1726 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "Parties and their supporters shall be able to assemble freely and communicate the party views, and their opinions shall not be summarily blocked from receiving balanced media coverage, especially by state-run media."
- "It is of paramount importance that political parties and their members have the right to participate in political and public debate, regardless of whether the position taken by them is in line with government policy or advocates for legal or societal change or is unpopular or offensive to some groups."
- "Political pluralism is critical to ensuring effective democratic governance and providing citizens with a genuine opportunity to choose how they will be governed. Legislation regarding political parties should promote pluralism as a means of guaranteeing participation by all persons and groups, including minorities, in public life, which should also allow for the expression of opposition viewpoints and for democratic transitions of power."
- "Particularly in the case of political parties, given their fundamental role in the democratic process, prohibitive measures shall be narrowly applied and shall never completely extinguish the right or encroach on its essence. For instance, prohibiting the establishment of a political party or dissolving a political party are sanctions of last resort and shall only be imposed in exceptional cases under strict conditions."
- "However, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR take the view that, given the importance of political parties as vital instruments of the freedom of association and fundamental for the democratic process and the important consequences that the restrictions imposed on political parties may have, any restriction on political party freedoms must be capable of being submitted to review by an independent and impartial court, at least in the final instance. Moreover, the prohibition/dissolution of a political party must always be decided by an independent court."
- "All individuals and groups that seek to establish a political party must be able to do so on the basis of equal treatment before the law."
- "Grounds for denying party registration must be clearly stated in law and based on objective criteria. Where parties can be denied registration for administrative reasons, such as the failure to meet a deadline, such administrative requirements must be reasonable and well known to parties. Moreover, in case of technical omissions or minor infringements of registration requirements, the political party should be given reasonable time in which to rectify the failure."
- "Deadlines for deciding registration applications should be reasonably short, to ensure the effective realization of the right of individuals to associate. "
- "The payment of reasonable registration fees for the establishment of a political party is an acceptable requirement."
- "Although requirements based on minimum support established through the collection of signatures are legitimate, the state must ensure that they are reasonable and democratically justifiable and not so burdensome as to restrict the political activities of small parties or to discriminate against parties representing minorities."
- "Once party registration is approved, requirements for retaining it should be minimal. However, the requirements for continuing to receive certain benefits from the state, such as public financing or ballot access in elections, may be higher than requirements for maintaining registration as a political party."
- "Provisions regarding the limitation of political parties purely on the grounds that they represent a limited geographic area should generally be removed from relevant legislation."
- "Dissolution of political parties which is merely based on the incidental activities of party members as individuals is incompatible with the protection awarded to parties as associations. This incompatibility extends to individual actions of party leadership, except where these persons can be proven to act as representatives of the party as a whole."
- "The rights of opposition parties have to be effectively protected in parliament."
- "The use of public resources for the performance of parliamentary duties may be limited or suspended in proximity to elections to minimize the structural advantages of incumbency and the appearance of a self-protecting cartel of parties in parliament."
- "Therefore, taking also into account the recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly that the restrictions at present authorised by Article 16 with respect to political activity by aliens are excluded144 , the Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR take the view that only the possibility of aliens to establish political parties can be restricted under Article 16. Nevertheless, the latter provision should not be applied in order to restrict the membership of aliens to political parties."
- "Political parties can for instance introduce provisions in their statutes to promote gender equality. These could include, for example, a minimum representation of each sex or women’s sections in decision-making structures, electoral lists, nominations and appointments."
- "Generally, while it is up to the State to ensure that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their rights in full, they may require, or, through financial and other incentives, encourage political parties to take further measures to facilitate public participation for this category of persons."
- "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. "
- "When parties are required to show minimum levels of support, they should be given adequate time to collect and submit signatures. It is good practice that the number of required signatures does not exceed one per cent of the total number of registered voters in a constituency."
- "The system for the verification of signatures should be clearly defined in law and not overly technical, so as to avoid the possibility of abuse. In particular, a requirement that a citizen be allowed to sign in support of only one party should be avoided, as such a regulation would affect his/her right to freedom of association and could easily disqualify parties despite their attempts in good faith to fulfil this requirement."
- "The system for ballot access should not discriminate against new parties. While parties that won mandates or a minimum percentage of votes in the previous election may be automatically eligible to be placed on the ballot, there must also be fair, clear and objective criteria for the inclusion of new parties."
- "Funding political parties through private contributions is also a form of political participation. Thus, legislation should attempt to achieve a balance between encouraging moderate contributions and limiting unduly large contributions."
- "To ensure a transparent and fair financing system, and to avoid the possibility of circumventing relevant rules, both routine party funding and campaign finance must be addressed in legislation relevant to political parties and electoral campaigns in the same manner."
- "Legislation also may allow parties and candidates to take out loans to finance (part of) their campaign or activities. It is important that rules on transparency deal consistently with such resources, as well as with credits and debts, so as to avoid the circumvention of limits on private donations and the ensuing exercise of undue influence."
- "Anonymous donations should be strictly regulated, including through a limit on the aggregate allowable amount of all anonymous donations."
- "In addition to regulating financial donations, legislation should regulate in-kind support by private donors, both by individuals and by legal persons. (...) For that purpose, the monetary value of in-kind donations should be determined based on market price and should be listed in funding reports."
