Paragraph 85

 

85.  Article 61 of the Law on Local Elections permits recall procedures for the president of the municipality to begin with either (1) a motion for recall supported by signatures of at least 10per cent of the electorate in municipality or (2) a motion for recall passed by majority vote out of total number of councillors. In contrast, Article 11 of the Law on Presidential Elections requires a two-thirds vote of Parliament to support a recall motion of the President. Article 11 is more consistent with international principles, which counsel that a recall election directed at a specific office holder requires that minimum safeguards for such an election are in place to prevent the undemocratic and arbitrary removal of an elected official by a disgruntled group of voters, who may represent a minority of the registered voters within the constituency. The possibility to recall an elected candidate must be carefully balanced against the need for orderly election processes that respect the democratic principle of majority rule. The OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission recommend that Article 61 be amended to increase the percentage of signatures required to support a recall motion and to increase the majority voting requirement in the assembly from a majority to two-thirds.