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Nomination rules in elections regulate the conditions under which a candidate or political party is entitled to stand for election. The right to stand for election, right to be a candidate or passive suffrage is one part of free and fair elections. [1] Passive suffrage is distinct from active suffrage , the right to vote. The criteria to stand as a candidate depends on the individual legal system. They may include the age of a candidate, citizenship, endorsement by a political party and profession. [2] Laws' restrictions, such as competence or moral aptitude, can be used in a discriminatory manner. Restrictive and discriminatory nomination rules can impact the civil rights of candidates, political parties, and voters.
In some jurisdictions a candidate or party must not only be nominated but also has to pass separate rules in order to be listed on the ballot paper. In the United States, this is called ballot access.
Canadian citizens have a constitutional right to stand for election to the House of Commons of Canada and to the provincial legislative assemblies. [3] A citizen does not need to be nominated by a political party to stand for election.
To be nominated as a candidate for the House of Commons, a citizen must be at least 18 years old on election day. A candidate must obtain a number of signatures from eligible voters in the riding they are standing in – normally 100 signatures, but 50 signatures are acceptable in designated remote or large ridings. A candidate does not need to live in the riding where they are nominated, but can only be nominated in one riding. [4] The nomination requirements are set out by a federal statute, the Canada Elections Act , and administered by a federal non-partisan agency, Elections Canada. [5]
A candidate can also seek the nomination from a registered political party to represent that party in the election. The party nomination is separate from the nomination process with Elections Canada. Each political party sets its own nomination process and runs the nomination process itself. As a general rule, only members of the party are entitled to vote in the party nomination process. At the federal level, there are rules governing contributions and spending for party nominations. If a political party is registered with Elections Canada and has nominated the candidate to represent the party, the party affiliation can be included on the ballot. [6]
Nomination rules are similar in each of the ten provinces and three territories.
EU member states may set their own rules on ballot access in elections to the European Parliament. In Denmark, Germany, Greece, Estonia, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, candidates must be nominated by political parties. In the other member states, a specified number of signatures is needed. In the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (pre-Brexit), a deposit is required as well as signatures. [7] In the Republic of Ireland, candidates may be nominated either by a registered political party or by 60 members of the relevant electorate. [8] The right to stand as a candidate at elections to the European Parliament and municipal elections is in Article 39 and Article 40 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. [9]
Candidates for the office of President of the Republic require 500 signatures of elected individuals (mayors, MPs, regional councillors).[ citation needed ]
Candidates for election to the European Parliament, the Riksdag, county councils or municipal councils stand on the ballots of their respective parties. Parties can have one or several lists. The so-called "free right of nomination" (fri nomineringsrätt) means that if a party has not protected its party label, anyone can set up a ballot for that party. This means that people could be elected for a party who do not have the support of the people behind the party. To avoid this, the party must apply for a protected label. There are no regulations for how a party whose party label isn't protected must be organised. Forming a party or running in the election is thus comparatively easy, and there have been occasions where a single individual has put up dozens of different ballots with various more or less frivolous names and himself as the only candidate. Parties pay for their own ballots unless they have received more than 1 percent of the vote in one of the last two Riksdag elections, in which case the Elections Authority pays. (Further, parties that have received more than 1 percent of the vote in one of the last two elections to the European Parliament get their ballots paid for in European elections as well.) The Elections Authority makes sure, however, that there are blank ballots where voters can write in the name of the party they want to vote for.
To be given a protected label, a party must have a constitution, a board, and must decide on its name and on applying for protected label status with the Swedish Central Elections Authority. It must also appoint someone to act on its behalf when presenting the application to the Elections Authority. These decisions must be laid down in a protocol. It must also require a number of signatures from eligible voters: 50 for municipal elections, 150 for county council elections, and 1,500 for elections to the Riksdag or the European Parliament. Finally, the name of the party must not be too close to the name of an already protected party label in order to avoid confusion.
A party with a protected label is protected against ballots with party labels that are confusingly similar to the party's own, or ballots with other candidates than those the party reports. (This does not hold for other areas than the one where the party is running - hence there can be and there are completely separate parties with the same name in different municipalities and county councils.) In return, it must ensure that its candidates have agreed in writing to run for the party. [10]
Article 36 of the Law on Political Parties, as amended in 2021 by Law No. 7393, stipulates that in order to participate in elections: political parties must have established an organization in at least half of Turkey’s provinces, must have held their grand congresses at least six months before the voting day, and must have held their district, provincial and grand congresses twice in a row. [11]
The following are the basic nomination rules for an individual candidate (whether Independent, or associated with a political party). To use a party name (and logo) a candidate must be authorised by a registered political party, or else they may stand as 'Independent' or with no description.
A candidate for election to the United Kingdom Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Senedd or Northern Ireland Assembly requires the signed assent of ten registered electors, plus an election deposit of £500, which is forfeited if the candidate wins less than 5% of the vote.
A candidate for local government office does not need to pay a deposit (except for mayoral elections, for which the deposit is £500), but needs the assent of either two registered electors (for parish or town elections) or ten registered electors (for all other local elections).
