Ineligibility is an electoral law institute. The institute of ineligibility to a person, who otherwise fulfils the general conditions for gaining an active suffrage, makes it impossible to run in the elections. It constitutes a limitation of passive suffrage rights. The purpose of the institute is to ensure that only person with experience, who enjoys public reputation in the society and respect the social norms, will be elected to important state functions. The most common conditions that the candidate must fulfil if he wants to run for the president of the republic, or run for a member of the Parliament are nationality of the country and age condition, which is often ranked higher for presidential elections than for parliamentary elections. Comparatively very common and most controversial is the limitation of passive suffrage due to a legally binding criminal conviction. Request for knowledge of the official language, personal bankruptcy, payment of deposit, performance of other function or official position are other conditions leading to ineligibility. In Slovenia, the conditions for suffrage are equal for both the parliamentary elections and the presidential elections. Our constitution does not distinguish between the acquisition of an active and passive right to vote. The Constitution with a legal constraint gives the legislator the power to determine the conditions, who may be elected as a deputy in Parliament, but not for the election of the president of the republic. Despite the statutory authorization, the legislator has not yet regulated this area. So far, several attempts have been made to regulate the ineligibility in our legislation. The fundamental purpose of all attempts was to limit passive suffrage due to a final legally binding criminal conviction of imprisonment.
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