3619 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "The rules of procedure must be clear. Commissions’ activities and decisions must be transparent, inclusive and consensus oriented, but at the same time the effectiveness of the electoral administration should not be hampered by endless debates or even dead-lock situations. A way has to be found to combine the best possible transparency, inclusiveness and effectiveness of the electoral administration at the same time. Depending on what the specific problems of a country’s electoral management are, recommendations focus on different, sometimes even contradictory, aspects. "
- "Qualified voting requirements can also be abused to obstruct the decision making process, particularly under the condition of a strongly politicised electoral administration. "
- "Voter education is an integral, albeit sometimes neglected, part of the election process. It refers to basic information on elections (e.g. date and type of elections) and explanations of electoral procedures (voter registration, voting system, etc.), and usually also addresses the voters’ motivation and preparedness to participate fully in the elections. Voter education is especially important in emerging and new democracies and in situations where new electoral provisions or technologies are being applied for the first time. As far as referendums are concerned, the voters must be objectively and comprehensively informed both about the question submitted to the electorate in the referendum and its consequences. "
- "Universal franchise is a key element of modern democracies. It is important that the right to vote and the process of voter registration are not unreasonably restricted on the basis of race, gender, religion, ethnic origin, past or present political affiliation, language, literacy, property or registration fees. However, the right to vote, may be subject to a number of reasonable conditions, the most usual being age, citizenship and residency. Furthermore, there might be provisions for clauses suspending political rights due to lawful detention, criminal convictions or mental incapacity. "
- "Whilst a citizenship requirement is common for national elections and referendums, there is a growing tendency to grant (long-term) foreign residents the right to vote in local elections. "
- "If external voting rights are granted, attention should be paid to ensure the equality of votes. Though it appears to be acceptable to limit external voting rights to certain types of elections, e.g. for President or the national Parliament, it may be problematic to not let external voters fully participate in those elections. "
- "The proper establishment and maintenance of electoral registers is vital in implementing and guaranteeing universal suffrage. In practice, it is a pre-condition for enabling voters to use their right to vote. Voter registration, however, is one of the most complex, controversial and often least successful parts of electoral administration in emerging and new democracies, especially in post-conflict situations with a large number of refugees and internally displaced persons. "
- "Safeguards might be introduced to protect citizens’ right to privacy. In order to protect private data some countries have introduced restrictions concerning the public access to voters lists. "
- "As with the right to vote, the right to stand for elections is universal, and can not be limited for reasons of e.g. race, gender, language, religion, ethnic origin, political affiliation, or economic status. Internationally accepted restrictions may include a minimum age that is higher than the voting age, citizenship and a residency requirement for a certain period of time before elections. Furthermore, the obligation to collect a specific number of signatures or to pay a small deposit are considered as being generally compatible with the universal right to stand for elections. There might also be provisions for clauses suspending political rights (lawful detention, mental incapacity etc.). "
- "Following the same arguments as for granting non-citizens the right to vote in local elections, it is recommended accordingly that the right to stand for local election shall be granted to long-standing foreign residents, if possible. "
- "While residency requirements are not incompatible a priori with the principal of universal suffrage, it is not acceptable to limit the right to be elected to only those citizens who have resided in a country, region or constituency for an extensively long period of time. "
- "It is not uncommon that due to a criminal conviction for a serious offence, individuals are deprived of the right to stand for election. However, it can be regarded as problematic if the passive right of suffrage is denied on the basis of any conviction, regardless of the nature of the underlying offence. "
- "The obligation to collect a specific number of signatures is not uncommon by international standards. However, it is generally agreed that signature requirements should not be too high. "
- "With signature requirements, the checking of signatures is necessary. The process is not only time consuming, but also open to abuse. This is especially true if, by law, only a sample of the signatures is checked at random and in an inconsistent manner. "
- "It is important that minor formal errors do not automatically result in the signature lists being declared invalid. Provisions should be made to allow for the correction of any formal or minor errors in the nomination and registration process. "
- "De-registration of candidates is a particular problem. While the initial registration of candidates may be positively assessed, the electoral commission is often allowed to de-register candidates before the election, for example, if they seriously violate the electoral law. However, inconsistent and inappropriate last-minute de-registration of candidates, often on minor technical grounds, should be avoided. Care should be taken that provisions allowing for the de-registration of candidates are not abused for political purposes. "
