Strasbourg, 7 January 2005	CDL-EL(2004)021rev Or. fr.

 

                                                             

 

EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH LAW

(VENICE COMMISSION)

 

 

 

 

“VOTA” ELECTORAL DATABASE

 

 

 

Updated Systematic Thesaurus

 

 

Adopted by the Council for Democratic Elections

at its 11^th meeting

(Venice, 2 December 2004)

 

 

 

Legislationline

Index

 

1. The principles of Europe’selectoral heritage                                                                       4.1

1.1.      Universal suffrage                                                                                           4.1

1.1.1.   Conditions and exceptions                                                                  4.4

1.1.1.1. Age

1.1.1.2. Nationality

1.1.1.3. Residence

1.1.1.4. Restrictions to the right to vote        

1.1.2.   Voters’ registration and registers                                                         4.7

1.1.2.1. Verifying procedure of the voters’ registers

1.1.2.2. Periodic update of the register

1.1.2.3. Registration on the day of the election

1.1.3.   Submission of candidatures                                                                 4.8

1.1.3.1. Restrictions to the right to be candidate

1.1.3.2. Submission of a list of candidates

1.1.3.3. Individual submission of candidature

 

            1.2.      Equal suffrage                                                                                                4.1

1.2.1.   Equal voting rights                                                                               4.1

1.2.2.   Equal voting power/constituency delimitation                            4.2

1.2.3.   Equality and national minorities                                                4.23

1.2.4.   Equality and parity of the sexes                                                           4.1

 

1.3.      Free suffrage                                                                                                  4.1

1.3.1.   Freedom of voters to form an opinion                                                 4.1

1.3.1.1. Media                                                                                   4.11

1.3.1.1.1. Coverage of the election campaign

1.3.1.1.2. Accessibility to the media by participants in

    the election

1.3.1.1.3. Surveys

1.3.2.   Freedom of voters to express their wishes                                           4.1

1.3.2.1. Ballots and election material                                                   4.12

1.3.2.2. Voting procedures                                                                 4.14

1.3.2.2.1. Voting by proxy

1.3.2.2.2. Distance voting

1.3.2.2.3. Other special voting procedures

1.3.2.2.4. Combating electoral fraud

1.3.2.3. Counting procedures/validity of ballots                                   4.15

1.3.2.4. Aggregation procedure and election results                            4.16,

4.17, 4.19

 

1.4.      Secret suffrage                                                                                               4.1

            1.4.1.   Exceptions

 

1.5.      Direct suffrage                                                                                                4.1

            1.5.1.   Indirect suffrage

 

1.6.      Periodic elections                                                                                           4.3

1.6.1.   By-elections, repeat and re-run elections                                             4.18

1.6.2.   Second round of voting

 

2. Organising the elections       

2.1.      The competent bodies and their tasks                                                              4.5, 4.6

2.1.1.   Electoral commissions

2.1.2.   Executive bodies

2.1.3.   Jurisdictions

2.1.4.   Others

 

2.2.      Polling station                                                                                                 4.13

 

2.3.      Observation                                                                                                   4.22

2.3.1.   National observers

2.3.2.   International observers

 

2.4.      Complaints and appeals                                                                                  4.20

 

2.5.      Election campaign                                                                                          4.9

 

2.6.      Campaign finance                                                                                           4.10

 

2.7.      Election funding                                                                                              4.21

 

2.8.      Security          

 

2.9.      Electoral offences and sanctions                                                                      4.20

 

3. Electoral systems    

3.1.      Majority systems         

 

3.2.      Proportional systems   

 

3.3.      Mixed systems

 

4. Types of elections   

4.1.      Parliamentary elections

            4.1.1.   Lower house

            4.1.2.   Upper house

 

4.2.      Presidential elections               

 

4.3.      Regional and federate elections           

 

4.4.      Departmental/provincial elections        

 

4.5.      Local elections            

4.5.1.   Elections of the local executive body   

 

4.6.      Election of non-political bodies

 

4.7.      European elections

 

5. Referendum / Consultation                                                                                                 4.24

5.1.      Nature of the referendum

5.1.1.   Mandatory referendum

5.1.2.   Referendum requested by an authority

5.1.3.   Referendum requested by part of the electorate

5.1.3.1. Gathering of signatures

 

5.2.      Content of the referendum

5.2.1.   Type of act

5.2.2.   Subject

5.2.2.1. Self-determination

 

5.3.      Validity of the question

 

5.4.      Effects of the referendum

 

6. Political parties

6.1.      Names and logos

 

6.2.      Coalitions

 

6.3.      Constitution of the list of candidates

 

6.4.      Special conditions to participate in the elections