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Election-related Legal Opinions and Comments
Legal books line the shelves of ODIHR's Elections Department. (OSCE/Agnieszka Rembowska) Photo details
Turkmenistan, Assessment of the Electoral Legislation
This assessment of the electoral legislation of Turkmenistan is provided by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), upon the request of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat. This assessment is based on unofficial English translation of the Constitution, amended on 26 September 2008, and other laws, primarily the Mejlis Election Law (MEL), adopted on 10 October 2008, the Presidential Election Law (PEL), adopted on 21 May 2011, and the Halk Maslakhaty and Gengesh Election Law (HM/GEL), adopted on 31 March 2012. In addition, the legal framework for elections includes the Law on Guarantees of Electoral Rights of the People of
Turkmenistan of 22 April 1999 and the Law on the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda of 21 May 2011. Relevant provisions from the Civil Procedure Code, Law on Public Association, and Law on Media have been taken into consideration as well for the purposes of this assessment.
Joint Opinion on the Act on the Elections of Members of Parliament of Hungary
On 20 January 2012, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary requested the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (“the Venice Commission”) of the Council of Europe for an opinion on several pieces of legislation recently revised, notably Act CCIII on the Elections of Members of Parliament of Hungary (official translation into English received by diplomatic channels on 7 March 2012; CDL-REF(2012)003; hereafter “the new Elections Act”). Following this request, the Venice Commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) have prepared the present draft opinion on the Act.
Joint Opinion on the Electoral Law and the Electoral Practice of Albania
On 24 August 2011, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe asked the Venice Commission to provide an opinion on the question of which improvements should be made to electoral legislation and practice in Albania in the light of recent experience. The present Opinion has been prepared jointly by the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR on the basis of comments by Mr Pieter van Dijk (member of the Venice Commission, the Netherlands), Mr Oliver Kask (member, Estonia), Mr Konrad Olszewski (expert of the Venice Commission, Poland) and Ms Marianna Skopa (expert, OSCE/ODIHR).
Joint Opinion on the Draft Election Code of Georgia
At the request of Georgian authorities, the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (“the Venice Commission”) of the Council of Europe and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (“OSCE/ODIHR”) have prepared the present opinion on the draft Election Code of Georgia (“the draft Code”). The most recent previous joint opinion of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR is dated 9 June 2010 and contains comments on amendments up to March 2010. This Joint Opinion contains commentary and recommendations on the Code as drafted through 22 November 2011 and based on draft revised amendments sent by the authorities to the Venice Commission on 8 December 2011. Additionally, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR are aware that additional amendments were prepared on 10 December; these amendments, however, are not commented upon in this review.
Joint Final Opinion on the Electoral Code of Armenia
In a letter dated 22 June 2011, the President of the National Assembly of Armenia requested the Council of Europe’s European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) to provide an assessment of the recently adopted Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia (CDL-REF(2011)029rev). This joint opinion comments on the most recent version of the Electoral Code, adopted 26 May 2011. Earlier opinions of OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission as well as the numerous election reports from previous OSCE/ODIHR and Council of Europe observation missions to Armenia provide an excellent background for understanding the historical development of electoral legislation in Armenia.
Joint Opinion on the Revised Electoral Code of the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"
On 15 December 2010, the Ministry of Justice of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” requested the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) to prepare an opinion on amendments to the Electoral Code (“the Code”). At the time of the request, the Code was still a draft. As the Ministry of Justice requested a response within a short timeframe, OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission initially prepared a set of informal comments on 11 January 2011.
Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Election of People’s Deputies of Ukraine
On 23 June 2011 the Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Mr Oleksandr Lavrynovych, requested the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR to comment on the text of the draft Law of Ukraine on Election of the People’s Deputies of Ukraine (Doc. CDL-REF
(2011) 034) hereinafter, the “draft law”). The draft law was prepared by the Working Group on reforming and codifying the electoral legal framework with the aim to bring it in line with democratic standards following the presidential decree of 2 November 2010. The Working Group consists of representatives of different state institutions, parliamentarians, civil society representatives, academics and domestic legal and constitutional experts. Invitations to the working group meetings were also made to international experts.
On 3 December 2010, the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (“the Congress“) requested the Venice Commission to prepare an opinion on the Election Code of Bulgaria (“the Code”). This request followed a monitoring visit to Bulgaria by a delegation of the Congress from 24-26 November 2010. At the time of the request, the Election Code was still a draft. On 19 January 2011 the National Assembly of Bulgaria adopted the Election Code, which entered into force in January 2011. The Venice Commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) decided to provide a joint legal opinion on the adopted Code.