For some countries this year will see post-war transitions to peace talks, elections after military coups, ballot boxes being used for the first time after many years, or voting for the renovation of a failing nation. A number of rules judge whether an election is unfair, such as staged elections, campaign financing favouring a particular interest group, media bias, and human rights violations that compromise the rights of a candidate to participate in a free and fair election. Corruption and potential violations of international standards have been stressed in this INSIGHT article, to enable informed intercession. To read about these elections and all related issues, click the ‘More’ button.