Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

In the days before the dialogue meeting, tensions were growing between political parties and the CNE. The reason for these tensions was that CNE rejected candidate lists from almost all parties. Each party has to submit a candidate list for the constituency in which they want to participate. There are 13 constituencies in total. These parties, therefore, can not participate fully in the parliamentary elections on 28 October. Ten parties even saw none of their lists accepted by CNE.


Parties appeal CNE decision

The affected political parties (27 of the 29 parties that submitted candidate lists!) felt that they were not sufficiently informed by CNE of the reasons for these rejections. In many cases, they even felt that the rejection was unjustified. In total eight parties appealed to the Constitutional Council (CC) in order to have the decisions of the CNE overturned.

The tense climate was further aggravated by what political parties saw as the "arrogant attitude" of the CNE, as the commission did not answer their many questions.


Platform eases tensions

The dialogue platform, therefore, presented an unique opportunity for all concerned stakeholders to come together and put their questions and problems to Ezequiel Gusse, CNE commissioner and lawyer. Gusse could not, of course, comment on individual cases put forward to the CC but he did his best to explain the decisions of the CNE in general terms. Not all of these explanations were immediately accepted by all participants. However, a climate emerged whereby questions could be asked of the CNE and answers were heard by the parties.

The meeting ended with an agreement to meet again in about 10 days.