- "As for the pre-election period, the basic idea is that the political parties and candidates should act on a “level playing field”. According to Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, equality of opportunities should be ensured between different parties and candidates, at least as far as possible. It should prompt the state to be impartial towards parties and candidates and to uniformly apply the same law to all. This neutrality requirement applies to the electoral campaign and coverage by the media, especially the state media, as well as to public funding of parties and campaigns where relevant. Furthermore, it is important that political campaigning is conducted in an environment that assures freedom of movement, expression, association, and assembly. These freedoms must be safeguarded to allow political organising and campaigning, and to inform citizens about the parties, candidates and issues. The parties and candidates must have the freedom to convey their programmes and political positions to the voters throughout the country. "
- "It is commonly accepted that an effective election campaign needs sufficient resources. Parties and candidates would not be able to convey their programmes to the electorate without financial resources. Therefore political funding is considered a necessary condition for elections in modern democracies. Nevertheless, it should be clear that money may lead to corruption and to unfair political competition in the electoral process. Thus, it is important that election (and party) legislation contains clear and comprehensive regulations on party and campaign finances. "
- "Admittedly regulating party and campaign finances is a difficult task. There is a wide variety of regulations in operation throughout Europe and other world regions. Regulations may refer to party funding as a whole (including “routine activities”) or only to electoral campaigns. Some countries apply direct public financing, others allow only private financing. There are systems with contribution and expenditure limits, and others without them. There may be bans on certain types of contributions, as well as on certain types of expenditure. Moreover, electoral and party laws differ considerably with regard to the disclosure of party and campaign funds as well as with regard to the public access to the disclosed information. The variety of regulations makes it difficult to set common standards. "
- "While enhancing transparency is a primary aim of many reforms and reform proposals, it should be noted that there can be specific circumstances under which disclosure of contributions to parties may have unintended side-effects. In the context of prevailing political intolerance, full disclosure may inhibit contributions to opposition parties, and, at the same time may favour the pro-government forces. "
- "As far as public funding is concerned, the principle of equal opportunities is of utmost importance. In general, there is a consensus on this principle of equal opportunities. Since money is involved, however, there are sometimes political conflicts about the interpretation of the principle. In may be applied in either a strict sense (equal treatment) or in a proportional sense (according to the strength in parliament or among the electorate). Thus, it is quite a challenge to find a generally accepted formula in the respective country. Relevant rules should be included in the law. "
- "Broadcasting and print media are generally the most important way that citizens find out about elections and electoral choices. Thus, the mass media play an important role in the pre-election period. This role is two-fold: Firstly, the media (should) inform the electorate by covering candidates, parties, and political issues relevant to elections in news and special information programmes. This might include even voter education tools. Secondly, they (should) grant candidates and parties direct access to the electorate by allowing political advertisement. "
- "Free media are a conditio sine qua non for providing voters with diverse information concerning elections and referendums. Thus, it is important that freedom of the press is constitutionally and legally guaranteed and not undermined in practice. "
- "Even in countries where the media work without undue restrictions, an unbiased coverage of election campaigns is not automatically guaranteed. Democratic elections depend largely on the ability and the willingness of the media to work in an impartial and professional manner during election campaigns. The failure of the media to provide impartial information about the election campaign and the candidates is one of the most frequent shortcomings arising during elections (CDL-AD(2002)023rev, para. 19). "
- "In modern-day democracies, it is also important to ensure that the candidates or parties are accorded sufficiently balanced amounts of airtime and space for political advertising (CDL-AD(2003)023rev, I.2.3). Equal access to the public media should also be given to the supporters and opponents of the proposal in referendums (CDL-INF(2001)010, CDLAD(2005)028). "
- "The regulations concerning equal access to public media differ with regard to, among other things, the types of media and media access, the amounts of time and space, the format and the timing of broadcasting as well as the whole complex of financing political advertising. Due to the wide variety of provisions, it is difficult to discuss the subject on a general level. As for many details, however, there is room for country-specific discussion, for example with regard to criteria for allocating free time. In any case, it is necessary to draw a distinction between public and privately owned media, which is sometimes not done. Private media are usually less regulated. "
- "As for the private media, one issue should be singled out here: While it is commonly agreed that parties and candidates should have direct access to state-owned media, there is, for example, some debate whether also private media can be obliged to include political advertisements of all electoral contestants. The Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters emphasises that, in conformity with freedom of expression, legal provision should be made to ensure that there is a minimum access to privately owned audiovisual media with regard to the election campaign and to advertising for all participants in elections. "
- "Irrespective of the details of regulation, in quite a substantial number of countries, public and private media were found to have breached the rules on equal access, according to observer reports. Moreover, even a fixed amount of free television and radio airtime for contestants might not be sufficient to address strongly unbalanced campaign coverage in regular news programmes. Therefore, media behaviour should be carefully monitored and, if breaches of the law occur, be adequately sanctioned. "
