1136 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "The rationale for certain conditions such as age or residence is obvious: a sufficient level of maturity and connection to the community."
- "Reasonable restrictions on persons wishing to become candidates may include a residency requirement in the country for a certain period of time, minimum support among voters, or the fact of having reached a higher age than the minimum voting age."
- "As with the right to vote, restrictions on the right to be elected must be confined to accepted criteria: age requirements, which may be somewhat higher than the legal voting age in the case of candidacies for high governmental office; citizenship requirements; reasonable residency requirements; and proportionate restrictions or disqualification in cases of findings of mental incapacity and criminal convictions."
- "Certain requirements for public office are allowed by the Covenant, but these are limited to reasonable bases, such as minimum age ... Records of discussions held during the drafting of these provisions are clear on this interpretation."
- "Reasonable restrictions for persons wishing to become candidates must not unjustly discriminate, and may include a residency requirement in the country for a certain period of time before the elections..."
- "Often extra restrictions are introduced for being a candidate such as having had residence in the country for some period of time before the elections, or having residence in the constituency…. Such restrictions may well be acceptable."
- "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 not exceed six months; a longer period may be required only to protect national minorities. "
- "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 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."
- "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."
- "Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions: (a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives."
- "The right of persons to stand for election should not be limited unreasonably by requiring candidates to be members of parties or of specific parties."
- "Fundamental freedoms are essential to the democratic character of the campaign period, and all political participants should enjoy the freedom of association and should be able to freely express their campaign messages and assemble with their constituents free from intimidation or hindrance. Citizens should have the right to express their political convictions freely."
- "Respect for fundamental rights a. Democratic elections are not possible without respect for human rights, in particular freedom of expression and of the press, freedom of circulation inside the country, freedom of assembly and freedom of association for political purposes, including the creation of political parties. "
- "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression. This right includes freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, in print, in the form of art, or through any other medium of one's choice."
- "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This Article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises."
- "The exercise of the right provided for in the foregoing paragraph [freedom of expression] shall not be subject to prior censorship but shall be subject to subsequent imposition of liability, which shall be expressly established by law to the extent necessary to ensure: (b) the protection of national security, public order, or public health or morals."
- "Nothing in the present Covenant may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms recognized herein or at their limitation to a greater extent than is provided for in the present Covenant."
- "Unfair incumbency advantages should be addressed and the use of state resources that are not made available to all candidates in the electoral campaign should be prohibited."
- "It [the legal framework] must require that government resources not be used for electoral advantage of any party, candidate or group supporting or opposing referenda or other ballot initiatives."
- "It is the responsibility of the government not to abuse state resources, both human and material (i.e. vehicles, office space and telecommunications), in support of its own candidates."
- "…resources [should be]...distributed in amounts and at times that do not unfairly disadvantage any contestants."
- "Public resources should not be used unfairly."
- "Government office space, vehicles, and telecommunications equipment should not be used for partisan purposes unless equal access is provided to all contestants."
- "In the interest of creating conditions for a level playing field for all political parties and promoting the integrity of the electoral process, parties should not misuse public funds in the electoral process. The electoral law should prohibit the Government to aid or to abet any party gaining unfair advantage."
- "Apart from different forms of funding provided for by law, any party must refrain from receiving assistance, financial or in kind, from any public authorities, particularly those directed by its members."
- "States must take effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote are able to exercise that right. Where registration of voters is required, it should be facilitated and obstacles to such registration should not be imposed. If residence requirements apply to registration, they must be reasonable, and should not be imposed in such a way as to exclude the homeless from the right to vote. Any abusive interference with registration or voting as well as intimidation or coercion of voters should be prohibited by penal laws and those laws should be strictly enforced."
- "...[C]ommon problems associated with voter registration: [include] procedures that cause unreasonable difficulty for certain sectors of the population to register or obtain the identification card necessary for voting, including: limiting hours or days for registration; placing registration sites at inconvenient locations; levying fees; conducting literacy exams; or subjecting registrants to unfairly burdensome procedures such as presenting multiple identification cards or photographs, making multiple visits to the registration site, etc."
- "The registration offices should be located and open for registration at places and times that do not make it difficult or costly for a person to register."
- "[A]dvance registration should be allowed for those who will reach minimum voting age by election day, but after the close of registration"
- "[E]very citizen has one vote or equal number of votes with other citizens, and they have the right to exercise on the equal basis with other citizens their voting right, and their vote(s) has (have) the same weight as votes of other voters, and the weight of vote (votes) of the voter should not be affected by the election system applied in the state."
- "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;"
- "People meeting the requirements on age and who have lived in the country as de facto citizens for a substantial number of years, should be given the opportunity to obtain citizenship [and, thus, be given voting rights]."
- "Universal suffrage requires that the broadest reasonable pool of voters be guaranteed participatory rights."
- "In many countries, military personnel are entitled to vote at civilian polling stations… However, voting may also be organised in the barracks, which may be difficult to observe."
- "In such cases where voting is permitted in military barracks, prisons and hospitals, the process can be open to abuse potentially undermining the principles of secrecy and freedom of choice."
- "It is common and acceptable for the electoral framework to have special provisions ensuring that a member of the military is able to exercise the right to vote while on active duty. ... Concerning military voters, it is not unusual for the legal framework to permit special polling stations to be set up within military units located in remote areas far from any centre of population...wherever possible, military voters should vote in ordinary civilian polling stations."
- "Special voting procedures may include the use of mobile ballot boxes intended for the sick and elderly, voting in hospitals and prisons, early voting, voting by post, voting in embassies, and special provisions for military voting."
- "Military 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."
- "The legal framework for elections may provide for other methods of voting, such as voting by mail or mobile voting."