Nullification of Elections

Nullification of Elections 

the voiding of voting results because of procedural violations in the campaign or in tabulation of the results. In socialist countries the main condition for the validity of the elections is the participation in the voting of at least half of all voters. If this condition is violated, the election commissions (in the USSR, the Central Election Commission), in accordance with the election regulations, fix a date for new elections (usually within two weeks). In socialist countries, by virtue of the principle of full sovereignty of the representative body as the supreme body of state power, only representative bodies can confirm the credentials of the elected deputies and only they can annul the elections of individual deputies.

In bourgeois states, the validity of the election of deputies is verified or denied by courts, as well as by the representative bodies themselves: by common law courts, in countries with the Anglo-Saxon legal system, or by special bodies—electoral or constitutional courts. For example, in Austria, Cyprus, Malta, Morocco, France, a number of African countries that were once French colonies, and, under certain conditions, the Federal Republic of Germany, the correctness of the election results is verified by constitutional supervisory bodies. In India verification is the responsibility of the Supreme Court, and in Turkey, of a superior court for elections. These bodies review the legality of elections only if the voters or the authorities of the corresponding electoral district or persons running for office submit a complaint charging a violation of election procedure.

M. A. KRUTOGOLOV