Ten days before the presidential election, the Supreme Court threw out a new law restricting election monitors, saying that Parliament had passed it improperly.
The military regime's constitution and severely restricting election laws demonstrated to all of us the true intention the regime has for this election — the legalization and legitimization of military rule in our country.
In the field of the media, there is an article restricting election campaigning to state media alone.
"I wasn't surprised at all, but I was disappointed when I heard [about Beijing's decision to restrict election rights]," said 24-year-old Alex Chow, the secretary general of Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) and one of the protests' leaders.
Despite its shortcomings, Iran's competitive, albeit restricted, elections have presented the 50 million or so eligible Iranian voters with alternative choices among candidates, who have openly clashed with each other on important domestic and foreign issues, above all the nuclear issue.
In 2011, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, another watchdog group, filed a petition with the I.R.S. asking it to issue clearer regulations on political activity by tax-exempt groups and to sharply restrict their election spending.
Republican legislators and governors are reversing decades of liberalized access to the ballot by passing laws restricting or eliminating election day registration, early voting, the broader use of absentee ballots and voting by mail.
The government had sought to bring in changes that would align the test for third parties with party campaign expenditure, restricting spending "for election purposes" – but charities, campaign groups and blogs had warned that the law could be interpreted so widely it could hit their work.
The Wisconsin assembly recently voted 53-39 to approve a Republican-sponsored proposed constitutional amendment to restrict recall elections.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) imposed new rules just in time for the 2012 elections, restricting how the public can access information on its database regarding doctors who have committed malpractice or who have disciplinary issues.
Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Freedom House, claim that the government suppresses the freedoms of opposition groups by restricting candidacies in elections to government-friendly parties, suppressing demonstrations, and arresting opposition leaders and journalists.
