Venice Commission - Observatory on emergency situations
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18. Same questions as under 17), mutatis mutandis, as regards local elections and referendums.
No
Not applicable
Municipal elections were affected in two provinces.
Neither local elections nor referendums were scheduled to take place during Covid-19 pandemic.
Not applicable. No elections scheduled during this period.
On 30 April, the BiH Central Election Commission (CEC) held its first web-streamed session and discussed the ongoing preparations for the local elections in October. CEC Members highlighted several problems they face in implementing preparatory activities for holding local elections, including the suspension of postal traffic, the financial problems due to the failure to adopt the 2020 budget at BiH level, and the lack of coordination between the respective institutions.
On 14 Mary 2020 the Federal Supreme Court decided that the established deadlines for the municipal elections that will take place on October this year shall remain in force, despite the state of pandemic caused by COVID-19, under penalty of violation of the democratic principle and popular sovereignty. According to the Court, in view of the exceptional measures to face the pandemic, the idea of extending electoral deadlines, with the postponement sought, can be tempting. Nevertheless, the constitutional history recommends that, especially in crisis situations, the preservation of the established procedures for the expression of the popular will and of the institutions that shape democracy should be sought to the maximum. Despite their fallibility, they may be one of the few safeguards of normality. The Court pointed out that, according to a report released by the Superior Electoral Court to monitor the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a view to the 2020 municipal elections, in light of the current electoral calendar; the Electoral Court has, so far, material conditions to implement elections this year. The Federal Supreme Court concluded that the risk of weakening the democratic system and the rule of law itself related to the disruption of the electoral deadlines, as a result of the acceptance of the provisional claim, appears to be a more serious risk than the damage claimed due to the maintenance of deadlines in the current circumstances. When dealing with controversial issues, one should not forget the inherent importance of the democratic process and the sacred value of suffrage.
This year, only by-elections were held in several municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria. However, on April 7, 2020 the President issued Decree No. 77 which rescheduled the by-elections from June 14 to September 27 on the grounds of Art. 98, item 1 of the Constitution, in connection with Art. 463, para. 5, Art. 465, item 5 and Art. 466 of the Election Code, none of which refer to pandemic: in 1 town and 11 villages local by-elections were rescheduled based on the ground of Art. 463, para. 5 of the Election Code; in 2 villages local by-elections were rescheduled on the grounds of Art. 465, item 5 and Art. 466 of the Election Code.
In accordance with the Decision of the Government of Croatia of 12 March 2020 on calling early elections for the City Council of the City of Orahovica and the Municipal Council of the Municipality of Otok, early elections were scheduled for 19 April 2020.
No local elections or referendums were scheduled to be held during the COVID-19 emergency.
No such elections were scheduled to take place during the said time.
Municipal elections were held on 15 March 2020. The principle that municipal elections should be held every six years is based on the law. It is up to the Government to set the precise date. On 15 March 2020, the first round of these elections was held.
Section 6 (3) of the Act XII of 2020 on the containment of coronavirus set out that no national and local referendums may be initiated until the day following the end of the period of state of danger; the national and local referendums already called shall not be held. All time limits specified in Chapters II to IV of Act CCXXXVIII of 2013 on initiating referendums, the European citizens’ initiative and the referendum procedure shall be interrupted. The time limits shall start to run again from the day following the end of the period of state of danger. The national and local referendums not called or not held shall be called within fifteen days of the end of the period of state of danger.
No local elections or referendums were scheduled for this period.
Not applicable
Not applicable
See answer to Q17.
Not applicable, no local elections were held or planned.
There were no local elections or referendums scheduled during the Covid-19 pandemic or in the next months to come. Next local election is to be held in 2023.
The process of local elections in Coahuila and Hidalgo was suspended by the decision of the General Council of the National Electoral Institute of 2 April 2020. The elections were supposed to take place on 7 June 2020. This decisions was not submitted to any external review.
Not applicable
No. Local elections are scheduled in the same year as parliamentary elections, i.e. before October 2021; as for the referendum, the 2011 constitutional reform limited the referendum to consultation on the constitutional review only.
No local elections or referenda were held
Not applicable
No elections at the local level
See Q17
No elections were scheduled during the Covid-19 emergency. The next elections will be local and regional and will take place in 2022.
