Ministers should consider requiring voters to produce proof of identity when they go to the polls, the official elections watchdog has said.

The Electoral Commission said that the Government needed to develop a "comprehensive electoral modernisation strategy" in order to ensure the long-term health of the system.

In its report on this year's general election, the commission said that in the majority of constituencies the elections were well run, without major problems.

However it warned that the coalition Government's ambitious programme of democratic reforms was likely to add to the pressure on the machinery of electoral administration.

It said that ministers needed to look at ways of strengthening the system in order to maintain public confidence.

Among the measures it recommended was a review of the case for requiring proof of identity for voters casting their vote at polling stations.