Home > 1.1.3.1 Restrictions to the right to be candidate > MOLDOVA- Joint Recommendations on the Electoral Law and the Electoral Administration
 
 
 
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Paragraph 60
 

Concerning the first point noted above, since the right to be a candidate is a fundamental human right, the right cannot be taken away without       complying with certain legal safeguards.  As noted in Paragraph 5.19 of the Copenhagen Document, every person is presumed innocent until adjudicated guilty in accordance with certain legal safeguards.  This presumption of innocence applies not only to criminal proceedings, but proceedings that seek to revoke, remove, or “cancel” a human right or fundamental freedom.[5]  Further, “in the determination of his civil rights”, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.”[6]  “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights…”.[7]  Paragraph 5.16 the Copenhagen Document and Paragraph 21 of the OSCE 1989 Vienna Document (hereafter the Vienna Document) specifically incorporate these cited provisions for the determination of civil rights, and Paragraph 13.9 of the Vienna Document provides that “the right to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time before an independent and impartial tribunal, include[s] the right to present legal arguments and to be presented by legal counsel of one’s choosing.”  Paragraph 5.17 of the Copenhagen Document also recognises the right to be given free legal counsel where the person does not have sufficient means for legal assistance and the interests of justice so require.  All of these safeguards are the minimum requirements the law should explicitly provide before revoking a person’s human right to passive suffrage.