Organisation and supervision of the referendum by an impartial body

a. An impartial body must be in charge of organising the referendum. Unless there is a longstanding tradition of administrative authorities’ impartiality in electoral matters, independent commissions must be set up at all levels, from the national level to polling-station level.

b. The central electoral commission or another impartial authority should have the following powers:
- to check the validity of any proposed referendum question and approve its final wording;
- to provide official information – including, when voting on a specifically-worded proposal, the legal text submitted to referendum;
- to make official public statements in real time relating to violations or major infringements of the relevant rules;
- to supervise the conduct of the campaign, take all necessary measures to ensure that it is properly held;
- to enforce its decisions and to sanction possible breaches;
- prior to vote, and in order to avoid having to declare a vote totally invalid, to correct faulty drafting, for example:
• when the question is obscure, misleading or suggestive;
• when rules on procedural or substantive validity have been violated; in this event, partial invalidity may be declared if the remaining text is coherent; sub-division may be envisaged to correct a lack of substantive unity.

c. In case an impartial body distinct from the central electoral commission is in charge of organising and supervising referendums, it should not imperatively be a permanent body in countries with few referendums, but legislation should define its composition in abstracto.

d. The central commission should include at least one member of the judiciary or other independent legal expert; it may include a representative of the Ministry of the Interior, as well as representatives of national minorities.

e. Political parties or supporters and opponents of the proposal must be able to observe the work of the impartial body. Membership of supporters and opponents may be limited to lower commissions, which are not permanent. Equality between political parties may be construed strictly or on a proportional basis (see I.2.2.d.).

f. The bodies appointing members of commissions must not be free to dismiss them at will.

g. Members of commissions must receive standard training.

h. It is desirable that commissions take decisions by a qualified majority or by consensus.