COMMENT | Elections are the defining moment of any democracy. They are when citizens exercise their sovereign right to decide who governs them and, ultimately, the direction their country will take.

Ordinarily, once Parliament or a state legislative assembly is dissolved, the incumbent administration assumes the role of a caretaker government.

Its mandate is deliberately narrow: to ensure the continuity of public administration while refraining from decisions that could confer an electoral advantage on any political party.

That interim period - between dissolution and polling day - is meant to belong to the political contest itself. It is a time for parties to present competing visions, unveil manifestos, nominate candidates and persuade voters on the strength of ideas rather than the weight of state power.

As political scientist Prof Pippa Norris explains in her book Why Electoral Integrity Matters (Cambridge University Press, 2014), electoral integrity must be assessed across the entire electoral cycle - not merely on polling day.

It requires adherence to...