"One of the clearest trends in contemporary constitutionalism is the progressive extension of the Rule of Law. The idea of Government through law reaches spheres where politics ruled peacefully up to recent times. The idea of Politics caught up by the Law (La politique saisie par le droit) has quite recently arrived at the realm of electoral systems, usually considered as a purely political decision, basically conditioned by historical and traditional data.
Constitutional Law is the sphere where Politics and Law find each other. Both claim for their own autonomy and rules. But sometimes they must agree. And it must happen very particularly in the sphere of electoral law.
In any democratic context, elections are the basic instrument for the political system to be legitimate and accepted by the citizens. But under the rule of law, all power must be submitted to constitutional or legal rules. Even the power to choose those who govern. Elections are an essentially political process. But they have to be held under juridical (constitutional and/or legal) conditions.
In that framework, constitutional and legal norms have adopted the commonly accepted standards of electoral law in democratic countries. Standards which refer to essential constitutional principles such as freedom (free elections and secret vote) or equality (universal suffrage, equal vote and equal opportunities). But of course these principles have to be respected by electoral rules. Rules which, in many cases, are founded in national traditions, cultures and experience. And sometimes both spheres conflict."
UNIDEM SEMINAR - “EUROPEAN STANDARDS OF ELECTORAL LAW IN THE CONTEMPORARY CONSTITUTIONALISM”
http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-STD(2004)039-e
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