3619 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "Established mental incapacity may be a ground for denying a person the right…to hold office."
- "As mandated by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, member of the Committee have noted that the following limitations on voting rights are not permissible: excessive limitations on the voting rights of convicted criminals"
- "It may be reasonable to exclude any person currently serving a prison sentence for having committed a serious crime. However, loss of candidate rights should be proportional to the crime committed, and candidate rights should be automatically reinstated once the sentence has been served."
- "The Human Rights Committee has recognized that some countries have permissible legislative penalties depriving violators of certain political rights. However, in Alba Pietraroia v. Uruguay (44/1979), the committee made reference to the principle of proportionality in examining the degree of deprivation and stated that a measure as harsh as the deprivation of all political rights for a period of 15 years would have to be specifically justified."
- "If there are reasonable grounds for regarding certain elective offices as incompatible with tenure of specific positions (e.g. the judiciary, high-ranking military office, public service), measures to avoid any conflicts of interest should not unduly limit the rights protected by ICCPR, art. 25(b)."
- "In addition, it is permissible to deny qualification for candidacy to elected office those who presently hold certain other governmental offices on the basis of conflicts of interest or the doctrine of incompatibility of offices."
- "If a candidate is required to have a minimum number of supporters for nomination this requirement should be reasonable and not act as a barrier to candidacy."
- "A provision requiring would-be registered parties to obtain a certain number of signatures (between one and five hundred) as a pre-condition to acceptance was upheld as reasonable."
- "Discriminatory criteria such as education, residence, decent or political affiliation, are not acceptable, likewise to require an unreasonable number of signatures for registration."
- "Having collected a minimum number of validated signatures of registered voters. Special attention should be given to the manner of validating signatures. An invalid signature should merely be what it is—an invalid signature. It should not invalidate other signatures or the signature list."
- "The threshold level of support (such as demonstrated through the submission of petitions signed by voters) should also be reasonable (in terms of the number of signatures required, the time allowed for collection, and other procedural requirements). The process of verifying the authenticity of signatures supporting a candidacy must be reasonable and applied in a nondiscriminatory manner."
- "The electoral law should establish the procedure for the verification of signatures collected in support of candidates."
- "Where the legal framework provides for the collection of signatures, it should provide for a reasonable amount of time for collection of signatures."
- "Some countries require the fulfilment of some additional conditions for applications to be presented. In particular, they may consist of a number of signatures."
- "Conditions relating to nomination dates, fees or deposits should be reasonable and not discriminatory."
- "...[M]onetary deposits should be of a sufficient level to discourage frivolous independent candidates and political parties, but should not be so high as to prevent legitimate political parties or independent candidates from obtaining ballot access. Additionally, monetary deposits should be refundable upon a reasonable number or percentage of votes being received."
- "Monetary deposits may be of a sufficient amount to discourage frivolous candidacies but should not be so high as to prevent legitimate political parties or independent candidates from obtaining access to the ballot."
- "Monetary deposits should be of a sufficient amount to discourage frivolous political parties and independent candidates, but should not be so high as to prevent legitimate political parties and independent candidates from obtaining ballot access. Additionally, monetary deposits should be refundable upon receiving a certain number or percentage of voters. The threshold required for a refund should be reasonable."
- "The election law will require parties and candidates to formally register as contestants in an election…Registration requirements should be clear and predictable and should not involve potentially discriminatory demands such as excessive deposits or an unreasonable number of names on registration petitions."
- "One reason why parties and candidates must register is to ensure that party names and symbols are unique, which would otherwise cause confusion. Election authorities also need to know which parties and candidates are running for office, so that they can be included on the ballot."
- "The legal framework may provide a structure for the registration of political parties. The legal framework should clearly provide for notification of the dates for commencement and closure of registration, or provide that such registration could be continuously open; specify when, how and where registration procedures must be undertaken; and set out the process of verification of registration… The legal framework should provide for uniformity in the registration process so that the same process applies to all political parties at all levels. The grounds for rejection of a registration application should be based on objective criteria and clearly stated in the legal framework for elections, along with avenues of appeal against such rejection."
- "[Political parties] are thus a specific kind of association, which in many countries is submitted to registration for participation in elections or for public financing. This requirement of registration has been accepted, considering it as not per se contrary to the freedom of association, provided that conditions for registration are not too burdensome."
- "[Restrictions on registering parties]... should not compromise or violate the basic democratic rights for registering parties. If the demands for the registering authority are too stringent, then people’s democratic rights of association and right to stand for office could be jeopardised."
