2014 Electoral Processes Report | SGI Sustainable Governance Indicators
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Sustainable Governance Indicators SGI 2014 Electoral Processes Report Candidacy Procedures, Media Access, Voting and Registration Rights, Party Financing, Popular Decision-Making SGI 2014 | 2 Electoral Processes Report Indicator Candidacy Procedures Question How fair are procedures for registering candidates and parties? 41 OECD and EU countries are sorted according to their performance on a scale from 10 (best) to 1 (lowest). This scale is tied to four qualitative evaluation levels. 10-9 = Legal regulations provide for a fair registration procedure for all elections; candidates and parties are not discriminated against. 8-6 = A few restrictions on election procedures discriminate against a small number of candidates and parties. 5-3 = Some unreasonable restrictions on election procedures exist that discriminate against many candidates and parties. 2-1 = Discriminating registration procedures for elections are widespread and prevent a large number of potential candidates or parties from participating. Australia Score 10 The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is an independent statutory authority that oversees the registration of candidates and parties according to the registration provisions of Part XI of the Commonwealth Electoral Act. The AEC is accountable for the conduct of elections to a cross-party parliamentary committee, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM). JSCEM inquires into and reports on any issues relating to electoral laws and practices and their administration. There are no significant barriers to registration for any potential candidate or party. A party requires a minimum of 500 members who are on the electoral roll. A candidate for a federal election must be an Australian citizen, at least 18 years old and must not be serving a prison sentence of 12 months or more, or be an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent. There have been no changes to the laws relating to candidacy procedures in the period under review, and the process remains open, transparent and in line with international best practices. Austria Score 10 The Austrian constitution and the laws based on the constitution are consonant with the framework of liberal democracy. They provide the conditions for fair, competitive, and free elections. Parties based on the ideology of National Socialism are excluded from participation, but there has SGI 2014 | 3 Electoral Processes Report never been an attempt to exclude other parties considered to be outside the accepted mainstream of democracy (such as the Communist Party). Persons younger than 16 years of age cannot vote or stand for office. There is ongoing debate on how best to handle the system of proportional representation that is enshrined in the Austrian constitution. The system contains a 4% electoral threshold; parties must receive at least this share of the national vote in order to gain a parliament seat, a policy ostensibly designed to minimize the deconcentrating tendency of proportional representation systems. Nevertheless, critics of the system argue that proportional representation as implemented in Austria prevents clear majorities, thus making it difficult to obtain a direct mandate to govern from the voters. Coalitions are a necessity. A system based on single-member constituencies would increase the possibility that single-party governments could be elected, but at the cost of limiting smaller parties’ chances for survival. Thus, though the current system is criticized for undermining the efficiency of government, it is considered to be more democratic than the alternatives. The outcomes of Austrian elections are broadly accepted, and there is rarely any dispute over who or which party has won. Canada Score 10 The right to be a candidate in a federal election is laid down in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with the associated procedures and responsibilities specified in the Canada Elections Act. There are virtually no restrictions on becoming a candidate for election. Almost all Canadian citizens 18 years old or over can present themselves as candidates for federal elections. Exceptions include members of provincial or territorial legislatures, certain judges, election officers, persons who were candidates in a previous election but who did not conform to the expense-reporting rules, and persons imprisoned in a correctional institution. There is no cost to being a candidate in a federal election. A CAD 1,000 deposit is required, but this is reimbursed if the candidate’s official agent submits the electoral campaign return after the election within the prescribed time. Administrative procedures are not onerous (a nomination form is required containing signatures by either 50 or 100 persons residing in the constituency in which the candidate wants to run, with the number depending on the electoral district’s population). SGI 2014 | 4 Electoral Processes Report Czech Republic Score 10 Electoral registration procedures are fair and transparent. The procedures for the registration of parties and of candidates in parliamentary elections have remained unchanged. Reasonable requirements are set by the new rules for the registration of candidates for the presidential elections were introduced as part of the transition from an indirect election of the president by an electoral college composed of the two chambers of the Czech Parliament to a direct popular vote. Candidates require support by Parliament or 50,000 signatures from voters. In the first round of the presidential elections in January 2013, eight candidates ran. Denmark Score 10 The basic rule for candidacy procedures is laid out in section 30 of the Danish constitution: “Any person who is entitled to vote at Folketing (parliamentary) elections shall be eligible for membership of the Folketing, unless he has been convicted of an act which in the eyes of the public makes him unworthy to be a member of the Folketing.” It is the unicameral People’s Assembly (Folketing) itself, which, in the end, decides whether a conviction makes someone unworthy of membership. In practice, political parties play an important role in selecting candidates for elections. It is possible to run in an election in a personal capacity, but extremely difficult to be elected that way. Given the relatively high number of political parties, it is reasonably easy to become a candidate for a party. There is also the possibility of forming a new party. New parties have to collect a number of signatures to be able to run, corresponding to 1/175 of the number of votes cast at the last election. Citation: The Constitutional Act of Denmark of June 5, 1953, http://www.eu-oplysningen.dk/upload /application/pdf/0172b719/Constitut ion%20of%20Denmark.pdf (accessed: 15 April 2013) Henrik Zahle, Dansk forfatningsret I: Institutioner og regulering. Copenhagen: Christian Ejlers‟ Forlag, 2005. Estonia Score 10 The principles of fair and free elections are laid out in the Estonian constitution. Estonia has a proportional representation electoral system, which means that most candidates are registered within party lists. The composition of party lists is a matter of internal procedures that are set by the statute of the political party. All registered political parties can nominate their candidates. Besides political parties, two or more citizens can form an SGI 2014 | 5 Electoral Processes Report election coalition to participate in municipal elections. Municipality electoral committees register election coalitions. Every person who has the right to stand as a candidate may nominate him or herself as an independent candidate. Independent candidates can participates in local, general and European Parliament elections. The Estonian president is elected by the parliament. At minimum one fifth of parliament members can nominate a candidate. Citation: Estonina National Electoral Committee http://www.vvk.ee/?lang=en Finland Score 10 The electoral process in Finland is free and fair, and the Finnish constitution grants Finnish citizens the right to participate in national elections and referendums. Registered political parties have the right to nominate candidates; however, under the principle that all voters have the right to influence the nomination process, electoral associations of at least 100 enfranchised citizens also have the right of nomination. Admittedly, the role of these associations has been fairly marginal. Candidates for presidential elections can be nominated by any political party that is represented in parliament at the time of nomination; again, however, candidates may be nominated also by groups of at least 20,000 enfranchised citizens. Presidential candidates must be Finnish citizens by birth; people under guardianship and those in active military service cannot be candidates in parliamentary elections. The procedure for registering political parties is regulated by the Party Law of 1969. Parties which fail to elect representatives to parliament in two successive elections are removed from the list of registered parties. However, by gathering signatures of 5,000 supporters, a party may be reregistered. Citation: Dag Anckar and Carsten Anckar, “Finland”, in Dieter Nohlen and Philip Stöver, eds. Elections in Europe. A Data Handbook, Nomos, 2010. France Score 10 The electoral process is fair at all levels, and controls by ad hoc commissions or the judiciary ensure the smooth running of elections. There are some restrictions to assure that only serious candidates stand in presidential contests. These include a requirement that each