III. DISCUSSION OF THE DRAFT NATIONAL ELECTIONS LAW AND THE DRAFT ELECTION COMMISSIONS LAW

G. Electoral deposits for presidential candidates

Article 53(4) of the draft law requires that a candidate for President pay an electoral deposit (pledge) “in the amount of thousand times of the established by the legislation calculated index”. It is questionable whether both the collection of signatures and the requirement of an electoral deposit are justified. Either requiring a reasonable number of signatures or a reasonable amount of an electoral deposit is acceptable to ensure that spurious candidates do not waste electoral resources. The requirement of both signatures and electoral deposits goes too far and may prevent legitimate candidacies. The Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR recommend that the combined requirement of signatures and an electoral deposit be removed from the draft law, and that registration requirements may be met through either the collection of signatures or payment of an electoral deposit.