Besides the structural reform of the Electoral Commissions, Chapter VIII is the second major change in the new Code. In international comparison, a separate paragraph on transparency is not very common in electoral laws. It can be considered progress to summarise preconditions for free and fair elections in “fragile” democracies. Such items include:
open access to the sessions of the Election Commissions (Article 67.1);
politically unrestricted accreditation of domestic and foreign election observers and a precise definition of their rights (Articles 68–70);
providing equal formal conditions for electoral campaigning, especially with regard to agitation in public and private TV channels (Article 74);
clear separation of technical and financial resources for electoral campaigning from the State budget (Article 76).
