The article examines the phenomenon of "contentious elections" in the broad context of the erosion of democratic procedures on a global scale. It is noted that the increase in the number of “contentious elections” observed in the world is a serious indicator of the loss of confidence in democracy as a whole. And today this applies not only to countries with so - called hybrid or semi - authoritarian regimes, but also to countries with long-standing democratic traditions. This leads to increased distrust of democratic procedures and the erosion of democracy. This problem is considered in the article from the point of view of studying the international level of political elections management. Within the framework of this new direction of political science, the author consider international election standards and the possibilities of the international community, state and non-state actors to influence the conduct of elections, reduce the risks of political instability and ensure a democratic change of political elites. Analysis of scientific literature shows that the international level of election observation and management is going through a crisis associated, firstly, with the ambiguous influence of the leading Western countries on the democratization processes in the world, and, secondly, with the fact that the electoral assistance of international organizations and, before In all, the UN does not make serious changes to the already existing tendencies of democratization and, moreover, sometimes it can be used by semi - authoritarian regimes for their own legitimation in the context of ongoing electoral manipulations and falsifications.