Before the declaration of the state of alarm, the presidents of the Autonomous Communities of Basque Country and Galicia had called for elections to the respective parliaments of these Autonomous Communities, exercising the power of early dissolution granted to them by the regional laws (both Autonomous Communities had held the previous elections on 25 September 2016 and their parliaments have a four-year term).
Not applicable
As far as can be seen, most votes that were scheduled actually did take place. For example, on 5 April 2020, the electorate of the city of Geneva was supposed to elect the members of the municipal executive of the city of Geneva. The vote was not postponed; as the polling stations were closed, however, voting by mail (a standard in Switzerland for many years) was free of charge.
No local elections or referendums were scheduled during this period.
No local elections were planned during this period
Not applicable - no local elections were scheduled during the COVID crisis
Local elections or referendums were not hold at this period.
Certain local elections were postponed by one year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision to do so was taken by Parliament when it passed the CA, which provided the legal basis for the postponement in ss. 59 – 64:
GA: Local elections were conducted concurrently with the primaries for national-level office discussed in Q17 on June 9.
Albania
Armenia
Austria
In Styria, the election was suspended by the Governor and the provincial parliament. Therefore, corresponding electoral legislation was amended: a new provision was introduced into the election regulation (Gemeindewahlordnung), regulating “extraordinary circumstances” (Section 96b of the regulation). With a view to implementing a resolution of the provincial parliament, government parties agreed on a new date. The new election day was 28 June 2020. Because provincial law provides for early voting and postal voting (which had already started in early March with some hundred votes already cast at that time) the election process was formally discontinued in order to be continued in June.
In Vorarlberg, the election was postponed by the Federal Government and the provincial parliament. The provincial government und the municipal association (Gemeindeverband) agreed that it will be held in September 2020. The Constitution of Vorarlberg allows for a postponement of up to nine months (Article 14 paragraph 3).
To date, these decisions have not been submitted to parliamentary control or judicial review.
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
On 7 May, the CEC set the local elections for 4 October (normal schedule; this was according to the law the last day to set elections).
On 23 May, the CEC postponed local elections due in October for six weeks, to November 15, after political rows held up the adoption of a budget for 2020 and funding for the ballot within the legally permitted deadline to start preparations.
The state of emergency has been lifted in the Republica Srpska on 20 May, and in the FBiH the state of natural disaster has been lifted as of 31 May.
Brazil
Bulgaria
No national or local referendums in 2020 have been held so far according to information from the Central Election Commission.
Article 98: The President of the Republic shall perform the following functions: 1. schedule elections of a National Assembly and of bodies of local self-government, and appoint a date for the conduct of a national referendum, where the National Assembly has passed a resolution to this effect;
Article 463 (5): Within 14 days after the proposal of the Central Election Commission, the President of the Republic shall schedule by-elections of mayor not later than 40 days in advance of polling day.
Article 465: New elections shall be conducted: 5. where the election of municipal councilors or mayors is declared invalid;
Article 466 (1) (Amended, SG No. 39/2016, effective 26.05.2016): Within 14 days after learning of the circumstances referred to in Items 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Article 465 herein, the Central Election Commission shall propose to the President of the Republic to schedule new elections. (2) Within 14 days after the proposal referred to in Paragraph (1), the President of the Republic shall schedule new elections of municipal councilors or mayors.
Croatia
The reason for early elections was the dissolution of the Orahovica City Council and the Otok Municipal Council due to the fact that they had failed to adopt the 2020 Budget or a Decision on temporary financing within the legally stipulated period.
Since after the early elections had been called, special circumstances caused by the COVID-19 epidemic emerged, in which it was justified to postpone holding early elections, it was necessary to establish a legal basis for the Government to decide on holding early elections in such exceptional circumstances, i.e. on postponing already called early elections beyond the deadline stipulated by the then valid Local Elections Act (OG 144/12, 121/16 and 98/19).
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
The second round, scheduled for 22 March, was cancelled due to the quarantine measures announced on 16 March.
Article 19 of the March 2020 act endorsed this postponement and set a procedure for setting the date for the second round, which instead takes place on 28 June 2020. The Constitutional Council ruled by two QPCs of 17 June 2020 (2020-849 QPC and 2020-850 QPC) on existing provisions of the electoral code concerning the conduct of municipal elections.
