As a rule, the terms of offices of election commission members should not be terminated on a discretionary basis, as it casts doubt as to the independence of the members.[22] Termination for disciplinary reasons is permissible provided that the grounds for this are clear and restrictively specified in the law. Article 21, par. 1 and Article 21, par. 2, prima 1 (as amended in July 2008) provide that Parliament can terminate early the terms of office of non-party appointed CEC members, the upper level election commission can terminate early the terms of office of non-party appointed DEC and PEC members, and the courts can terminate early the offices of party-appointed commission members. These provisions, however, do not set out the grounds for such early termination. It is thus recommended that the Election Code expressly protect election commission members from arbitrary removal – setting out under what grounds a removal is justified.
