Editing Election monitoring (section)

==History==
The first monitored election was that of an 1857 [[plebiscite]] in [[Moldavia]] and [[Wallachia]] (current Romania) that was monitored by most of the major European powers. Election monitoring was uncommon until after [[World War II]]. During the 1960s, less than 10% of elections were monitored.<ref name="Matanock">{{Cite journal|last=Matanock|first=Aila M.|date=2020|title=How International Actors Help Enforce Domestic Deals|journal=Annual Review of Political Science|volume=23|issue=1|pages=357–383|doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-033504|issn=1094-2939|doi-access=free}}</ref> Election observation activities have expanded significantly following the end of the [[Cold War]], along with the development of international standards on the conduct of [[democratic election]]s and the process of monitoring elections by both international<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ndi.org/files/1923_declaration_102705_0.pdf|title=Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation}}</ref>  and domestic<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gndem.org/sites/default/files/declaration/Declaration_of_Global_Principles.pdf |title=Declaration of Global Principles for Nonpartisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations }}{{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> observing organizations. By the 2000s, about 80% of all elections were observed.<ref name="Matanock"/>

During the 2010s and early 2020s, there was an increased prevalence of low-quality election monitors who validated flawed elections.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Bush |first=Sarah Sunn |last2=Cottiero |first2=Christina |last3=Prather |first3=Lauren |date=2024 |title=Zombies ahead: Explaining the rise of low-quality election monitoring |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s11558-024-09554-3 |journal=The Review of International Organizations |doi=10.1007/s11558-024-09554-3 |issn=1559-744X|doi-access=free }}</ref> These election monitors tended to have ties to autocratic states and authoritarian regional organizations, such as [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation|Shanghai Cooperation Organization]] (SCO),  [[Commonwealth of Independent States|Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)]], [[GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development|Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM)]], and [[Southern African Development Community]].<ref name=":0" />