RECOMMENDATION
ON LEGAL REMEDIES IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS

(Adopted by the Conference of Global Election Organizations
and General Assembly Meeting of the ACEEEO
in Siófok, Hungary on 17 September 2005)

The Conference of Global Election Organizations and General Assembly Meeting of the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO), considering that legal remedies have an important role in ensuring the legitimacy of elections, call their Members to take appropriate measures to guarantee the right to legal remedy in the electoral process.

1. Voters, political parties, candidates and other participants of the electoral process shall be entitled to a fair hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal established by constitutional law.

2. The body for appeals should either be
a. an electoral commission in the first instance – in this case a final appeal to the court should be possible
b. the ordinary court
c. a special electoral court
d. the constitutional court.

3. The independence of and the trust in the appeal body is of great importance, as decisions taken in electoral matters may have significant political effect, especially in the case of a particularly sensitive political environment.

4. The body for appeals shall have the power to ensure effective legal remedy, including the annulment of the electoral results or the entire electoral process and the mandate gained by electoral fraud.

5. Appeal bodies and investigating and law enforcement authorities shall be accordingly trained and educated to understand the political sensitivity of electoral matters.

6. An appropriate mechanism shall be created to enforce the decisions and sanctions taken by the appeal body.

7. An appropriate time limit for lodging appeals and also for making rulings shall be set, which is
a. short enough to provide quick legal remedy for the appellants, and on the same time
b. long enough to ensure the right of voters and other participants of the electoral process to an effective legal remedy and the genuineness of the decisions taken by the body for appeals.

8. Besides the legal regulations due administrative practice shall ensure that no technical obstacle interfere the right to effective legal remedy.

9. Electoral authorities should provide voter education to assist voters in exercising their right to effective legal remedy.