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Election observation must receive a clear constitutional foundation

The association representing election observers expects the Supreme Court to clearly stipulate how public accountability of the essential steps in ascertaining the election results is ensured in the case of electronic voting, as a result of the election complaint by Märt Põder, member of the board of Fair Elections Estonia.

On March 10 election observer Märt Põder, together with Fair Elections Estonia, filed an election complaint with the Supreme Court against the proceedings of the National Electoral Committee, which violated the rights of an election observer. The election complaint was submitted to the National Electoral Committee, which forwarded it to the Supreme Court on March 11, along with their explanations.

The reason for the complaint is that the electoral committee restricted the agenda item on risk management and proceedings of electronic voting of its March 6 meeting, removing Põder from the meeting for the time of discussing the item. According to the Riigikogu Election Act, the meetings of the electoral committee are public and the law does not allow to declare them closed. As an election observer, Põder wanted to use his legal right to observe the activities and proceedings of the National Electoral Committee and to familiarize with the documents discussed at the meetings, but this was not allowed.

“The managers of the elections have too much freedom to decide at their discretion what they allow or prohibit to the observers,” said Heldur-Valdek Seeder, a member of the board of the organisation. “We are expecting a clear position from the Supreme Court on what election observation means in the case of electronic voting and if its goal is to exclude manipulation and fraud, because in its current form it does not and can not possibly guarantee this.”

“Elections are a basic social agreement for the distribution of power and it is important that related proceedings are comprehensible and transparent for everyone,” said Oudekki Loone, a member of the board of the organisation. “If essential information on security procedures of the elections needs to be kept secret from the citizens, the voters and the observers, this in itself constitutes a security risk and in this form it can not really considered to be an election in the democratic sense.”

Fair Elections Estonia is an organisation founded in 2012 with the goal to ensure free and democratic elections in the Republic of Estonia, for which the ascertaining of the results is fair and observable. The association supports and advocates for election observers in safeguarding their common interests, gathers and shares the expertise of both local and international election observers, participates in legislative work and contributes to ensuring democratic legitimacy of the elected bodies on the part of civil society.

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