A set of rules and procedures that determine the formation of the State power. As the State is made up of competitive procedures, the electoral regime will determine the electoral process for election of parliamentary representatives and the Presidents of the Government. The electoral regime focuses on different standards of electoral law in the territories.

On the one hand, in a wide sense of the term, it could be defined it as the positive and customary law which regulates elections. In a stricter sense, it could be defined exclusively as the regulation of the right to vote, that is, those rules in which are contained the legal determinations that affect the right of citizens to influence the appointment of the political bodies. So, in a strict sense, electoral regime are the rules which regulates the subjective conditions of citizens’ political participation (González, 1996: 13).

In another sense, some authors referred to the concept of “internal” electoral regime to discuss some specific rules, especially according to the mechanisms of accountability about parties’ finances and campaigns, the conditions of equity in competition, the administration of the electoral justice or punishment of any transgressions to the law (Nohlen et al., 2007: 227).

In any case, rules that make up the electoral system are considered primary rules of the State, so as they are responsible for regulating the processes that will serve to constitute and form the political bodies of the State. At the same time, they differ from other main rules of the State by its greater detail and specificity in some aspects (Arnaldo and Delgado-Iribarren, 2009: 315-316).

It is necessary to conceptualize a distinction between this term and “electoral system” (see also: electoral system). While the regime must be understood as the instrumental legislation that regulates all the acts that make up the electoral process, the electoral system is made up of those elements of the electoral rules that register a direct incidence in the mediation between votes and seats (Santolaya, 1991: 11).

The majority of constitutional texts of modern fundamental systems includes precepts which determine, at least, the bases of the electoral system of each State. Among the fundamental precepts that govern and inspire the rest of the system, the constitutional legislator considers it essential to include the bases of electoral rules that are subsequently developed in subsequent specific standards.

The sources of the electoral law would be both normative and jurisprudential character. They would be, as already referred, in the constitutional texts, in the laws and regulations state or regional rules of adoption of other supranational – as in the case of the adoption of regulations coming from international organizations-, in judicial decisions and in the weight of the precedent.

The electoral regime aims to secure a stable framework that governs these procedures and give legal certainty to the exercise of the right to vote, in such a way that political decisions are adopted and issued in full freedom. The concretion of the electoral regime set the democratic character of the State as much as it determines the legitimacy of the political institutions of representative character belonging to it.

According to this, the essential function of the electoral system would be materializing the generic principle of representation; and on the other, providing the selection of public officials which integrate the bodies of the State (González, 1996: 19). Also, the electoral regime can merely regulate the conditions in which the vote is exercised, or can also determine that the vote is mandatory (examples: Bolivia, Belgium, Australia).

Legal systems, have generally given a special position and protection standards to the rules of the electoral regime. Thus, for example, article 153 of the Constitution of Colombia provides that “the adoption, amendment or repeal of statutory laws will require an absolute majority of the members of the Congress and must be performed within a single legislature”. The Argentine Constitution provides, moreover, that “the projects Bill that would change the electoral system and political parties must be approved by an absolute majority of the total number of the members of the Chambers” (art. 77). The Panamanian Constitution and the Spanish establish national codes in this matter must be contained in organic law, which implies the qualified majority of the Parliament supported.

Between objectives of the electoral law, we could refer the Organization of elections and the political electoral procedure. In the regulation of the electoral process, phases of the voting and subsequent scrutiny by the delicacy of its very nature, emissions are subject to comprehensive regulation, and electoral regulations most rely to Electoral Administration control in one casting the vote in time and form, and complying with the rest of the guarantees contained in the law.

Rules for the electoral system regulate a right of political participation to citizens in their capacity as electors, that is, of those who have the capacity to be voters and are also eligible. Once they exercise effectively this right to vote they are considered voters and not just electors. In addition, the electoral regime regulates skills and eligibility of citizens in the different electoral processes (the right to stand as a candidate).

In many electoral systems, political parties are key players, and even necessary tools for political participation, in both act as channels of this effective participation. Thus, while some regimes contemplates and favour the presentation of individual candidates, others erected the figure of political parties as for intermediaries in the access to public office. Thus, only through inclusion in electoral lists submitted by political parties it is possible to access the representative posts, and only you can subsequently access designation fees by a decision of the political parties.

The electoral administration, for its part, is the organizational structure put at the service of citizens for the management, surveillance, impulse and channeling of elections (see also: electoral procedure). The electoral regime of each State determines the organs that make up this administration, as well as its composition, its constitution and the functions assigned to each one. In some cases, it is possible that it is expected the establishment of committees for the coordination and monitoring of electoral processes.