Resolution 1432 (2005)1
Procedure
for elections held by the Parliamentary Assembly other than those of
its President and Vice-Presidents
1. The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly instructed the Committee
on Rules of Procedure and Immunities on 6 November 2002, in accordance
with Rule 65.2 of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, to examine
the procedure for the election of judges to the European Court of Human
Rights with a view to proposing changes to the rules and regulations.
2. Consequently, the Assembly decides to add the following words at
the end
i. of Rule 40.b of the Rules of Procedure:
“in the event of a tie-vote between candidates in the second
ballot, successive ballots shall be held until one candidate obtains
a relative majority”;
ii. of Rule 47.4 of the Rules of Procedure:
“However, only members of the Committee on the Honouring of
Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe
(Monitoring Committee) and members of the Ad hoc Sub-Committee on
the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights may
attend meetings of their respective committees”.
3. Furthermore, the Assembly approves the appended modalities for the
election procedure of judges to the European Court of Human Rights and
of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
4. The Assembly decides that these changes shall enter into force as
from their adoption by the Assembly.
Appendix to Resolution 1432 (2005)
Modalities for the election procedure of judges to the European Court
of Human Rights and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
1. In principle, the list of candidates for the election of judges,
once submitted to the Parliamentary Assembly, should not be modified.
The Assembly shall only exceptionally accept partial or complete modification
of the list on the initiative of the government concerned.
2. The Assembly shall interrupt the procedure if one of the three candidates
on a list for the post of judge or Commissioner for Human Rights withdraws
before the first ballot. In such cases, it shall ask the government concerned
(in respect of judges) or the Committee of Ministers (in respect of the
Commissioner) to complete the list of candidates.
3. The Assembly confirms its practice of listing candidates for the
post of judge in alphabetical order on the ballot paper. This shall also
remain the practice in those cases where the government, disregarding
the Assembly’s position as set out in Recommendations 1429 (1999)
and 1649 (2004),
has expressed a preference for one of the candidates. Any such expressions
of governmental preference shall play no role in the deliberations of
the Ad hoc Sub-Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court
of Human Rights, where only the criteria provided for in the European
Convention on Human Rights and those established by the Assembly itself
shall be relevant.
4. Furthermore, the Assembly confirms that
the candidates for the post of Council of Europe Commissioner for Human
Rights shall be listed in alphabetical order on the ballot paper.
1. Text
adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly,
on 18 March 2005 (see Doc. 10385,
report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure and Immunities, rapporteur:
Mr Vis).
