Article 36.3.2 appears to grant a nominator of an election commission member the unlimited right to remove the member at any time, even if the member has been performing his or her duties in a professional and legal manner. Such a provision can subject election commission members to political pressure and threats of removal should the commission member vote on issues contrary to possible instructions given by the nominator. The Venice Commission has expressed in its Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters (Point 77) that recall of electoral commissions is not an acceptable practice. Commission members must act impartially without regard to the political motivations of the nominator. This has also previously been noted by the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission.[3] Persons who hold positions on the election administration must be completely free from political influence or pressure. The Venice Commission Code of Good Practice notes: “The bodies appointing members of electoral commissions must not be free to dismiss them at will.”[4] The Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR recommend, consistent with the international and European principles and the Code of Good Practice, that the draft law be revised to provide the grounds when a member of an election commission can be dismissed.
