The impact of the place of residence on implementation electoral rights in Poland

The article focuses on the issue of restrictions on active and passive electoral law according to the place of residence. The article discusses regulations on the census of residence that have been in force since 1989. Changes to the electoral law related to the place of residence were caused by the Polish accession to the European Union. This involved the granting of voting rights in elections to the European Parliament and partly in the local elections, to those citizens of the EU who live in Poland. This article shows a problem of proper verification of residence in the electoral process too. The author notices also that existing solutions concerning the census of residence in the local government election law should be changed, because the current ones do not correspond with reality.

The Partial Incapacitation vs. Voting Rights in the Light of European  Standards

The article consists of two parts. In the first part the author describes the principle of the universality and a problem of electoral censuses. In the second part the author shows an issue of voting rights of people placed under partial guardianship in the light of the third article of the First Protocol to The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The principle of universality means that the right to vote belongs to everybody who fulfils conditions described in the Constitution and in statutes. Censuses are exceptions from the principle of the universality. According to the art. 62 sect. 2 of the Polish Constitution the incapacitation excludes a person from the right to vote. In this part of the article the author also describes premises of partial incapacitation and its legal and social consequences. The article 3 of the provides for the right to regular, free and fair elections. The European Court of Human Rights in his judgment from the day of 20 May 2010 (case of Alajos Kiss vs. Hungary) has find out that an absolute bar on voting by any person under partial guardianship, irrespective of his or her actual faculties, disturbs the pointed above article of the Protocol. The author of the article acknowledges that provisions of art. 3 of the First Protocol to The Convention and provisions of Polish statutes that regulated problems of the right to vote do not disturb the Polish Constitution especially it’s art. 62. But there is discrepancy between the art. 3 of the Protocol and Polish statutes which exclude people under partial guardianship from the right to vote. In conclusion the author suggests establishing some changes in Polish statutes.

The Use of Censuses in Elections to Constitutive Bodies of Local Government Units

The basic issue when determining the principle of universal suffrage is to indicate the group of people who shall have the right to vote. However, it may be restricted by suffrage censuses. The 21st century brought the significant challenges in determining entities that can benefit from the electoral rights, also in the elections to constitutive entities of local government units. It should be remembered that the world is still subject to the numerous processes of change. Therefore, the electoral law cannot be indifferent to it but should be adjusted by the legislator to the changing conditions in which given individuals function. The author of this study has analyzed existing legal solutions and is trying to answer the question of whether current regulations can be considered optimal, or whether there is a need for a new definition of constraints on electoral law, in the context of globalization processes that result in much more frequent and easier movement of people, and associated with this mixing of citizens of individual countries, or residents of the local government units of territorial units.

The Right to Vote for Non-Residents

The article deals with the possibility for country’s non-citizen residents to participate in elections, in the political life they wish to participate in. This issue remains outside the mainstream of jurisprudence and doctrine, but it is important due to the increased social mobility. The article presents the practice of selected countries and documents of international law relating to the title issue. Theoretical and comparative issues were confronted with Polish solutions regulating voting issues of Polish citizens residing abroad. The article also contains proposals for necessary legislative changes, the introduction of which to the electoral code will guarantee respect for the universality of electoral law. The article uses the legal-dogmatic method, supplemented to the necessary extent by the legal-comparative method.