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Korea, Republic
Kyrgyzstan
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Mexico
Moldova, Republic of
Monaco
Morocco
Netherlands
Norway
Peru
Portugal
Serbia
Slovakia
Spain
The two decrees for the dissolution of the parliaments of these Autonomous Communities were agreed on the same day and elections were also called on the same date, 5 April (Decree 2/2020 of 10 February of the Lehendakari dissolving the Basque Parliament and calling for elections and Decree 12/2020 of 10 February dissolving the Galician Parliament and calling for elections).
As a result of the worsening health situation, the governments of both Autonomous Communities decided that the elections could not be held with the necessary health guarantees and both electoral processes were suspended (Decree 7/2020 of 17 March of the Lehendakari, cancelling the elections to the Basque Parliament on 5 April 2020), due to the health crisis derived from the Covid-19, and determines the issuance of the new election call and Decree 45/2020 of 18 March, which waives the holding of elections to the Parliament of Galicia on April 5, 2020 as a result of the health crisis derived from the COVID-19). Both decrees have a brief and very similar content: in addition to providing for that measure, they establish when the election call will be activated, with a slight difference on this point, since the first one just requires the "health emergency" (declared by the autonomous government) to have been lifted, while the second one also refers to the lifting of the state of alarm (which depends, as noted, on the central institutions of the State); in either case, when that time comes, the election call must be made "immediately" (Basque Country) or "as soon as possible" (Galicia) and, in both cases, "after political parties have been heard", by means of a new decree by the autonomous president.
The Royal Decree 514/2020, of 8 May, by which the state of alarm is extended (the fourth extension) established that "the validity of the state of alarm shall not be a hindrance to the development and carrying out of the electoral activities required for holding the elections called to the Parliaments of the Autonomous Communities" (Art. 7. 1 bis.). This possibility has allowed both Autonomous Communities to call for their respective elections once again (Decree 11/2020, of 18 May, of the Basque President, calling elections to the Basque Parliament, which sets the voting date for 12 July, and Decree 72/2020, of 18 May, of the Galizia’s President, alling elections to the Parliament of Galicia, for the same date of 12 July).
In both cases, it is understood that this is an appropriate date for carrying out the electoral process taking the necessary preventive measures, given that the epidemic is expected to present more favourable data (as opposed to a forecast that a new outbreak may occur at a later date). In any case, if the public health conditions worsen, making it difficult to hold the elections on the date set forth, it is planned to cancel the call for elections again, putting off the vote for a later date that can provide due health guarantees.
In absence of any legislative provision regarding the suspension of elections in Spain, in such cases, decision was taken by both Regional presidents, with a political agreement with the parties represented in both regional Parliaments, and with the agreement of both Regional Electoral Commissions.
Sweden
Switzerland
North Macedonia
Tunisia
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
In respect of local council elections, s. 60 provides that “the poll for the ordinary election of councillors for any local government area in England that would otherwise be held on the ordinary day of election in 2020 is to be held instead on the ordinary day of election in 2021.” The relevant terms of elected officials were extended accordingly by s. 60(2).
The election of the Mayor of London was postponed by s. 60(6), as was the election of mayors of local and combined authorities by s. 60(8) and (10).
The election of Police and Crime Commissioners was postponed by s. 60(12).
S. 64 makes amendments to the provisions governing timing of elections in Northern Ireland.
S. 61 of the CA provides a power for the Secretary of State to delay elections due to be held between 16 March 2021 and 5 May 2021, but only up to 6 May 2021.
As for the constitutional position, this decision, being part of an Act of Parliament, would only be subject to judicial review on the limited grounds that it was inconsistent with EU law, or if an applicant sought a declaration of incompatibility with the Convention rights. There has been no attempt to judicially review the decision taken by Parliament to delay these elections.
United States of America
NE: Local elections were conducted concurrently with the primaries for national-level office discussed in Q17 on May 12.
NY: Local elections including upcoming primaries have been decided to proceed as planned.
WA: Local elections were conducted concurrently with the primaries for national-level office discussed in Q. 17 on March 10. A special election took place in February prior to Gov. Inslee’s declaration of a state of emergency at the end of the month and was thus unaffected.
WI: Though elections in Wisconsin have been maintained in-person, there is still an absentee ballot option. In preparation for the upcoming fall elections, the Wisconsin Elections Commission “has approved spending $7.2 million in federal CARES Act funding, including a $4.1 million block grant program to help local election officials and voters prepare for Fall 2020 elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”