Foreign Electoral Intervention

Foreign electoral intervention is an attempt by a government to influence the outcome of another country's elections, through methods such as backing a preferred party or candidate, working to damage a rival candidate's chances, amplifying disruptive candidates, or spreading misinformation and disinformation to deepen political polarization. It is distinguished from other forms of foreign intervention, such as military force or economic coercion, because it seeks a political result by shaping how a country's own citizens vote rather than by imposing regime change directly. Analysts, including the United States National Intelligence Council, separate it into interference, which clearly breaks the target country's domestic laws through acts such as vote manipulation, illicit campaign funding or cyberattacks, and influence, which operates through legal channels such as public endorsements or trade incentives. Even when a foreign government initiates it, foreign electoral intervention almost always depends on the cooperation of a domestic actor, such as a political party, candidate, media figure or other influential local figure, and some of its methods, including manipulation of voter registration records, are themselves considered violations of the target state's sovereignty. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/