State Election Commission Slovenia : Election Types

Organisation : State election commission
Facility : Election Types
Country : Slovenia

Election Types : https://www.dvk-rs.si/
Home Page : https://www.dvk-rs.si/

Election Types :

** According to the Constitution, the President represents the Republic of Slovenia and is the commander-in-chief of its armed forces.

Related : DVK State Election Commission Slovenia Disabled Access Voting Methods : www.electionin.org/1666.html

** The President is elected in a direct, general and secret ballot based on universal and equal suffrage for a period of five years, and for a maximum of two consecutive terms.
** This means that anyone who has voting rights for elections to the National Assembly can vote for the President.
** In contrast to some other countries, Slovenia has no restricted passive voting rights, so no higher age is prescribed than for active voting rights.

President of the Republic of Slovenia :
Under the Constitution the President has the following powers:
** calling elections to the National Assembly;
** promulgating acts;
** appointing state officials where provided by law;
** appointing and recalling Slovenian ambassadors and envoys and accepting letters of credence from foreign diplomatic representatives;
** issuing charters of ratification;
** deciding on pardons;
** awarding decorations and honorific titles;
** performing other matters defined by the Constitution.

** At the request of the National Assembly, the President must express an opinion on a specific matter.
** The President is also granted other powers regulated by specific acts, and these powers do not derive directly from the Constitution.
** These include deciding on the opening or closure of missions abroad (Foreign Affairs Act), proposing persons for election as the Human Rights Ombudsman, proposing to the National Assembly judges to sit on the Court of Audit (Court of Audit Act), proposing a judge for appointment to the European Court of Human Rights (Constitutional Court Act).
** Under a Constitutional provision, serving as President is not compatible with performing any other public office or profession.
** Candidates are proposed by National Assembly deputies, political parties and voters, with the conditions for the proposal of candidates being stricter than for elections to the National Assembly.
** Only a candidate who on polling day has attained 18 years of age and whose capacity to contract has not been revoked may be elected President of the Republic of Slovenia.
** Elections are called by the President of the National Assembly, and must be held no later than 15 days prior to the expiry of the term of the outgoing President.
** If for anticipated legal reasons the term of office of the President is extended, elections must be held no later than 15 days prior to the expiry of the extended term of the outgoing President.
** Elections may be called at the earliest 135 days and at the latest 75 days prior to the expiry of the five-year or extended term of the outgoing President.
** If the President’s mandate is terminated before the expiry of the term of office, elections must be called no later than 15 days after termination of the outgoing President’s mandate.
** Presidential elections are conducted and implemented by electoral bodies appointed under the National Assembly Elections Act.
** Since presidential elections do not differ that much from elections to the National Assembly, with the exception of certain special features, the organisation and technicalities of the elections are governed by the National Assembly Elections Act, which is otherwise used in subsidiarity, in other words there is analagous application of the National Assembly Elections Act in matters where a main sectoral act does not cover a specific issue.
** In contrast to National Assembly elections, in this case the entire country is organised as a single constituency.
** As for voting, the same legal provisions apply as for elections to the National Assembly, but with the difference that voters may only vote for one candidate.
** The winning candidate is the one that receives the majority of votes cast on valid ballot papers, in other words the one that receives an absolute majority.
** If no candidate has received a majority, voting is repeated between the two candidates that received the highest number of votes.
** The Constitution provides for the institution of impeachment of the President.
** If in performing his offices the President violates the Constitution or commits a serious breach of the law, the National Assembly may impeach the President in the Constitutional Court.
** The Constitutional Court determines the grounds for impeachment or acquits the accused, and may rule with a two-thirds majority of all judges on removal from office.
** Upon receiving a National Assembly decision on impeachment, the Constitutional Court may decide with a two-thirds majority of all judges that, until a ruling is made on the impeachment, the President should be temporarily barred from performing official duties (Article 109 of the Slovenian Constitution).
** This procedure is regulated in detail in the Constitutional Court Act.

Local elections :
** The main local government authority is a representative body that adopts basic decisions in the local community, and it is generally elected directly by local community residents.
** In local elections each person has the right to vote only in their own municipality, so the voting rights are tied to residents of the local community.
** Aliens with permanent residence in the municipality may also vote, but only actively, meaning that they cannot stand for election as mayor.
** For those municipalities with a small number of municipal council members (from 7 to 11) a majority electoral system is provided by law.
** The proportional voting system is used for municipalities with larger numbers of municipal council members.
** Members of municipal councils who are representatives of the Italian or Hungarian ethnic communities and representatives of the Roma community are always elected under the majority system.
** In this case votes are cast for individual candidates, while under the proportional system votes are cast for candidate lists.
** With regard to the electoral system, the law envisages a form of standing for election that matches the electoral system.
** Thus candidates and candidate lists can be determined by political parties in municipalities and voters in constituencies.
** Voters may determine candidates and candidate lists with signatures or at voter assemblies.
** The Local Elections Act regulates in particular the issues of mayoral elections, elections to municipal councils and elections to councils of local, village or ward communities.

European Parliament :

** Elections to the European Parliament take place in Member States of the European Union (the EU).
** On joining the EU, Slovenia gained the right and obligation to participate in the work of EU bodies.
** The European Parliament is the only body to be constituted through direct elections.
** Since for the most part the legal basis for these elections has been left to the individual Member States, Slovenia adopted a special act for the implementation of these elections – the Election of Slovenian Members to the European Parliament Act – which regulates primarily voting rights, the electoral system, standing as a candidate and determining the outcome of elections.
** Members of the European Parliament from Slovenia are elected directly on the basis of universal and equal suffrage through a secret ballot for a term of five years. Elections of Members of the European Parliament from Slovenia (referred to below as simply “elections”) are called by the President of Slovenia.
** Voting is based on the proportional system with preferential votes – a personalised election where voters are able to influence the selection of candidates and not just the selection of political parties.
** The country as a whole constitutes a single constituency.
** The division of mandates is performed for the entire country as a whole, with seats being allocated to candidate lists under the d’Hondt method.
** The preferential voting method means that mandates are not allocated in the order in which they appear on the candidate list, but that the candidates from the individual list who have received the highest number of preference votes are elected, whereby preference votes are taken into account only if the number of preference votes for an individual candidate exceeds the quotient calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast for the list by double the number of candidates on the list.
** Citizens of the EU who have permanent residence in Slovenia (as at the last day for submission of candidacies), have the right to vote under the same conditions as apply for Slovenian citizens, provided such right has not been revoked.
** Alien citizens are subject to the general condition that they are listed in the voting rights register.
** The voting rights of Slovenian citizens and aliens from other Member States are entirely equal, and cover both the right to stand and to vote in elections, and citizens of other Member States therefore enjoy voting rights under the same conditions as those for Slovenian citizens.
** The voting procedure does not differ significantly from the procedure for elections to the National Assembly.
** The same is true of standing as a candidate, where just eight Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected; candidates can be proposed by political parties and by voters.
** The organisation and work of polling stations, voting and determining the outcome of voting are all governed by analogy by the provisions of the National Assembly Elections Act, unless otherwise provided by law.
** Mandates for seats are divided up by the state election commission, since for these elections Slovenia is treated as a single constituency.
** Confirmation of MEP seats takes place within the individual country and in the European Parliament.
** The National Assembly confirms the election of MEPs in the same way as it does for its own deputies.
** Following verification, the President of the National Assembly notifies the President of the European Parliament of the outcome of the elections.
** The European Parliament must be notified of any change in the situation, including any termination of an MEP’s mandate.