Perception is key in explaining when election results are, and aren’t, accepted by voters

Is it sufficient for elections merely to have been conducted fairly for the result to be accepted? Drawing on research conducted on 28 separate elections, Miguel Angel Lara Otaola argues that elections not only need to be conducted fairly, but that they have to be perceived as such. If this does not happen, the risk of violence and other kinds of instability is heightened considerably.