- "Registration as a necessary step for recognition of an association as a political party, for a party’s participation in general elections or for public financing of a party does not per se amount to a violation of rights protected under Articles 11 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Any requirements in relation to registration, however, must be such as are ‘necessary in a democratic society’ and proportionate to the objective sought to be achieved by the measures in question."
- "[Political parties] are thus a specific kind of association, which in many countries is submitted to registration for participation in elections or for public financing. This requirement of registration has been accepted, considering it as not per se contrary to the freedom of association, provided that conditions for registration are not too burdensome. And requirements for registration are very different from one country to another: they may include, for instance, organisational conditions, requirement for minimum political activity, of standing for elections, of reaching a certain threshold of votes... However, some pre-conditions for registration of political parties existing in several Council of Europe Member States requiring a certain territorial representation and a minimal number of members for their registration could be problematic in the light of the principle of free association in political parties."
- "Countries applying registration procedures to political parties should refrain from imposing excessive requirements for territorial representation of political parties as well as for minimum membership. Matters of internal organisation of political parties, in principle, should not be subject to control by public authorities."
- "The prohibition or dissolution of political parties as a particularly far-reaching measure should be used with utmost restraint. Before asking the competent judicial body to prohibit or dissolve a party, governments or other state organs should assess, having regard to the situation of the country concerned, whether the party really represents a danger to the free and democratic political order or to the rights of individuals and whether other, less radical measures could prevent the said danger."
- "The state and its citizens are both entitled to support political parties."
- "The state should provide support to political parties."
- "Such political parties may seek out and receive funds by means of public or private financing."
- "The state should provide support to political parties and candidates in order to prevent dependence on private financial donors and guarantee equality of chances."
- "State support may be financial."
- "State support may be financial."
- "Parties in modern democracies cannot reasonably be expected to raise all necessary monetary income themselves. A role should therefore be granted to the state to provide financial support to political parties. State support can help parties meet the ever-increasing cost of democratic politics and can compensate for the scarcity of internal financing."
- "The state may contribute – directly or indirectly – to the operational cost of party activity, election campaigns and the functioning of parliamentary party groups."
- "State support should be limited to reasonable contributions."
- "Objective, fair and reasonable criteria should be applied regarding the distribution of state support."
- "The ideal requirements for political finance regulation in post-conflict societies listed below should be viewed as goals for the international community to achieve given the challenging constraints in which they are operating. There are three key requirements in the areas of legal framework, resources for political actors and institutions..2. Sufficient funding and other resources for electoral participants to effectively compete in elections and to remain committed to and confident in the fairness of the electoral process, including:...(2) non-monetary support (free media time, material, or use of office space or other facilities, transportation, etc.) distributed to electoral participants through eligibility standards that are fair to emerging political forces but do not encourage participation merely to receive such benefits."
- "Regulations should specify equal access to state resources and prevent arbitrary administrative action which limits campaigning opportunities."
- "The fairness of a campaign will be undermined where state resources are unreasonably used to favour the campaign of one candidate or political party. State resources – such as the use of public buildings for campaign events – should be available on an equitable basis to all contestants."
- "Where state funds are provided for campaign purposes, they should be disbursed on a fair, equitable and timely basis."
- "The rationale for public funding of political parties and election expenses is usually linked to the desirability of establishing, as far as possible, a ‘level playing field.’"
- "The use of public assets and funds for political party purposes should be regulated in order to level the playing field for political competition."
- "Clearly, a free and fair election is less likely if the government denies financial resources to its opponents, while using all the resources at its disposal to put the opposition at a disadvantage. Equally, in theory at least, unlimited expenditure by any party can result in a distorted electoral process. The art is to find that balance which best accommodates the objective of allowing each party a reasonable opportunity to put across its message; this may well entail a combination of public funding with election expenditure controls."
- "The level playing field metaphor is used to describe a process that protects equal treatment and fair opportunity. It is evaluated by considering, among other issues: (1) the degree to which competitors are afforded equitable access to…media access and news coverage."
- "This does not mean that all political parties and candidates are to receive an equal amount of campaign funds. This only means that political parties and candidates should be provided public funding on the basis of equal treatment before the law."
- "The electoral law should prohibit the Government to aid or to abet any party gaining unfair advantage."
- "Where a policy decision is taken to financially support political parties with taxpayers’ money, which is necessitated by the poor resource background of most political parties, an agreed upon formula must be used and adhered to in allocating funds to the contesting parties. A commonly used formula is according to the number of seats each party holds in Parliament."
- "Objective, fair and reasonable criteria should be applied regarding the distribution of state support."
- "The levels of political support should be calculated on the basis of objective criteria. The criteria most frequently used are the number of votes cast for a party, the number of parliamentary seats obtained or a combination of the two."