3619 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "Universal suffrage means in principle that all human beings have the right to vote. This right may, however, and indeed should, be subject to certain conditions: b. Nationality: i. a nationality requirement may apply; ii. however, it would be advisable for foreigners to be allowed to vote in local elections after a certain period of residence. "
- "Universal suffrage means in principle that all human beings have the right to vote. This right may, however, and indeed should, be subject to certain conditions: c. Residence: i. a residence requirement may be imposed; ii. residence in this case means habitual residence; iii. a length of residence requirement may be imposed on nationals solely for local or regional elections; iv. the requisite period of residence should be reasonable and, as a rule, should not exceed six months; v. it is desirable that the right to vote be accorded to citizens residing abroad. "
- "Universal suffrage means in principle that all human beings have the right to vote. This right may, however, and indeed should, be subject to certain conditions: d. Deprivation of the right to vote: i. provision may be made for depriving individuals of their right to vote, but only subject to the following cumulative conditions: ii. it must be provided for by law; iii. the proportionality principle must be observed; iv. the deprivation must be based on mental incapacity or a criminal conviction for a serious offence; v. furthermore, the withdrawal of political rights or finding of mental incapacity may only be imposed by express decision of a court of law. "
- "Electoral registers Fulfilment of the following criteria is essential if electoral registers are to be reliable: i. electoral registers must be permanent or refer to a register that is constantly updated (population register or register of births, marriages and deaths). "
- "Fulfilment of the following criteria is essential if electoral registers are to be reliable: ii. there must be regular up-dates, at least once a year. Where voters are not registered automatically, registration must be possible over a relatively long period. "
- "Fulfilment of the following criteria is essential if electoral registers are to be reliable: iii. electoral registers must be public "
- "Fulfilment of the following criteria is essential if electoral registers are to be reliable: iv. there should be an administrative procedure – subject to judicial control – or a judicial procedure, allowing for the registration of a voter who was not registered; the registration should not take place as a result of a decision taken by the polling station on election day "
- "Fulfilment of the following criteria is essential if electoral registers are to be reliable: v. a similar procedure should allow voters to have incorrect inscriptions amended within a reasonable time. "
- "Fulfilment of the following criteria is essential if electoral registers are to be reliable: vi. provision may be made for a supplementary register as a means of giving the vote to persons who have moved or reached statutory voting age since final publication of the register. "
- "Each voter has in principle one vote; where the electoral system provides voters with more than one vote (for example, where there are alternatives), each voter has the same number of votes. "
- "Equality of opportunity must be guaranteed for the supporters and opponents of the proposal being voted on. This entails a neutral attitude by administrative authorities, in particular with regard to: i. the referendum campaign; ii. coverage by the media, in particular by the publicly owned media; iii. public funding of campaign and its actors; iv. billposting and advertising; v. the right to demonstrate on public thoroughfares. "
- "In public radio and television broadcasts on the referendum campaign, it is advisable that equality be ensured between the proposal’s supporters and opponents. "
- "Balanced coverage must be guaranteed to the proposal’s supporters and opponents in other public mass media broadcasts, especially news broadcasts. Account may be taken of the number of political parties supporting each option or their election results. "
- "Equality must be ensured in terms of public subsidies and other forms of backing. It is advisable that equality be ensured between the proposal’s supporters and opponents. Such backing may, however, be restricted to supporters and opponents of the proposal who account for a minimum percentage of the electorate. If equality is ensured between political parties, it may be strict or proportional. If it is strict, political parties are treated on an equal footing irrespective of their current parliamentary strength or support among the electorate. If it is proportional, political parties must be treated according to the results achieved in the elections. "
- "Financial or other conditions for radio and television advertising must be the same for the proposal’s supporters and opponents. "
- "The principle of equality of opportunity can, in certain cases, lead to a limitation of spending by political parties and other parties involved in the referendum debate, especially on advertising. "
- "Sanctions must be imposed in the case of breaches of the duty of neutrality. "
- "Special rules providing for an exception to the normal vote-counting rules, in a proportional way, in the case of a referendum concerning the situation of national minorities do not, in principle, run counter to equal suffrage. "
- "Voters must not find themselves obliged to reveal their membership of a national minority. "
- " Administrative authorities must observe their duty of neutrality (see 1.2.2.a.), which is one of the means of ensuring that voters can form an opinion freely. "
- "Contrary to the case of elections, it is not necessary to prohibit completely intervention by the authorities in support of or against the proposal submitted to a referendum. However, the public authorities (national, regional and local) must not influence the outcome of the vote by excessive, one-sided campaigning. The use of public funds by the authorities for campaigning purposes must be prohibited. "
- "The question put to the vote must be clear; it must not be misleading; it must not suggest an answer; electors must be informed of the effects of the referendum; voters must be able to answer the questions asked solely by yes, no or a blank vote. "
