally represented, provided that this equality may be interpreted either strictly or proportionally – in other words, taking or not taking into account the parties’ relative electoral strengths based on previous elections or current representation in elected bodies. The Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters suggests, as a general rule, that the permanent central electoral commissions include at least one member of the judiciary and representatives of parties already in parliament or having scored at least a given percentage of the vote.