In this task, you are given a question and a context passage. You have to answer the question based on the given passage.
Q: A descriptor used to describe if something occured before a period of time is?, Context: Despite reports of arms entering the country prior to the election and some "disturbances during campaigning," including attacks on government offices by unidentified gunmen, foreign election monitors described the 2005 election overall as "calm and organized".
A:
prior