Election-related Legal Opinions and Comments

The Croatian Parliament (Sabor) is considering a State Election Commission Bill (“Draft Law”). The Draft Law would provide for the establishment and operation of a permanent State Election Commission (SEC), and also transfer to it certain functions related to the Voter List. International as well as national observers of Croatian elections have recommended the formation of a permanent electoral administration. The OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Report for the 2003 Parliamentary elections made a similar recommendation, by stating “…permanent election administration functions should be established.” To follow up on this issue, the OSCE/ODIHR, together with the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe participated in the roundtable on election legislation reform organized by the OSCE Mission with participation of the representatives of the governmental and parliamentary bodies, academics, and the civic society in Zagreb in November 2004. This meeting concluded that the adoption of a law on the State Election Commission would be one of the priorities.

On 1 March 2005 representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), the Venice Commission and the authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan met in Strasbourg in order to discuss possible amendments to the Election Code. It was decided that the authorities of Azerbaijan would prepare a draft text and submit it for opinion to OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission before the end of March. The Venice Commission received the draft on 25 April 2005 and transmitted it to OSCE/ODIHR and to its members Messrs G. Nolte and P. Paczolay. The OSCE/ODIHR consulted Mr. R. Maleev for comments.

This Preliminary Joint Opinion follows the previous opinions on the Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia provided by the Venice Commission and OSCE-ODIHR. This opinion is specifically based on the most recent previous opinion and on the draft law amending the Electoral Code, namely: • The Joint Opinion on the Draft Amendments to the Electoral Code of Armenia by OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission from 6 January 2005 (CDL-AD(2004)049; further referred to as Joint Opinion); • The Draft Law on Amending and Supplementing the Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia, submitted by Mr. Baghdasaryan, version of 14 December 2004, the draft for the second reading in the National Assembly of Armenia (CDL(2005)008). • The comments are based on the version of the Electoral Code of 3 August 2002 (CDL(2003)052). This report is preliminary in nature since further amendments to the draft are planned.