Gor Vartazaryan

On the 23rd and 24th of September Municipal elections and the first round of Senate elections were held in the Czech Republic. The electoral system for Senate is two-round majority system in single-mandate districts. If none of the candidates from the constituency reach 50% votes, a second round is held in that constituency. That said, the second round of Senate elections was held on the 30th  September and 1st  October. The government decided not to implement any special voting measures regarding the pandemic as expected. However, the government also didn't adopt a bill on special voting methods which was drafted already in the first half of the year.

Before the elections, the government considered the possibility of implementing anti-COVID-19 measures. In 2021, ad hoc bill was adopted for the 2021 elections to the Chamber of Deputies allowing voters to vote in isolation with different possibilities. The Ministry of Interior proposed a bill already on the 1st  April, measurements from the 2020 and 2021 elections in the event of an ongoing pandemic for all elections following the relevant acts. The proposal therefore, introduces three types of special voting: The first is at a polling station that is accessible only by car. More than one voter can vote from one car. The second way is to a special portable voting box - at a special electoral commission. This method will be used by voters who cannot use the polling station for serious reasons. The third method is voting in residential facilities, which is intended for voters and employees of facilities that have been closed for hygiene reasons. These are not only retirement homes but also parts of hospitals, prisons, or detention facilities.

Article 3 of the proposed bill sets the circumstances under which the special voting arrangements will be implemented: "Special voting arrangements will be used, if on the twenty-fifth day before the first day of election, a state of pandemic emergency or a state of emergency in place (is effective), at least on a part of the territory of the Czech Republic because of a health threat caused by the spread of the covid-19 disease, unless this law provides otherwise. The Ministry of the Interior will publish information on the use of special voting methods on its website."

The act on Election to the Parliament and all other acts regarding elections sets in Article 2 the obstacles to the exercise of voting rights in cases of threat to health safety for citizens. The proposed bill goes beyond article 2 and lays down conditions, under which a positively tested voter, that can potentially cause a threat to public safety, is allowed to vote. In explanatory note, Ministry of Interior argues that it is based on the fact that, for organizational and time reasons, it is primarily necessary to take all steps to enable voters in quarantine or isolation due to covid-19 to exercise their right to vote. However, closer to the elections, it may turn out that the epidemic situation is developing so favourably that the reasons for the duration of a pandemic alert or state of emergency have passed and the launch of the entire mechanism of special voting methods is not necessary, since the number of people who are in quarantine or isolation due to the covid-19 disease already represents a standard situation (comparable to the number of people who are in quarantine or isolation due to another type of infectious disease), which allows the application of an obstacle to the exercise of the right to vote according to the electoral law. Without such a procedure being capable of calling into question the integrity and results of the election, the new measure explains the explanatory memorandum.

Having said that, the government argued that the pandemic situation is getting better. Only around 10 000 voters were in isolation during the autumn elections which represents the standard situation. The Czech Minister of Health said that people with covid-19 should stay at home not to endanger other citizens or the electoral commission, thus the government decided not to present the proposed bill to the Parliament and the elections were held without any accommodating public health measures.

November 2022

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