- "In order to avoid the creation of loopholes through which unlimited funding can be channeled and financial transactions can be veiled, laws should set proportionate and reasonable limits to the amount that third parties can spend on promoting candidates or parties, ideally by applying existing ceilings for donations to political parties to these actors as well. "
- "Therefore, legislation may limit such contributions as part of the total spending limit during the campaign period or set reasonable caps for individual candidate’s contributions and require the disclosure of such contributions."
- "Donations from foreign sources to political parties may be prohibited by domestic legislation."
- "In principle, donations from citizens, regardless of their place of residence, should not be restricted if they are allowed to participate in elections at home."
- "The amount of public funding awarded to parties must be carefully designed to guarantee the utility of such funding, while at the same time ensuring that private contributions are not made superfluous or their impact nullified."
- "Third parties should be free to fundraise and express views on political issues as a means of free expression, and their activity should not be unconditionally prohibited. However, it is important that some forms of regulation, with comparable obligations and restrictions as apply to parties and party candidates, be extended to third parties that are involved in the campaign, to ensure transparency and accountability. Third parties should be subjected to similar rules on donations and spending as political parties to avoid situations where third parties can be used to circumvent campaign finance regulations."
- "States should require political parties as well as independent candidates to keep records of all direct and in-kind contributions received in a campaign period. The law should set out precisely what kind of reporting is required, including the timeframe and method of public disclosure."
- "Reports should clearly distinguish between income and expenditures. Further, reporting formats should include the itemization of donations into standardized categories as defined by relevant regulations and should be easily accessible and user-friendly and not overly burdensome, while also allowing the relevant data to be processed electronically afterwards."
- "It is good practice to require the following reports: - Initial reports before the campaign begins, to ensure that accounts are properly opened (if applicable). Such reports should include the party or candidate’s bank account information and the name and function of the persons accountable for the party or candidate’s campaign finances; - Reports providing oversight bodies and the public with preliminary information on campaign incomes and expenses of parties and candidates several days before election day; - Final reports after the election and certification of results, to provide a complete and comprehensive account of all campaign financing. "
- "Transparency in reporting requires the timely publication of parties’ financial reports; the reports need to remain public for an appropriate amount of time, to allow for proper public scrutiny. The fulfilment of this requirement means that reports need to contain enough details to be useful and understandable for the general public and can be facilitated through digitalization of the process."
- "While the publication of financial reports is crucial to establishing public confidence in the functions of a party, reporting requirements must also strike a balance between necessary disclosure and exceptionally pressing privacy concerns of individual donors in cases of a reasonable probability of threats, harassment or reprisals, or where disclosure could result in serious political repercussions."
- "Sanctions should be applied against political parties found to be in violation of relevant laws and regulations and should be dissuasive in nature. Moreover, in addition to being enforceable, sanctions must at all times be objective, effective, and proportionate to the specific violation."
- "Whichever body is tasked to review the party’s financial reports, effective measures should be taken in legislation and in practice to ensure the respective body’s independence from political pressure and commitment to impartiality. Such independence and impartiality are fundamental to its proper functioning."
- "In order to secure a diverse and pluralistic political process which is hospitable to candidates and parties from across the political spectrum, States should: (…) (c) Put in place measures to ensure that all political candidates and parties have direct access to State-owned broadcast media services for specific times on an equal basis, which access is determined either on the basis of the previous performance of a given party or candidate or through a ballot process, and that they are treated fairly and equitably by those services."
- "In order to secure a diverse and pluralistic political process which is hospitable to candidates and parties from across the political spectrum, States should: (…) (d) Permanently assess the impact of private financing of political communication in the promotion of a plural debate; and consider adopting ceilings for donations to political campaigns in order to prevent financial imbalances from destabilizing the playing field and disproportionately limiting the participation of certain parties or candidates in political campaigns."
- "The obligations to promote the enjoyment of the right to freedom of opinion and expression require that States guarantee the transparency of all aspects of political and electoral processes, and should particularly put in place measures to: (a) Enact regulations requiring the submission of periodic financial reports by parties, political organizations and candidates, entailing full disclosure of all resources collected, in monetary form or in kind, and their origin, and all expenditure, in order to promote public scrutiny and informed voting by citizens. Political finance reporting should be comprehensive, timely, available to the public, and subject to stringent sanctions for inadequate disclosure or timeliness."
- "The obligations to promote the enjoyment of the right to freedom of opinion and expression require that States guarantee the transparency of all aspects of political and electoral processes, and should particularly put in place measures to: (...) (c) Ensure that the implementation of political financing regulations is overseen, monitored and enforced by the electoral authorities, the judiciary and other independent bodies."
- "States should repeal any law that criminalizes or unduly restricts expression, online or offline."
- "Smart regulation, not heavy-handed viewpoint-based regulation, should be the norm, focused on ensuring company transparency and remediation to enable the public to make choices about how and whether to engage in online forums."
- "EMBs are well-placed to ensure that the data they collect are disaggregated by sex. This data allow an EMB to identify any gender gaps in registration, turnout or staffing levels and where such gaps are identified, to monitor any progress in closing them. Ensuring that any data collected are sex-disaggregated may require legislative reform or changes to electoral regulations."
- "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."