8 GROSARU v. ROMANIA JUDGMENT Regulation 3 “For the purposes of validating mandates, the Chamber of Deputies shall elect, at its first session, a committee comprising thirty deputies reflecting the political composition of the Chamber, as this results from the constitution of parliamentary groups.” Regulation 6 § 51 “The Validation Commission shall examine any pending disputes and any which have been examined in breach of the procedural provisions.” B. Work of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (“the Venice Commission”) 1. The Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters 22. The Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters was adopted by the Venice Commission at its 51st plenary session held on 5 and 6 July 2002 and submitted to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 6 November 2002. The relevant parts thereof read as follows: 3.3. An effective system of appeal “If the electoral law provisions are to be more than just words on a page, failure to comply with the electoral law must be open to challenge before an appeal body. This applies in particular to the election results: individual citizens may challenge them on the grounds of irregularities in the voting procedures. It also applies to decisions taken before the elections, especially in connection with the right to vote, electoral registers and standing for election, the validity of candidatures, compliance with the rules governing the electoral campaign and access to the media or to party funding. There are two possible solutions: – appeals may be heard by the ordinary courts, a special court or the Constitutional Court; – appeals may be heard by an electoral commission. There is much to be said for this latter system in that the commissions are highly specialised whereas the courts tend to be less experienced with regard to electoral issues. As a precautionary measure, however, it is desirable that there should be some form of judicial supervision in place, making the higher commission the first appeal level and the competent court the second. Appeal to parliament, as the judge of its own election, is sometimes provided for but could result in political decisions. It is acceptable as a first instance in places where it is long established, but a judicial appeal should then be possible. 1 Corrected on 29 September 2010: the text was as follows: “Regulation 6 § 6”.