ODIHR and the Venice Commission emphasised the importance of stability in electoral legislation and presented the European standards as the following:8
“17. The stability of the electoral law is a prerequisite for implementing the principles underlying Europe’s electoral heritage and is vital to the credibility of an electoral process. To this effect, the Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters states that “fundamental elements of electoral law, in particular the electoral system proper, membership of electoral commissions and the drawing of constituency boundaries, should not be open to amendment less than one year before an election”.9 Stability is particularly important regarding the fundamental elements of the electoral law since these aspects are more likely to influence the outcome of an election.
18. It must be added that the Venice Commission does not consider the one-year restriction as preventing a state from bringing its electoral law in accordance with the standards of Europe’s electoral heritage or the implementation of recommendations by international organisations.10 Indeed, some of the late amendments to the Electoral Code address concerns previously raised by the Venice Commission and the ODIHR. If new provisions affecting fundamental elements of electoral law are adopted within one year before an election, such amendments should only take effect after the forthcoming election.11”
8 See CDL-AD(2017)016, Bulgaria - Joint Opinion on Amendments to the Electoral Code, par. 17-18.
9 Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters (CDL-AD(2002)023rev), item II 2b; see also the OSCE/ODIHR Review of Electoral Legislation and Practice in OSCE Participating States, Warsaw, 15 October 2013, p. 6ff.
10 Interpretative Declaration on the Stability of the Electoral Law (CDL-AD (2005)043), item II 2.
11 Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, Explanatory Report, par. 66.
