1726 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "Any propaganda for war and any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitute incitements to lawless violence or to any other similar action against any person or group of persons on any grounds including those of race, colour, religion, language or national origin shall be considered offences punishable by law."
- "All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination."
- "The authorities should ensure that the media have the right to gather and report information freely, without intimidation or obstruction, and that there is no censorship of either the media or candidates."
- "Each state party shall take appropriate measures, within its means and in accordance with fundamental principles of its domestic law, to promote the active participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations, in the prevention of and the fight against corruption and to raise public awareness regarding the existence, causes and gravity of the threat posed by corruption. This participation should be strengthened by such measures as: (b) Ensuring that the public has effective access to information; (d) Respecting, promoting and protecting the freedom to seek, receive, publish and disseminate information concerning corruption. That freedom may be subject to certain restriction, but these shall be such as are provided for by law and are necessary."
- "[E]lectoral registers must be published;"
- "Clear rules must be established for voting in polling stations, as well as other methods of voting, that include safeguards for secret balloting and that provide for monitoring by political contestants and election observers."
- "Candidates or political parties shall have the right to be represented at polling and counting stations by duly designated agents or representatives."
- "It is particularly important to guarantee the possibility of all parties and candidates to have observers during the election day. In this respect, it is evident that parties have some elements –permanent organization, membership, and so on- which help them in this task, and that are much more difficult to dispose of for other non-partisan candidates. These observers must have the right to control all the spheres of the voting process (polling boxes, election committees at all levels), to intervene – at least, to be heard- in the resolution of possible conflicts which may arise, and to inform the parties which they represent about the problems during the observation so that the latter could lodge appeals against any decision not grounded in legal terms."
- "Accredited agents of political parties and candidates, as well as accredited international and domestic observers, should be permitted to observe all polling activities."
- "The legal framework must address a myriad of issues to ensure a genuine opportunity to exercise the right to vote on the basis of equal and universal suffrage. These issues concern conditions outside the polling sites, as well as inside it, before, during and after voting takes place. The provisions must ensure, among other things, that: ...Transparency mechanisms allow effective monitoring by political parties, candidates, groups supporting and opposing referenda and other ballot initiatives, domestic nonpartisan election monitors, news media and international election observers."
- "The security of ballot boxes must be guaranteed and votes should be counted in the presence of the candidates or their agents."
- "Results should be verified by party counting agents, who should be asked formally to sign the result they have witnessed and be given a copy of the form signed by the presiding officer and the party counting agents. Party counting agents have a responsibility to remain until the end of a count, to observe the count by personnel appointed by the management body and to sign any correct tally, or else give reasons in writing for their objecting so to do."
- "The existence of adequate and impartial arrangements for representatives of all political parties to watch the count; those representatives should not interfere with the count, but should be able to comment if they are dissatisfied."
- "The counting place, be it at the polling station, a constituency center or other centre, should be so organized as to allow the candidates and/or party agents and observers (if any) to see the counting proceedings directly."
- "Procedures for counting should be known to those election officials, party agents, observers and any other authorized persons who are permitted to be present during the count."
- "The legal framework should provide for the presence of the representatives of parties and candidates and election observers during the counting, tabulation and consolidation of votes."
- "The counting process should be transparent and easily verifiable. Candidates' proxies or agents, domestic and international observers and the media should have the right to observe the whole counting process including, where applicable, the tabulation of votes."
- "If the count is done at the polling station, the full count should be observed to the end."
- "Accredited observers are entitled to observe the count."
- "The legal framework should provide for the presence of observers, domestic and foreign, and representatives of the media, political parties and candidates, during the counting and tabulation of votes."
- "Regardless of whether ballots are counted at the polling station or a central counting location, ballots must be counted in the presence of observers."
- "Ensure the transparency of the entire electoral process by facilitating the deployment of representatives of political parties and individual candidates at polling and counting stations by accrediting national and/other observers/monitors."
- "...[C]andidates and agents should be allowed to remain with the boxes from closure of polling station to counting of the votes."
- "Counting should be open to official observation by concerned parties."
- "The electoral law should provide a mechanism for the invalidation of election results. In both parliamentary and presidential elections, the decision to partially or fully invalidate election results should be assigned to the highest electoral body. This decision should be reviewable by the highest body of the judiciary or the Constitutional Court. "
- "Equality of opportunity must be guaranteed for parties and candidates alike. This entails a neutral attitude by state authorities, in particular with regard to: ii. coverage by the media, in particular by the publicly owned media."
- "The legislative framework for elections should ensure that all political parties and candidates have access to the media and equitable treatment in media owned or controlled by the state, so that the general public can be informed of the political platforms, views and goals of all parties and candidates in a fair and unbiased manner."
- "Depending on the subject matter, equality 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. Equality of opportunity applies in particular to radio and television air-time, public funds, and other forms of backing."
- "The participating States reaffirm that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and a basic component of a democratic society. In this respect, independent and pluralistic media are essential to a free and open society and accountable systems of government. They take as their guiding principle that they will safeguard this right."
- "The principle of equality of opportunity can, in certain cases, lead to a limitation of political party spending, especially on advertising."
- "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."
