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

W. Complaints and appeals

Articles 44 and 45 of the draft national elections law fail to establish a uniform and consistent process for protecting suffrage rights. Articles 44 and 45 create the option of filing a complaint with either an election commission or a court, which creates the possibility for a party to file a complaint in a “favourable” forum as opposed to legally pre-established forum. This possibility – to file in different forums – could also lead to inconsistency in decisions. As uniformity and consistency in decisions is important, The Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR recommend that challenges to decisions be filed in only one forum designated by the law – either a court or higher election commission. If the forum designated by the law is an election commission, then the Code must provide that the right to appeal to a court is available after exhaustion of the administrative process.[1]

[1] Code of good practice in electoral matters, CDL-AD(2002)023rev, II.3.3 a and c.