Maximum adjudication time for the full EDR process (days)

OSCE/ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report EarlyElections Of The National Assembly Republic Of Slovenia (2011-12-04)

XIV.COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS

Electiondispute resolution is primarily regulated by the electoral law. The Act onAdministrative Disputes is also applicable with regard to the Supreme Court asis the Constitutional Court Act with regard to that court. In addition, theVoting Rights Register Act regulates disputes pertaining to voter registration.Overall, the legislation provides for effective and timely legal remedy, andthere is public confidence in the adjudication bodies and procedures.

The electionlaw stipulates that complaints on irregularities in the candidate nominationprocedure may be lodged with the ConECs. As a second instance, the law provides for a judicialreview of the ConEC decisions on candidate registration with the Supreme Court.However, it is not clearwhether a complaint may be lodged with the Supreme Court only against decisionsof electoral commissions on candidate registration or on the legality of anyacts adopted by electoral bodies, as specified by the Law on AdministrativeDisputes.47

(47 On 12January 2012, the Constitutional Court decided that appeals against ConECs arenot possible given that elections are a fast process and that all issues needto be solved immediately. Decision, Uv1/2012. )

 Moreover, the Law on Administrative Disputesstipulates that the Supreme Court decides on the legality of acts adopted byelectoral bodies. In most cases, timeframes are sufficiently short (48 hours tofile complaints or appeals) and for the competent body to give a decision, inline with international best practice.

Aconstitutional complaint against an individual act of the authorities may befiled with the Constitutional Court after all other legal remedies have beenexhausted.48

(48 Article51 of the Constitutional Court Act. )I

 In such cases, the legal deadline for lodginga complaint is 60 days and there is no deadline for the Constitutional Court totake a decision. Although the OSCE/ODIHR EAM was told by the court that short,48-hour timeframes are applied to election-related disputes in practice, longdeadlines have the potential of depriving some complainants of their right toeffective remedy.

Complaintsabout alleged irregularities at a PS or DEC, including election results, arelodged with the ConECs. The law states that “if the NEC establishes suchirregularities in the work of a ConEC, which considerably affect, or couldaffect, the election results, then it shall determine the election results inthe constituency itself.” However, the law does not specify whether the NECassesses the legality of acts of the ConECs ex officio or on the basisof a complaint/appeal.

Theelection law could be amended to explicitly state whether the NEC hascompetence to assess the legality of ConEC acts on the basis of complaintsand/or ex officio, as well as who may file a complaint. It could also clarifywhat kinds of irregularities affect the election result.

TheConstitution mandates the National Assembly to confirm parliamentary mandates.This is done by the Commission for Public Office and Elections, which is formedat the first session of the new National Assembly and ceases to exist after mandateshave been confirmed. Candidates or their representatives have the right tolodge complaints with the Commission on decisions of electoral commissions thatcould have affected the confirmation of a deputy’s term of office. TheCommission decides on all such complaints before confirming mandates. This mayconstitute a conflict of interest, potentially affecting the impartiality ofthe Commission and its decisions. However, such Commission decisions can beappealed to the Constitutional Court.50

(50 Judicial review is provided by the Article 69 of theConstitutional Court Act. The law does not provide details on procedures forchallenging decisions of election commissions, particularly on the appointmentof election administration members. It only provides that such decisions can beappealed to the Supreme Court.)

Inorder to avoid ambiguity and uncertainty, including potential conflict ofjurisdiction, legal provisions could be revised to establish a uniform,hierarchical dispute procedure for all decisions and acts of electoralcommissions.

Elevencomplaints were filed with ConECs by the SPSP on the denial of candidate listregistrations in all eight constituencies, the TRS and the ‘Green Party’ inConstituency 3 and the Stranka Humana Slovenija in Constituency 5. Therejections were appealed to the Supreme and the Constitutional Court, whichupheld the ConECs’ decisions.

TheOSCE/ODIHR EAM was informed of pre-election day complaints filed by voters thatwere not considered significant by ConECs and the NEC and were not addressed.In addition, some 179 complaints were lodged with the MoI Inspectorate onalleged violations of campaign rules, including violations of campaign silence(see Media section).51 The Information Commissioner dealt with seven allegedviolations of the Personal Data Republic of Slovenia Protection Act bypolitical parties or candidates. At the time of this report, investigationswere still ongoing.

VI.ELECTION ADMINISTRATION

The elections were administrated at four levels: the NEC, 8Constituency Election Commissions (ConECs), 88 District Election Commissions(DECs) and over 3,649 Polling Boards (PBs) in Slovenia, and an additional 34PBs abroad.

Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights,

http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/87786  as retrieved on2013-11-08.

NationalAssembly Elections Act ( consolidated text  (ZVDZ-UPB1)(2006-09-29)

Ministry of Justice,

www.mp.gov.si/fileadmin/mp.gov.si/.../mp.../zvdz_anglesko.doc as retrieved on 2013-11-08.

Administrative Dispute Act(ZUS-1) (2006-09-08)

Chapter 3 Competences and composition of the court

Section 1 Subject matter jurisdiction

Article 12

(1) The Supreme Court ofthe Republic of Slovenia (hereinafter referred to as the Supreme Court) shalldecide in the administrative dispute over the legality of acts issued byelection bodies at elections to the National Assembly, the National Council andfor the President of Slovenia. (2) The Supreme Courtshall adjudicate on the appeal and on the revision. (3) The Supreme Court shalladjudicate on disputes regarding the division of jurisdiction between anadministrative and other court.

Ministry of the Interior ofSlovenia,