Abstract: At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency and restrictive measures became the norm as countries attempted to find ways to reduce the number of infections and to mitigate the broader effects of the pandemic. However, deliberative law-making and oversight roles of parliaments became constrained, creating an imbalance of power between the executive and the legislative branches of government. In addition, the emergency powers and accompanying restrictive measures that have been introduced have negatively affected basic freedoms in many country around the world, especially where these powers have been misused by authoritarian regimes to target political opponents, shrink civic space, as well as unjustifiably postpone elections. Even or rather especially - during times of crisis, there are certain best legislative practices contained in legal instruments, soft laws and the wider literature that countries are advised to take into account. For instance, it is well recognised that restrictive measures must be legal, necessary, proportional, and nondiscriminatory as well as temporary in scope. There are also simple but effective solutions that could enhance parliamentary oversight during the pandemic such as introduction of e-parliament sessions. Regarding elections, a number of Special Voting Arrangements have been adopted all over the world, in an effort to ensure that the pandemic is not used as a pretext to unjustifiably postpone elections.