- "The authorities must provide objective information. This implies that the text submitted to a referendum and an explanatory report or balanced campaign material from the proposal’s supporters and opponents should be made available to electors sufficiently in advance, as follows: i. they must be published in the official gazette sufficiently far in advance of the vote; ii. they must be sent directly to citizens and be received sufficiently far in advance of the vote; iii. the explanatory report must give a balanced presentation not only of the viewpoint of the executive and legislative authorities or persons sharing their viewpoint but also of the opposing one. e. The above information must be available in all the official languages and in the languages of the national minorities." "
- "Sanctions must be imposed in the case of breaches of the duty of neutrality and of voters’ freedom to form an opinion. "
- "Voting procedures must be readily understandable by citizens; ii. voters should always have the possibility of voting in a polling station. Other means of voting are acceptable under the following conditions: iii. postal voting should be allowed only where the postal service is safe and reliable; the right to vote using postal votes may be confined to people who are in hospital or imprisoned or to persons with reduced mobility or to electors residing abroad; fraud and intimidation must not be possible. "
- "[P]ostal voting should be allowed only where the postal service is safe and reliable; the right to vote using postal votes may be confined to people who are in hospital or imprisoned or to persons with reduced mobility or to electors residing abroad; fraud and intimidation must not be possible; "
- "[E]lectronic voting should be in conformity with Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation Rec(2004)11 on Legal, operational and technical standards for e-voting. In particular, it should be used only if it is safe, reliable, efficient, technically robust, open to independent verification and easily accessible to voters; the system must be transparent; unless channels of remote electronic voting are universally accessible, they shall be only an additional and optional means of voting. "
- "[V]ery strict rules must apply to voting by proxy; the number of proxies a single voter may hold must be limited "
- "[M]obile ballot boxes should only be allowed under strict conditions that avoid all risks of fraud. "
- "[A]t least two criteria should be used to assess the accuracy of the outcome of the ballot: the number of votes cast and the number of voting slips placed in the ballot box; viii. voting slips must not be tampered with or marked in any way by polling station officials; ix. unused and invalid voting slips must never leave the polling station; x. polling stations must include representatives of a number of parties, and the presence of observers appointed by the latter or by other groups that have taken a stand on the issue put to the vote must be permitted during voting and counting. "
- "[V]oting slips must not be tampered with or marked in any way by polling station officials. "
- "[U]nused and invalid voting slips must never leave the polling station. "
- "[P]olling stations must include representatives of a number of parties, and the presence of observers appointed by the latter or by other groups that have taken a stand on the issue put to the vote must be permitted during voting and counting. "
- "[M]ilitary personnel should vote at their place of residence whenever possible. Otherwise, it is advisable that they be registered to vote at the polling station nearest to their duty station. "
- "[C]ounting should preferably take place in polling stations. "
- "[C]ounting must be transparent. Observers, representatives of the proposal’s supporters and opponents and the media must be allowed to be present. These persons must also have access to the records. "
- "[R]esults must be transmitted to the higher level in an open manner. "
- "[T]he state must punish any kind of electoral fraud. "
- "Freedom of voters to express their wishes also implies: i. that the executive must organise referendums provided for by the legislative system; this is particularly important when it is not subject to the executive’s initiative; "
- "Freedom of voters to express their wishes also implies: ii. compliance with the procedural rules; in particular, referendums must be held within the time-limit prescribed by law; "
- "Freedom of voters to express their wishes also implies: iii. the right to accurate establishment of the result by the body responsible for organising the referendum, in a transparent manner, and formal publication in the official gazette. "
- "For the voter, secrecy of voting is not only a right but also a duty, non-compliance with which must be punishable by disqualification of any ballot paper whose content is disclosed. "
- "Voting must be individual. Family voting and any other form of control by one voter over the vote of another must be prohibited. "
- "The list of persons actually voting should not be published. "
- "There should be sanctions against the violation of secret sufrage. "
- "Democratic referendums are not possible without respect for human rights, in particular freedom of expression and of the press, freedom of movement inside the country, freedom of assembly and freedom of association for political purposes, including freedom to set up political parties. "
- "Apart from rules on technical matters and detail (which may be included in regulations of the executive), rules of referendum law should have at least the rank of a statute. "
- "The fundamental aspects of referendum law should not be open to amendment less than one year before a referendum, or should be written in the Constitution or at a level superior to ordinary law"
- "Apart from rules on technical matters and detail (which may be included in regulations of the executive), rules of referendum law should have at least the rank of a statute. "
- "The fundamental aspects of referendum law should not be open to amendment less than one year before a referendum, or should be written in the Constitution or at a level superior to ordinary law. "