Election-related Legal Opinions and Comments

The present joint opinion of the Venice Commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) was prepared on the basis of comments by Mr Oliver Kask (member, Estonia), Ms Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska (member, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and OSCE/ODIHR expert Mr Jessie Pilgrim. This opinion does not intend to address all issues which could arise from the electoral legislation of Belarus. It focuses on the most important ones, and in particular on those underlined by the Parliamentary Assembly in its request.

Following a request for opinion by the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Macedonia, Ms Meri Mladenovska-Gjorgijevska, on 21 November 2005, the Venice Commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) delivered a Draft Joint Opinion on the Draft Electoral Code of “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” on 20 February 2006. Following enactment of the new drafted Electoral Code and its publication in the Official Gazette on 31 March, the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR now present the present opinion on the Electoral Code, in view of, inter alia, upcoming parliamentary elections

The Draft Law is here reviewed under benefit from discussion thereof at a Roundtable held at the Parliament Building in Zagreb on 13 December 2005, co-organised by the Central State Administration Office (CSAO) and the OSCE Mission to Croatia, with participation of the OSCE/ODHIR and the Venice Commission. The Roundtable was attended by representatives of the Croatian Government, Parliament, Constitutional Court and Supreme Court as well as academicians and non-governmental organisations. The Prime Minister Dr. Ivo Sanader and the Speaker of the Parliament, Mr Vladimir Seks, attended the opening session, and the governmental representatives included Mr Branko Hrvatin, President of the Supreme Court and of the existing SEC, and Mr Antun Palaric, State Secretary of the CSAO, which has been instrumental in the drafting of the Law Bill. - The discussion referred inter alia to an earlier Roundtable organised by the OSCE Mission in November 2004, which also was attended by the OSCE/ODHIR and the Venice Commission. It was there concluded that the adoption of a law on the SEC should be among the priorities in electoral reform.