- "Too often, the legal framework in a country making the transition to democracy censors campaign speech through the imposition of sanctions for speech that "defames" or "insults" another person, which could include the government, a government official, or a candidate in the electoral campaign. Such provisions are commonly found in the electoral code or media (public information) law. However, the examiner should be thorough in examining the legal framework as such provisions are also found in general constitutional, civil, criminal, and administrative laws. Any law regulating defamation of a person's character or reputation should be included only in the applicable civil law. A provision in the electoral law regulating defamation is not justified. ...Such limitations on free expression violate international human rights law. Additionally, such provisions usually violate free speech guarantees found in a country's constitution. ...This standard, however, is not applicable to prohibitions on inflammatory speech that is calculated to incite another person to violence."
- "1. Anyone injured by inaccurate or offensive statements or ideas disseminated to the public in general by a legally regulated medium of communication has the right to replay or to make a correction using the same communications outlet, under such conditions as the law may establish. 2. The correction or reply shall not in any case remit other legal liabilities that may have been incurred."
- "In this connection, everyone is entitled, individually and in association with others, to be protected effectively under national law in reacting against or opposing, through peaceful means, activities and acts, including those by omission, attributable to the States that result in violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as acts of violence perpetrated by groups or individuals that affect the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms."
- "Political parties are not, in any Council of Europe Member State, the creation of public organs. The guideline that can be deduced from this practice is that State bodies should abstain from participating in the establishment of political parties and should not limit the right to establish political parties on a national, regional and local level."
- "Financing of political parties must be fully transparent, which requires political parties, in particular: i. to keep strict accounts of all income and expenditure, which must be submitted, at least once a year, to an independent auditing authority and be made public."
- "The legislation on financing political parties and on electoral campaigns should also apply to entities related to political parties, such as political foundations."
- "As private financing, in particular donations, creates opportunities for influence and corruption, the following rules should apply: a. a ban on donations from state enterprises, enterprises under state control, or firms which provide goods or services to the public administration sector."
- "States should impose limits on the maximum expenditure permitted during election campaigns, given that in the absence of an upper threshold on expenditure there are no limits to the escalation of costs, which is an incentive for parties to intensify their search for funds."
- "State financial contributions should, on the one hand, be calculated in ratio to the political support which the parties enjoy, evaluated on objective criteria such as the number of votes cast or the number of parliamentary seats won, and on the other hand enable new parties to enter the political arena and to compete under fair conditions with the more well-established parties."
- "State support should not exceed the level strictly necessary to achieve the above objectives, since excessive reliance on state funding can lead to the weakening of links between parties and their electorate."
- "Besides their financial contributions, states may contribute indirectly to financing political parties based on law, for example by covering the costs of postage and of meeting rooms, by supporting party media, youth organisations and research institutes; and also by granting tax incentives."
- "Political parties should receive financial contributions from the state budget in order to prevent dependence on private donors and to guarantee equality of chances between political parties."
- "Political parties and candidates should have equitable access to public funds, and the rules regarding public funding should be clearly stated in law."
- "Governments have an important negative obligation not to impede the media in playing these functions. In addition, and at least as importantly, governments have a positive obligation to facilitate media pluralism in order to expose the public to the widest variety of sources of information. Indeed, the obligation contained in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), guaranteeing freedom of expression and freedom of information, applies only to governments and certainly not to individual media organizations."
- "Urges Member States, consistent with chapter V of the Convention, to ensure that they have adequate laws and mechanisms in place to prosecute those involved in acts of corruption, to detect the illegal acquisition and transfer of assets derived from corruption and to ensure that there are suitable mechanisms in place - conviction- and, where appropriate, non-conviction-based - to recover through confiscation the identified proceeds of corruption, and that such laws and mechanisms are vigorously enforced."
- "Calls upon States parties, where appropriate and in accordance with domestic law, to take proactive measures to ensure that individuals who have been entrusted with prominent public functions, their family members and close associates, cannot hide their illicitly acquired assets, by making relevant enquiries to determine the identity and ownership of illicitly acquired assets, freezing suspected criminal proceeds and undertaking efforts to initiate other national mechanisms of recovery, as consistent with the Convention and under domestic law, when appropriate, and encourages States parties to work with well-established networks of financial intelligence units to identify methodologies for coordinated approaches to such measures."
- "Urges States parties to remove barriers to asset recovery by ensuring that financial institutions and, where applicable, designated non-financial services and professions adopt and implement effective standards to ensure that such entities are not being used to hide stolen assets, which may include such measures as customer due-diligence requirements, the identification and enhanced scrutiny of assets belonging to individuals who are or have been entrusted with prominent public functions and to their family members and close associates, and the collection and provision of beneficial ownership information, and by ensuring, in accordance with the Convention and domestic law, through robust regulatory action, that they adequately implement those requirements."
- "Calls upon States parties to devote special attention to strengthening integrity across the entire criminal justice system, including the police, prosecution, defence counsel, judiciary, court administration, prison and probation services, and notes with appreciation the assistance provided by the Secretariat to States parties upon request in the integration of anti-corruption measures in institutions of the criminal justice system."
- "Calls upon States parties to use the Convention as a framework for the development of specific and tailored anti-corruption safeguards in sectors that may present an increased vulnerability to corruption."