A. Electoral system for the distribution of parliamentary mandates

First, Article 90(3) provides that a political party leader and two candidates, based on the Article 86 requirement that each list of candidates contain the names of the leader of the political party and “two candidates especially singled out by a superior body” of the political party, must be distributed mandates in the three constituencies where the political party “received relative majority of votes”. This means that, regardless of voters’ preferences expressed in open list voting, three handpicked persons of the political party are guaranteed a mandate even though they “are not indicated in the sequence of candidates’ list” (see Article 86(3) on nomination of candidates). This special treatment for these three candidates is problematic and violates the fundamental principle of equality and of non-discrimination. Additionally, it is possible under these allocation rules to circumvent the will of voters in an electoral constituency by giving a mandate to a person who did not receive a single open list preference vote over a candidate who received preference votes in the open list voting. If open list voting is to be allowed, then it should apply to all candidates on the list without giving special treatment to three candidates. The Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR recommend that Articles 86 and 90 be amended to delete the special treatment given to these three candidates if open list preference voting is to be used.