- "The establishment of a neutral supervisory body to monitor and regulate the media and to deal with complaints about media behaviour during the campaign can be an important step in implementing the law and promoting free, equal, and fair access to broadcasting. Such a body might be a media monitoring unit within the election administration or a parliamentary commission, a multi-party board, a commission of selected persons or a selfregulatory body of the media. "
- "Since election-related opinion polls may have an effect on the vote itself, the publication and broadcasting coverage of opinions polls results should be regulated, providing, for example, that the source and other relevant information are included. Usually it is also forbidden to publish the results of opinion polls and projections immediately before and on election day (before the closure of the polling stations). If not already provided for, the introduction of such a deadline is generally welcomed. "
- "Electoral observation plays an important role in insuring transparency in elections, particularly in emerging and new democracies. The guarantee of domestic and international observers’ rights in the electoral law has been repeatedly demanded in cases where they are missing. (Such provisions might also be adopted in many established West European democracies, like France or Spain, which do not have any regulation on non-partisan domestic and international observers at all.) Especially the rights of domestic non-partisan observers need to be enhanced in a number of cases. Even if observer rights are guaranteed in the law, sometimes there is a lack of clarity of rules, resulting in widely differing interpretations of the regulations. "
- "Obviously, it might be helpful if observers are formally accredited and the accreditation criteria stipulated clearly. Cumbersome and complex registration procedures for observers should be avoided. "
- "Both national and international observers should be given the widest possible opportunity to observe the elections. Observation cannot be confined to election day itself, but must include the whole electoral process, from the registration of candidates (and, if necessary, voters) to the post-election period. However, the observers’ right to attend all election commission meetings, observe the election activities at all times, and obtain copies of protocols, tabulations, minutes, and other documents at all levels is not always guaranteed by law or in practice. "
- "While awareness that the pre-election period should be comprehensively observed is increasing, the post-election process is frequently neglected. International observers, for example, often depart from a country shortly after election day and long before the declaration of final results. However, it is important that some observer presence remains until the verification and announcement of the final results. Correspondingly, the electoral rules should specify that observers have a role and a right to observe the post-election period and have a right of access to electoral commissions until all the electoral tasks are completed (as for Azerbaijan, CDL-AD(2004)016rev; CDL-AD(2005)029). "
- "The same refers to the polling station layout – i.e. the positioning of tables for polling station procedures, barriers for voter queues, voting booths, ballot boxes, etc. – which should ensure the effective flow of voters through the polling station and the secrecy of the vote. It is very important that polling station members (as well as the observers) have an effective overview of all staff and voter activity. For example, it is quite problematic if voting booths cannot be supervised by polling station members because they are completely out of sight or even placed in different rooms. "
- "The electoral laws or instructions given by electoral administration bodies should clarify which persons are authorised to be in the polling stations. Besides the voters and the polling station officials, authorised persons are usually representatives (agents, proxies) of candidates or political parties/ alliances, domestic and, if invited, international observers, and the media. However, there is always the risk that unauthorised persons are present inside the polling station, too. In a number of elections, observers reported the presence of unauthorized persons due to unclear instructions given to electoral officials or failures to implement respective rules. "
- "The presence of electoral observers is of paramount importance for the integrity of the electoral process. While the free access of proxies and observers to polling stations is generally respected in almost all European countries (Belarus being an exception until recently), in several occasions proxies and observers had problems to enter the polling stations or move freely inside. The small size and the over-crowding of polling stations has often been used as a justification for restricting the movement of proxies and observers. It should be clear, however, that the inappropriateness of the polling station cannot be used as an excuse for restricting the observers’ free movement. Instead, it is the obligation of the electoral authorities to select and prepare polling stations in such a manner that an effective observation is possible without hindering the polling station activities. "
- "Furthermore, it is commonly agreed that policy and security forces should not routinely be inside (or even outside) the polling station, as this may have an intimidating effect on voters, especially in countries with a rather poor democratic tradition or in (post-)conflict situations. As a rule, the police should only be allowed to enter the polling station when asked by the chairman of the respective electoral commission to secure order. Of course, it should only be called when the situation could otherwise get out of control. "
- "Still unusual for established West European democracies is the possibility of casting a negative vote (“against all”). The negative vote system stems from the communist tradition of non-competitive elections and is still used in a number of Council of Europe member states. It gives voters the possibility of expressing their annoyance with the candidates and parties/blocs on the ballot paper. In this way, however, political and party apathy in the population can be strengthened if the voters are able to simply reject candidates and parties instead of making the (often not easy) decision as to who is better (or best of the worst) candidate or party. As a matter of principle, voters should be encouraged to vote for their preferred candidate or party and thereby take the responsibility for the body that is being elected (see, for example, CDL-AD(2003)021, para. 31; CDL-AD(2005)027, para. 23; CDL-AD(2006)002rev, para. 78). "
