CEC seeks modification of procedure for registering electoral candidates
The order in which the electoral opponents will be registered will be determined by draw, after all the documents are received. This will happen if the Parliament introduces the given amendment to the Electoral Code, at the request of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
CEC made such a request following divergences between the candidates and the electoral bodies, especially during the election campaign for the local elections this summer.
Currently, the electoral candidates are registered in the order in which the documents are submitted. When several candidates file the dossiers simultaneously, the order in which the documents are accepted is established by draw.
Another proposal gives the Commission the right to lodge an application with the Supreme Court of Justice for cancelling the registration of the candidate that seriously violated the legislation.
CEC also suggests modifying the ballot paper by writing the number of the constituency in the top left-hand corner of the paper and the number of the polling station in the top right-hand corner. This amendment would eliminate the necessity of using the special stamps of polling stations’ electoral offices.
Also, the central election authority asks the Parliament to explain whether the two minutes of free publicity granted on the public radio and television stations would be given for each party apart or for each list of candidates separately, according to the constituency. It also proposes formulating regulations for advertising through mobile phones and Internet, similar to those for publicity in print media.
It is suggested to concretise, by exhaustive enumeration, the persons that are obliged to stop doing their job after they are registered as electoral candidates. According to CEC, this group must include the members of Government, the heads of central local public administrations, the chairmen and deputy chairmen of districts, the mayors and deputy mayors, the town district heads and deputy heads.
The CEC vice president Renata Lapti said these proposals were formulated after identifying discrepancies and lacunas in the Electoral Code and after studying the experience of other states.