CoE logo
Venice Logo

Stop “worrying trend” of election winners abusing power - the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe endorses the Commission's Checklist

05/02/2020

Council of Europe, Strasbourg - Today the Committee of Ministers has endorsed the Venice Commission's checklist aimed at ensuring that election winners uphold democratic practices.

The Checklist gives governments guidelines on how to maintain the checks and balances of democracy, no matter what kind of system is used in that country.

It follows a warning by the Commission, echoed by former Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland in his 2016 report, that some governments, on gaining power in an election, are trying to dismantle democratic safeguards, rushing through laws without genuine political debate, and sacking independent judges and officials to make their own appointments.

The Checklist stresses that democracy is more than ‘winner takes it all’ and that both governing majorities and parliamentary opposition have a responsibility to maintain effective democratic practices.


#StandWithUkraine

 

International seminar: “PRIVATE POWERS AND THE RULE OF LAW”

28-29/11/2024, Madrid

 

 

Conference on “Aspects of Constitutionalism in European small-sized States”

14/10/2024, San Marino

 

 

International conference on “The role of the Ombudsman as a guardian of rights”

12-13/09/2024, Cassino, Italy 

 

 

Latest  issue of  the E-Bulletin on Constitutional Case-Law 

Receive the E-Bulletin in your inbox
 

 



© Council of Europe 2007-2024