Resumen de Electoral management bodies as a fourth branch of government

Michael Pal

• Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) are tasked with administering elections in most democracies, yet have been the subject of relatively little scholarly attention until recently. This article focuses on one under-examined aspect of EMBs: the decision in some democracies to grant them constitutional status. While independent EMBs are now the norm, there are variations in how they are designed. Within the democracies that use independent EMBs, there is a division between those that enshrine the EMB in the constitution itselfas a fourth branch of government with status similar or equivalent to the legislature, executive, and judiciary, and those that create and empower EAIBs through statute. This article traces the phenomenon ofEMBs as a fourth branch of government in contemporary constitutional design and investigates its implications