The Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR on Wednesday published their urgent opinion on a set of draft amendments to the Electoral Code, the Contravention Code and the Code of Audiovisual Media Services, in response to a request by the Ministry of Justice.
According to the opinion, the Venice Commission and the ODIHR positively assessed the clearer definitions of “electoral campaign” and clarifications regarding the timeline for campaigning in the second round, additional provisions aimed at preventing the misuse of administrative resources; expanding the range of sanctions that could be applied for violations of campaign rules; the wide definition of the persons entitled to submit complaints or appeals as well of the appealable acts; and reasonably short deadlines, in particular for complaints and appeals.
At the same time, in order to further improve the compliance of the draft amendments with international obligations, human rights standards and OSCE commitments, ODIHR and the Venice Commission made key recommendations concerning restrictions on freedom of expression – regarding participation in campaigning, hate speech and incitement to discrimination – to be drafted and interpreted in conformity with constitutional and international human rights law; an effective enforcement mechanism to prevent the misuse of administrative resources; access of observers to all stages of the electoral process; sanctions related to election observers and the media, which should respect the principles of proportionality and equality and subject to effective judicial review.
The Venice Commission/ODIHR joint opinion also says that the principle of stability of electoral law must be respected.
