Election-related Legal Opinions and Comments

This joint opinion of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR comments on the following draft laws of the Republic of Serbia: Draft Law on the Unified Register of Voters, Draft Law on the State Election Commission, and Draft Law on Election of Councillors. The texts relied on are unofficial English translations. This joint opinion does not warrant the accuracy of the translations reviewed, including the numbering of articles paragraphs, and sub-paragraphs.

This joint opinion on the Draft Law No. 3366 About Election to the Parliament of Ukraine (“draft law”) is provided by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) and the Council of Europe’s European Commission for Democracy through Law (“Venice Commission”) upon a request from the Ukrainian Parliament Committee on State Building and Local Self-Governance. This joint opinion comments on the most recent version of the draft law (CDL(2009)084). Earlier opinions of the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission, as well as numerous election reports from previous OSCE/ODIHR and Council of Europe observation missions in Ukraine, provide excellent background for understanding the historical development of the election legislation in Ukraine. This draft law continues to incorporate recommendations for improvement. The most significant change is the introduction of a new electoral system. The system proposed in the draft law provides for 450 parliamentarians to be elected under a form of proportional representation that uses territorial election districts, including a foreign territorial election district where ballots are cast by out of country voters. Under the proposed system, most members of parliament will be elected from national lists, with the mathematical possibility for individual political party candidates to be elected within an in-country territorial election district from a territorial list.

This opinion is offered for consideration by the authorities of Georgia, in support of their efforts to develop a sound legal framework for democratic elections. It should be noted, however, that the election legislation itself only forms the basis for holding elections in accordance with democratic standards. The extent to which any Election Code can contribute to the holding of democratic elections will largely be determined by the political will of state institutions and officials responsible for implementing and upholding the Election Code. The education of civil society and political entities on the election law, effective training of election officials and adherence to the law by all election stakeholders also play an important role in the implementation of democratic elections.