Election-related Legal Opinions and Comments

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.

On 25 February 2011, the Council of Europe office in Belgrade forwarded to the Venice Commission an official request from the Speaker of the Parliament Ms. Djukic Dejanovic for an urgent expertise of the draft partial changes of the Law on the election of representatives of the Republic of Serbia (hereafter “The Election Law”), regarding the blank resignations and the allocation of seats in the parliament (CDL-EL(2005)026 and CDL-REF (2011) 011). Proposed changes have been made by the Parliamentary working group. This is one of the crucial issues for the negotiations process between Serbia and the European Union as well as for the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The draft Law of the Republic of Serbia "Altering and Amending the Law on election of Members of Parliament concerns Articles 84, 88 and 92 of the law on election of MPs. Corresponding changes were introduced in Articles 22 and 198 of the Rules of procedure of the National Assembly…

In a letter dated 31 May 2010, Mr Dag Henrik Sandbakken, Secretary of State of the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (the Ministry) requested an evaluation of those aspects of the Electoral System of Norway relating to electoral dispute resolution from the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission). More specifically, the Commission was requested to assess “the provisions regarding the adjudication of complaints and appeals, and approval of elections, and how these would relate to Norway’s international obligations”. These provisions are notably Article 55 of the Constitution (CDL-EL(2010)026) and Chapter 13 of the Representation of the People Act (CDL-EL(2010)025).