Elections, Referendums and Political Parties
The Council for Democratic Elections (CDE) is made up of representatives of the Venice Commission, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. The aim of the Council for Democratic Elections is to ensure co-operation in the electoral field between the Venice Commission as a legal body and the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of the Council of Europe as political bodies in charge of election observation, in order to promote the European common values in this field – the principles of the European electoral heritage.
The Commission identifies and develops standards in the area of elections through:
- Codes of good practice on elections, on referendums and on political parties
- Opinions - mostly joint ones with OSCE/ODIHR - on electoral legislation
- Workshops for Central Election Commissions (CEC) and Courts
- Assistance missions to CECs and legal advice to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
- “Vota” database of electoral legislation
Read more about this topic: Venice Commission
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or parties:
“Every community is an association of some kind and every community is established with a view to some good; for everyone always acts in order to obtain that which they think good. But, if all communities aim at some good, the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other, and at the highest good.”
—Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)
“It is best for all parties in the combined family to take matters slowly, to use the crock pot instead of the pressure cooker, and not to aim for a perfect blend but rather to recognize the pleasures to be enjoyed in retaining some of the distinct flavors of the separate ingredients.”
—Claire Berman (20th century)