Ballot access rules vary widely in the U.S.
Electoral fusion in the United States is an arrangement where two or more United States political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, allowing that candidate to receive votes on multiple party lines in the same election.
Primary elections or primaries are elections that are held to determine which candidates will run for an upcoming general election. Party primaries are elections in which a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the country and administrative division, there may be an "open primary", in which all voters are eligible to participate, or a "closed primary", in which only members of a political party can vote.
Elections in Sweden are held once every four years. At the highest level, all 349 members of Riksdag, the national parliament of Sweden, are elected in general elections. Elections to the 20 county councils and 290 municipal assemblies – all using almost the same electoral system – are held concurrently with the legislative elections on the second Sunday in September.
The electoral system of Australia comprises the laws and processes used for the election of members of the Australian Parliament and is governed primarily by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. The system presently has a number of distinctive features including compulsory enrolment; compulsory voting; majority-preferential instant-runoff voting in single-member seats to elect the lower house, the House of Representatives; and the use of the single transferable vote proportional representation system to elect the upper house, the Senate.
Electoral systems of the Australian states and territories are broadly similar to the electoral system used in federal elections in Australia.
Ballot access are rules and procedures regulating the right to candidacy, the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots in elections in the United States.
The Canadian electoral system is based on a parliamentary system of government modelled on that of the United Kingdom.
"None of the above" (NOTA), or none for short, also known as "against all" or a "scratch" vote, is a ballot option in some jurisdictions or organizations, designed to allow the voter to indicate disapproval of the candidates in a voting system. It is based on the principle that consent requires the ability to withhold consent in an election, just as they can by voting "No" on ballot questions. It must be contrasted with "abstention", in which a voter does not cast a ballot.
Elections in Lithuania are held to select members of the parliament, the president, members of the municipal councils and mayors, as well as delegates to the European Parliament. Lithuanian citizens can also vote in mandatory or consultative referendums.
An independent, non-partisan politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent.
General elections in Singapore must be held within three months after five years have elapsed from the date of the first sitting of a particular Parliament of Singapore, as per the Constitution. However, Parliament can also be dissolved and a general election called at the behest of the Prime Minister before the five-year period elapses. The number of constituencies or electoral divisions is not permanently fixed by law, but is declared by the Prime Minister prior to each general election pursuant to the Parliamentary Elections Act, which governs the conduct of elections to Parliament, taking into account recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee.
Figueroa v Canada (AG), [2003] 1 S.C.R. 912 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision on the right to participate in a federal election under section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Court struck down a provision requiring a political party to nominate 50 candidates before receiving certain benefits.
The exhaustive ballot is a voting system used to elect a single winner. Under the exhaustive ballot the elector casts a single vote for his or her chosen candidate. However, if no candidate is supported by an overall majority of votes then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and a further round of voting occurs. This process is repeated for as many rounds as necessary until one candidate has a majority.
An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party or can constitute a group of independent candidates. Lists can be open, in which case electors have some influence over the ranking of the winning candidates, or closed, in which case the order of candidates is fixed at the registration of the list.
The Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament (Landtag) of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which convenes in the state capital of Düsseldorf, in the eastern part of the district of Hafen. The parliament is the central legislative body in the political system of North Rhine-Westphalia. In addition to passing of laws, its most important tasks are the election of the Minister-President of the state and the administration of the government. The current government is a coalition of the CDU and the Greens, supporting the cabinet of Minister-President Hendrik Wüst since June 2022.
In an electoral system, a deposit is the sum of money that a candidate for an elected office, such as a seat in a legislature, is required to pay to an electoral authority before they are permitted to stand for election.
The German federal election system regulates the election of the members of the national parliament, called the Bundestag. According to the principles governing the elections laws, set down in Art. 38 of the German Basic Law, elections are to be universal, direct, free, equal, and secret. Furthermore, the German Basic Law stipulates that Bundestag elections are to take place every four years and that one can vote, and be elected, upon reaching the age of 18. All other stipulations for the federal elections are regulated by the Federal Electoral Act. Elections always take place on a Sunday. Mail votes are possible upon application.
There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local elections, mayoral elections, and police and crime commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may also be by-elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday, and under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general elections can be held at the discretion of the prime minister during any five-year period. All other types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. The five electoral systems used are: the single member plurality system (first-past-the-post), the multi-member plurality, the single transferable vote, the additional member system, and the supplementary vote.
N.Y. State Bd. of Elections v. Lopez Torres, 552 U.S. 196 (2008), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court that involved a constitutional challenge brought against New York State's judicial election law, alleging that it unfairly prevented candidates from obtaining access to the ballot. The Supreme Court rejected this challenge and held that the state's election laws did not infringe upon candidates' First Amendment associational rights. Several concurring justices emphasized, however, that their decision reflected only the constitutionality of the state's election system, and not its wisdom or merit.
An election of the Members of the European Parliament from the Netherlands was held on 22 May 2014. This is the 8th time the elections have been held for the European elections in the Netherlands.