The General Assembly,
 
      Reaffirming the purpose of the United Nations to develop friendly
relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and
self-determination of peoples and to take other appropriate measures to
strengthen universal peace,
 
      Recalling its resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, containing the
Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,
 
      Recalling also its resolution 2625 (XXV) of 24 October 1970, by which it
approved the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning
Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter
of the United Nations,
 
      Recalling further the principle enshrined in Article 2, paragraph 7, of
the Charter of the United Nations, which establishes that nothing contained in
the Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which
are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State or shall require
the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the Charter,
 
      Reaffirming the obligation of Member States to comply with the
principles of the Charter and the resolutions of the United Nations regarding
the right to self-determination, by virtue of which all peoples can freely
determine, without external interference, their political status and freely
pursue their economic, social and cultural development,
 
      Reaffirming also, in this context, the right of the Palestinian people
to self-determination,
 
      Recognizing that the principles of national sovereignty and
non-interference in the internal affairs of any State should be respected in
the holding of elections,
 
      Recognizing also that there is no single political system or single
universal model for electoral processes equally suited to all nations and
their peoples, and that political systems and electoral processes are subject
to historical, political, cultural and religious factors,
 
      Convinced that the establishment of the necessary mechanisms and means
to guarantee full and effective popular participation in electoral processes
corresponds to States,
 
      Recalling all its resolutions in this regard,
 
      Welcoming the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the
World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993, in which the Conference
reaffirmed that the processes of promoting and protecting human rights should
be conducted in conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter,
 
      1.    Reiterates that, by virtue of the principle of equal rights and
self-determination of peoples enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations,
all peoples have the right, freely and without external interference, to
determine their political status and to pursue their economic, social and
cultural development, and that every State has the duty to respect that right
in accordance with the provisions of the Charter;
 
      2.    Reaffirms that it is the concern solely of peoples to determine
methods and to establish institutions regarding the electoral process, as well
as to determine the ways for its implementation according to their
constitution and national legislation, and that, consequently, States should
establish the necessary mechanisms and means to guarantee full and effective
popular participation in those processes;
 
      3.    Reaffirms also that any activities that attempt, directly or
indirectly, to interfere in the free development of national electoral
processes, in particular in the developing countries, or that are intended to
sway the results of such processes, violate the spirit and letter of the
principles established in the Charter and in the Declaration on Principles of
International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States
in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations;
 
      4.    Reaffirms further that electoral assistance to Member States
should be provided by the United Nations only at the request and with the
consent of specific sovereign States, by virtue of resolutions adopted by the
Security Council or the General Assembly in each case, in strict conformity
with the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in the internal
affairs of States, or in special circumstances such as cases of
decolonization, or in the context of regional or international peace
processes;
 
      5.    Strongly appeals to all States to refrain from financing or
providing, directly or indirectly, any other form of overt or covert support
for political parties or groups and from taking actions to undermine the
electoral processes in any country;
 
      6.    Condemns any act of armed aggression or threat or use of force
against peoples, their elected Governments or their legitimate leaders;
 
      7.    Reaffirms that all countries have the obligation under the Charter
to respect the right of others to self-determination and to determine freely
their political status and pursue their economic, social and cultural
development;
 
      8.    Decides to consider this question at its fifty-second session
under the item entitled "Human rights questions".