3.2.4 Establishment, conservation and updating the electoral lists In all democracies worthy of this name, i.e. in any regime that is governed by its citizens, the list of people authorized to take part in elections, i.e. the electoral list is one of the key components of any electoral process. The preparation of the electoral list, its conservation and updating are not necessarily simple exercises and may be subject to manipulation by politicians. A faulty electoral list – be it due to manipulation, negligence or ignorance – may have disastrous consequences for the quality of the electoral process, the legitimacy of the elected officials, sometimes even on the stability of the country, and finally on democracy itself. In fact, the crucial nature of the electoral list in any democracy, whatever is its age and degree of consolidation, is undoubted. The electoral list is the part of democracy which determines, at each stage of the development of the society concerned – including at the time of adopting the constitution – the size and composition of those in society who are empowered to establish the objectives, determine the activities and the means of carrying them out, and control the management of the entire society. To therefore imagine that this list will be(deliberately or not) incorrect, and that those who take most important decisions for the survival, stability, and development of the society(i.e. those in government) are not necessarily the representatives of those who are governed, means that one cannot call it a democratic system anymore. Guaranteeing reliability and accuracy of the electoral list is not a necessarily easy exercise. This exercise can be handicapped by objective hindrances especially when one is in a new democracy with limited resources. For instance, it can be difficult to identify citizens in a reliable manner(due to a lack of documents to prove the civil status), 169