The release of PEI 10.0 adds 42 new contests to the PEI dataset. This report explores in more detail eight key contests in 2023: general elections in Zimbabwe, Turkey, Argentina, Nigeria, and Thailand, the presidential election in Egypt, and legislative elections in the Netherlands and Poland. The release of PEI 10 also presents a number of changes to the methodology of aggregating the overall PEI Indices. This follows a move to measure electoral integrity in terms of whether elections empower citizens and deliver democracy. There are now some additional questions in the survey designed to capture whether elections achieve this.

This research report sets out the array of measures, such as automatic voter registration and assisted voter registration, that could be adopted. It considers the impacts on privacy, data protection, consent and security.

The UK government introduced the Elections Act 2022 to improve the quality of UK parliamentary elections. This included measures such as compulsory voter identification, reduced independence for the Electoral Commission, and extending the eligibility to vote from overseas.

The 2024 UK General Election saw the lowest voter turnout in decades - and amongst the lowest in 100 years of parliamentary elections. There were also problems with postal votes.

What should the next government focus on?

This report draws together resources from the Electoral Integrity Project to make recommendations for how UK parliamentary elections could be improved for the future.

A high level of participation of citizens in the democratic process is key to building a stronger democracy. Yet at the last UK General Election, more citizens chose not to vote than voted for the winning party. Many of those citizens are not even on the UK’s electoral register.

This report sets out how reforms to the electoral registration process can increase the number of citizens on the electoral register for a stronger and more inclusive democracy.

The 2023 global electoral index shows increasing election quality in many countries.

The report from the Electoral Integrity Project has reported that election quality has held steady around the world – and increased in many countries. 

There was an increase in election quality in many countries that received widespread international coverage…

There have been concerns about declining levels of democracy and democratic backsliding around the world. Countries such as the United Kingdom have been called upon to support and address this global problem: One of the most important of our time. But democratic erosion can occur within any country.

This report traces developments in the quality of democracy in the United Kingdom between 2019-2023.

This research report maps the nature, type and format of current voting and electoral registration data in the UK.

It was funded by the UK Democracy Fund and undertaken by Professor Toby James and Professor Paul Bernal of the University of East Anglia.

The report is UK-focused but does have broader lessons for other countries too. Further academic and policy work will elaborate on the broader lessons.