This question is posted by ACE on behalf of PN member Norm Kelly.

Question:

I am currently working on policy in relation to contingency provisions where elections need to be delayed due to emergency situations, and particularly when parliament has already been dissolved ahead of an election (meaning that an emergency meeting of the legislature cannot be held to enact new laws). Possible emergency scenarios could be biosecurity or natural catastrophes –I’m including an international comparative, and I’m particularly interested in emergency provisions in the UK, Canada, Australia, US, and Germany. 

- Under MMP (or a fully proportional system), how to determine the make-up of parliament if elections cannot be held in all parts of the country (e.g. elections in only 80% of electorates, extensive delay before elections in the remaining 20% are possible)? 

- Do these countries tend to have over-riding provisions in the case of such emergencies, which deal with all aspects of civil law and order, including but not limited to the conduct of elections and the make-up of parliament (or, in the absence of such, rely on the Doctrine of Necessity for major-scale events and situations)?

Summary of Responses:

The practitioners who responded were not familiar with the systems in the UK, Canada, Australia or Germany. One practitioner suggested that if an emergency situation precludes the participation of all electorates in selecting their representatives under the MMP system, it might be necessary to proportionately allocate the parliamentary seats to political parties based on their respective shares of the national votes (national proportional representation). Another practitioner emphasized that emergency situations must be addressed by crisis committees composed of legitimate political actors. There are no emergency provisions in Peru, where the relevant norms only specify the bodies responsible for ascertaining the validity of elections.      

Contributing Members:

• Aiah Stephen Mattia
• Victor Hugo
• Fredy Martin Rivera

No tengo conocimiento sobre lo que dispone la legislación electoral  de UK, Canadá, Australia, US y Alemania para el caso que pregunta, pero me permito hacerle un comentario en el sentido que la experiencia indica que las elecciones deben llevarse a cabo en una misma fecha; cualquier suspensión de la elección en alguna parte del territorio es una excepción.

Para casos de emergencia existen protocolos en los ámbitos de seguridad, catástrofes naturales, convulsión social interna o agresión militar externa. Pero en esos casos lo importante es que un comité de crisis defina las medidas que se pueden aplicar y que se incluya a los actores políticos para legitimar la o las decisiones.

Saludos

En PERU no hay disposiciones de emergencia. La unica disposición que existe es el tema de la nulidad electoral en una zona determinada, nulidad que sólo puede ejecutarla el Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (www.jne.gob.pe) a través de los Jurados Electorales Especiales, entes encargados de dar la normativa electoral, fiscalizar y declarar la validad o nulidad de un proceso electoral determinado.

These views are not based on the background of either the UK, Canada, Australia, the US or Germany. But if for any reason, in an MMP it becomes impossible for all the electorates to participate in choosing representatives, and delaying the elections will cause a constitutional crisis and a power vacuum, it may be necessary to approach the whole country as a single constituency (the national proportional representation). If that were to be the case, seats in the parliament or legislature will be allocated to political parties in proportion to their national share of the votes. Technically speaking, the 20% of electorates would be subsumed under the national polls. This may be a temporary solution.