cancellation of its registration may only proceed by decision of the competent
EDRB and in those circumstances provided for in the constitution or in law.
These vary from country to country and include failure to comply with the
requirements for obtaining registration, such as having the minimum number
of members required by law; grievous and systematic breaches of the party’s
legal obligations; failure to participate or present candidates in a regular general
election or over a certain period; failure to obtain a minimum percentage of the
vote in a particular regular general election, or to achieve representation in the
legislature; and failure to hold internal party elections over a certain period.
436. In Germany, the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court to declare
unconstitutional political parties, movements or other forms of organization
whose objectives, actions or conduct do not respect the basic principles of
democratic and constitutional government was established by the Fundamental
Law of 1949. It was used, for example, in 1952 by the Federal Constitutional
Court to prohibit the Socialist Party of the Reich and in 1956 to prohibit
the Communist Party of Germany. Similar powers exist in Chile and Spain,
vested in the constitutional court or another supreme judicial body.
437. In addition, some countries provide other grounds for the dissolution
of political parties, such as their forming paramilitary organizations; actions
that go against the democratic principles enshrined in the constitution,
the electoral code, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the
international treaties to which the state is a party; and proven subordination
to or dependence on foreign organizations or governments. Along the same
lines, some countries consider participation in a coup d’état or sedition as
grounds for cancelling the registration of a political party.
Delimitation of electoral districts
438. Decisions on the delimitation of electoral districts, or electoral
geography, are made by the EMB or, as is the case in several countries, by the
legislature based on technical studies prepared by the EMB or by a separate
delimitation body. They are generally made during the pre-electoral period
(although on occasion they are made during the post-electoral period). In
general, they are inspired by the principle of one person, one vote and aim
at more or less equal numbers of electors, so that each elected representative
represents approximately the same number of electors. Accordingly, when the
demographics shift in the different regions of a country, there is a need to
make adjustments or changes to the way in which electoral district boundaries
are drawn in order to preserve a more or less equal ratio of representatives to
electors in each of the electoral districts.
439. The process of drawing boundaries between electoral districts can lend
itself to a distortion in political representation known as gerrymandering if
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