Electoral control as an indissociable element of any democracy: the origins of the Spanish electoral administration

Abstract

Although electoral control is one of the inherent elements of the rule of law, its effective implementation was practically non-existent during Spanish historical constitutionalism. This happened, indeed, not so much because of the quality of the electoral rules, which improved over the years, as for their poor implementation, with some political parties making electoral fraud and corruption their regular modus operandi. The achievement of our current democracy can only be properly valued after understanding the
true magnitude of this systematic distorsion. Said milestone consists on the consolidation of a genuine electoral administration that is autonomous and independent from the public administration, which nevertheless continues to perform important functions for the correct development of the electoral process.