Electoral guidelines (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey on behalf of the States Greffe and published on 11 March 2020.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

​Request

Proposition P126/2019 Paragraph 2 of page 4 states:

"Consequently, as a signatory, Jersey should as a matter of priority, strive to comply with both the Venice Commission’s ‘Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters guidelines’ and more seriously, for Human Rights considerations, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights".

Please advise when the States of Jersey become a signatory to the two bodies mentioned in the paragraph above and what conditions are required of us a signatories to these two bodies.

Response

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was extended to Jersey following ratification by the United Kingdom on 20 May 1976 and came into force on 3 August 1976. In accordance with principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Covenant seeks to guarantee that all human beings enjoy economic, social and cultural rights. A copy of the Covenant may be found at the following link:

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The Venice Commission Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters does not have legal force in Jersey. Rather, the Code sets out key features that are recognised politically on the international stage as fundamental to the holding of elections, setting out the principles that elections should be universal, equal, free, secret, involve direct suffrage and held periodically. A copy of the Code of Practice in Electoral Matters may be found at the following link:

The Venice Commission: Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters

This response has been issued on behalf of the States Greffe. The States Greffe is responsible for the information held by (and on behalf of) both itself and the States Assembly. Neither the States Assembly nor the States Greffe form part of the Government of Jersey and the Government was not involved either in the examination and retrieval of any information required for this response, nor in the drafting of the response itself.