- "After being issued a ballot paper, voters usually are directed to a vacant voting booth in order to mark the ballot. Naturally, it is quite helpful if voters are familiarised with voting procedures. Voter education programmes and clear voting instructions in the polling stations are necessary, particularly if ballot structures and voting systems are complicated. "
- "Democratic elections require that ballots be completed by the voters in secret. The secrecy of the vote is not only a fundamental right, but also an obligation. Thus, any voting outside the voting booths is usually forbidden. In practice, however, there are a number of examples in which open voting has been tolerated by electoral officials. "
- "In order to secure the voter’s secrecy, the voter should generally be alone in the voting booth. Only in special cases, e.g. blind voters, are exceptions to be allowed. The conditions for giving assistance to voters should, if necessary, be formalised in the electoral law or electoral commission instructions. In any case, it is unacceptable that “interpreters” accompany voters to the voting booth and indicate the name of the candidate for whom the voter wants to vote. "
- "Obviously, family and group voting is by no means acceptable. It tends to deprive women, and sometimes young people, of their individual voting rights and as such amounts to a form electoral fraud (see for example CG/BUR (11) 95). The Congress Recommendation 111 (2002) emphasised the paramount importance of women’s right to an individual, free, and secret vote and underlined that the problem of family voting is unacceptable from the standpoint of women’s fundamental rights (CG/BUR (11) 122 rev). It should be clear, however, that preventing effectively family and group voting requires a radical change of attitudes, which must be actively promoted by the authorities (CDLAD(2002)023rev, para. 30). "
- "Strictly forbidden by law, but rather difficult to prove, is vote buying, i.e. the distribution of goods or money to people combined with the request to vote for a particular candidate or party. This is allegedly common practice in the pre-election period and on election day in some countries, according to international observers. In order to reduce the risk of vote buying on election day, it is important to guarantee the secrecy of the vote. It should also be ensured (and observed) that voters do not leave the polling station without depositing their ballots in the ballot boxes because some voters may try to take blank ballots outside the polling station and give or sell them to other people. As a rule, any unused ballot paper should remain at the polling station. However, in several cases, there were confirmed instances of stamped and signed ballots circulating outside polling stations on election day. "
- "As mentioned, the lack of special voting procedures, i.e. absentee voting, may disenfranchise a substantial part of the voters who are not able to vote in their respective polling station on election day. With absentee voting, voters are able to vote at a place other than the polling station at which they are included in the voters’ list. There is a wide variety of absentee voting procedures in operation throughout Europe. Some countries allow voting in advance of election day (early voting), others do not. Regulations differ, furthermore, with regard to the place where absentee voting is conducted (special or regular polling stations; only in the voter’s district or in any district; inside and/or outside the country) and the way it is done (by attending a polling station or by mail, proxies or mobile boxes). "
- "Absentee voting procedures require additional, and in many cases improved, efforts to prevent fraud, special voter education programmes, and extra training for members of election commissions. Special attention should be paid to guaranteeing the secrecy of the vote when introducing new voting technologies. "
- "According to the Code of Good Practice in Electoral matters, the votes should preferably be counted at the polling station immediately after poll close, rather than in special counting centers (CDL-AD (2002)023rev, para. 45). This has the advantage of providing quick results for the polling station. Further, counting away from the polling station may raise security problems, since the transport of ballot boxes and accompanying documents is always a security risk. "
- "The correctness of the count depends on clear procedures, adequate staff training and their commitment to the process. The correctness of the results does not only refer to the vote share of each candidate, party or electoral alliance. It refers also to the accuracy of the whole electoral data, including, for instance, the number of votes cast (which is especially important in those countries where a minimum turnout is needed for elections or referendums to be valid). Great care must be taken to ensure that all figures are accurately recorded in election protocols. "
- "Close attention has to be paid to ensure that results protocols are correctly completed and signed by all authorised persons, according to the law. It goes without saying that the protocols have to be signed after the count has finished, rather than beforehand, as it is sometimes the case. Properly completing election protocols is no easy task. "
- "The transmission of the results per telephone, fax or electronically and the personal transfer of copies of election protocols to higher level electoral commission are vital operations, the importance of which is often overlooked (see also CDL-AD(2002)023rev, para. 51). Although these processes deserve closer attention, they seldom attract the observers’ interest. It should be noted, however, that the transmission of election results and the transfer of election documents from lower to higher electoral commissions can be a source of error and manipulation. Special safeguards should be considered (security codes for transmitting; accompanied and observed transport; re-check of results based on original copies of election protocols; etc.). "