568 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "Measures to help promote adequate national minority representation might include reserving a set number of parliamentary seats for specific minorities, waiving the threshold for the number of votes received so that parties representing national minorities may be represented in parliament and the provision of electoral material, including ballot papers, as well as voter education and campaign materials in minority languages."
- "Countries with an electoral system based on proportional representation and party lists may introduce temporary special measures that would promote not only a high proportion of women candidates, but also a rank-order rule, such as a "zipper" system, where male and female candidates alternate, or where one of every three candidates through the list is from the less represented gender. Rank-order rules of this type remove the risk that women will be placed too low on party lists to have a genuine chance of being elected. It is also advisable to promote that if a female candidate withdraws her candidature, she is replaced with another woman."
- "Countries with a majoritarian electoral system are recommended to introduce provisions that promote systems whereby each party chooses a candidate from among at least one female and one male nominee in each district, or to find other ways to promote increased representation of women in elected politics. "
- "Minimum thresholds should not be considered illegitimate or discriminatory, as long as they are applied objectively and equally, and allow for the candidacy of independent candidates. However, such thresholds must be enacted at a level low enough so as not to preclude political pluralism or threaten the representative nature of the legislature."
- "Ensuring that gender is part of all strategic and action plans means that statements in the vision are incorporated into the work of the EMB. A specific gender policy is a good way to outline all work related to gender in one place. In other cases, including gender considerations into the strategic plan and all other policies could ensure that gender equality is considered in all areas of the organization and that everyone sees it as part of their work."
- "EMBs may consider implementing different actions to combat any practices or obstacles that impede voting, such as setting up polling stations in a way that enables all citizens to cast their votes independently and in secret, ensuring that voting centres are in locations that women can access and establishing, where necessary, women-only polling centres or queues."
- "Violence against women in elections is an increasingly apparent trend that requires a concerted response from EMBs, often in partnership with other stakeholders, including the security sector, political parties and CSOs. (...) EMBs can act to mitigate VAWE [violence against women in elections] on election day itself. Operational decisions, including the location, staffing and layout of polling stations, impact the perception of VAWE risks. Women voters are significantly more likely to be victims of polling day violence than men and violence against women voters occurs most frequently in rural settings."
- "Finally, the system should, as far as possible, act in an electorally neutral manner towards all parties and candidates; it should not openly discriminate against any political grouping."
- "In addition to the advantages attached to PR systems generally, List PR makes it more likely that the representatives of minority cultures/groups will be elected. When, as is often the case, voting behaviour dovetails with a society’s cultural or social divisions, then List PR electoral systems can help to ensure that the legislature includes members of both majority and minority groups."
- "PR electoral systems are almost always more friendly to the election of women than plurality/majority systems. In essence, parties are able to use the lists to promote the advancement of women politicians and allow voters the space to elect women candidates while still basing their choice on other policy concerns than gender. As noted above, in single-member districts most parties are encouraged to put up a ‘most broadly acceptable’ candidate, and that person is seldom a woman."
- "Again, electoral systems which use reasonably large district magnitudes encourage parties to nominate candidates from minorities on the basis that balanced tickets will increase their electoral chances. A very low threshold, or the complete elimination of a formal threshold, in PR systems can also facilitate the representation of hitherto under-represented or unrepresented groups. In plurality/ majority systems in particular, seats are sometimes set aside in the legislature for minorities and communal groups."
- "Reserved seats can be used to ensure the representation of specific minority groups in the legislature."
- "Different kinds of electoral system also result in different relationships between individual candidates and their supporters. In general, systems which make use of single-member electoral districts, such as most plurality/majority systems, are seen as encouraging individual candidates to see themselves as the delegates of particular geographical areas and beholden to the interests of their local electorate. By contrast, systems which use large multi-member districts, such as most PR systems, are more likely to deliver representatives whose primary loyalty lies with their party on national issues. "
- "Effective and sustainable electoral system designs are more likely to be easily understood by the voter and the politician. Too much complexity can lead to misunderstandings, unintended consequences, and voter mistrust of the results."
- "Wherever possible, whether in divided or relatively homogeneous societies, the electoral system should err on the side of including all significant interests in the legislature. Regardless of whether minorities are based on ideological, ethnic, racial, linguistic, regional or religious identities, the exclusion of significant shades of opinion from legislatures, particularly in the developing world, has often been catastrophically counterproductive."
- "Non-partisan observation and monitoring of elections by citizen organizations is part of participating in public affairs, which “relates to legislative, executive and administrative powers” and “covers all aspects of public administration, and the formulation and implementation of policy….”(UNHRC General Comment 25, paragraph 5.) Non-partisan election observation and monitoring by citizen organizations exercises the right of association that is central to the functioning of nongovernmental organizations, as well as the right to seek, receive and impart information that is vital to transparency and is included in the freedom of expression protected by articles 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ICCPR."
- "Non-partisan election observation and monitoring by citizen organizations is the mobilization of citizens in a politically neutral, impartial and non-discriminatory manner to exercise their right of participation in public affairs by witnessing and reporting on electoral developments through: independent, systematic and comprehensive evaluation of legal frameworks, institutions, processes and the political environment related to elections; impartial, accurate and timely analysis of findings; the characterization of the findings based on the highest ethical standards for impartiality and accuracy; the offering of appropriate recommendations for obtaining genuine democratic elections; and advocating for improvements in legal frameworks for elections, their implementation through electoral related administration and removal of impediments to full citizen participation in electoral and political processes."
- "Persons with disabilities should be enabled, freely and without discrimination, particularly of a legal, environmental and/or financial nature, to: - vote and stand for election at all levels; - have access to communication, information, procedures and facilities related to their political rights; - have equal access to public duties; - meet, join or found associations; - meet, join or found political parties; - express their opinions; - be closely consulted and actively included in the development and implementation of legislation and policies, and in other decision-making processes concerning issues that affect them."